The Big Circus

OPIS

Minor league studio Allied Artists attempted a huge leap upwards with this colourful and gritty circus film, directed superbly in CinemaScope by cult favourite Joseph M Newman. Co-writer/producer Irwin Allen - now famous for The Towering Inferno and The Poseidon Adventure - assembled a fine though slightly second-rung cast, headed by world-weary Victor Mature and featuring such stars as Peter Lorre (as a neurotic clown) and Gilbert Roland (as the tightrope walker). Although clearly hindered by budget, this is a worthy attempt by the studio to break new ground, and rejects the phoney romanticism of The Greatest Show on Earth to good effect. Though it was not the box-office hit it so desperately wanted to be, the movie remains a treat.