The Big Circus

The human cannonball is shown climbing up the cannon, kneeling at the top, then swinging around and sliding into its mouth.

In the next shot, showing the net in the foreground and the cannon behind, he's seen at the top of the cannon, swinging around and sliding into its mouth a second time.

In the climactic trapeze act near the end, Zach and Jeannie are repeatedly shown standing on the opposite side of the stationary platform in long shots from where they're standing in close-ups.

"The Big Circus" is going to be a hard film for me to like. After all, the other three big circus spectaculars I've seen ("The Greatest Show on Earth", "Billy Rose's Jumbo" and "Circus World") were incredibly dull films.

After previously doing The Story of Mankind, producer Irwin Allen decided to do another all-star production with this: his version of The Greatest Show on Earth. Among the players are Victor Mature and Vincent Price who both previously were in Allen's Dangerous Mission as well as Peter Lorre who along with Price was also in Irwin's movie that I just mentioned at the beginning of this review.

"The Big Circus," from 1959 is one of those spectacles in color that begged to be seen on a big screen, the type of film intended to lure audiences from their TV sets back into the movie theater.It's a predictable story.

If you assemble a cast consisting of Victor Mature, Red Buttons, Rhonda Fleming, Vincent Price and David Nelson, I will not expect much. Between them, they created few quality roles.

Irwin Allen produced this circus melodrama for second-string Allied Artists Productions, from a screenplay he co-authored with Charles Bennett and Irving Wallace--did all three of them fall in love with 1952's "The Greatest Show on Earth"? A financially-strapped traveling circus unknowingly harbors a killer amongst its troupe, revealed in a big climax under the tent with a full audience in attendance and at least one TV camera rolling!

The Big Circus is directed by Joseph M. Newman and jointly written by Irwin Allen (who also produces) and Charles Bennett.

This was all-too-obviously modeled by producer Irwin Allen on Cecil B. De Mille’s prestigious (and surprising) Oscar triumph THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH (1952); consequently, the script is cliché-ridden, contrived and corny – but the end result is still professionally assembled and definitely not unentertaining for undiscriminating film buffs.

After losing his business partner, "Whirling Circus" manager Victor Mature (as Henry "Hank" Whirling) must borrow a half million dollars so that the show can go on - a US tour. He gets the money, but must accept two new staff members to insure a profitable return on the loan.

OK, OK, so it's NOT a classic, but it IS entertaining. I take GREAT exception to SINGLE BLACK MALE's assessment of Victor Mature as an actor, a criticism I can only describe as...