To me, this movie is perfection.

Sorry, this movie sucks

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Blistering performances.

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. Unfortunately, they lived up to my lack of expectation.But blame this debacle on Irwin Allen, whose "vision" created this lackluster production. As has been mentioned, Allen's plot is very derivative of The Greatest Show on Earth (the worst winner of the Best Film Oscar) . Someone suggested that Big Circus be viewed as camp. I guess you could try that with all bad movies. Try as it might, the horrible script could not dim all the talents of Gilbert Roland as the aerialist. And Kathryn Grant (not long married to Bing Crosby) shines on screen, despite the ridiculous story lines. (lucky her, she wins the affections of Red Buttons even though she thought Rhonda Fleming had dibs on him). The only portion of the plot I enjoyed was Red's surprise clown performance as a substitute for the morose Peter Lorre.What else is wrong with this film? The incidental music is intrusive, the staging is rigid and unnatural (notice how the director manages to routinely display up to 9 characters in a tableau), and the dialogue is trite and uninspired (there are some really insipid lines).The big cat act is fine (as cats cannot act), though uninspiring. The trapeze act is realistic, because it's real. But these minor aspects lend little to the overall story.This big top is a big flop.SPOILER: One more thing. There is an unknown saboteur among the circus performers. The director goes way out of his way to force Vincent Price (renowned movie villain) upon us as a suspect. It's so obviously a red herring. In the end, the villain is revealed to be David Nelson (America's good boy heart throb, playing against type--get it?). As Bugs Bunny would say, "what a maroon!"

The Big Circus I found a decent movie. It is a worthy attempt, but it isn't quite the masterpiece it yearned to be. No matter how many flaws there are, it is an entertaining and undervalued movie. While it is hindered by the fact that it is rather low budget, so the sets and technical aspects(ie. sound) weren't as up to scratch as they could have been, however, the costumes and photography are very nice and extraordinarily colourful. The plot, like a whodunit at a circus, while slow to start with, is clever and reaches to a tense ending where I admit I was surprised at the identity of the culprit. The trapeze scenes were very well choreographed, and the highlight was the tightrope walking scene with Zach, I really felt the desperation and anguish in his face. The music is wonderful too,the script is acceptable and the performances are above decent. Victor Mature, who I think can act, is a little world-weary and is disappointingly one note at times but wonderfully over the top in other parts of the film. Rhonda Fleming is lovely as the female lead. However they are both overshadowed by a brilliant supporting cast including Red Buttons, Gilbert Roland, Kathryn Grant, Vincent Price and Peter Lorre. All in all, not a masterpiece, but I do think despite its flaws that the Big Circus is undervalued. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Unfortunately for The Big Circus, The Greatest Show On Earth by Cecil B. DeMille set the standard for circus films that will be pretty hard to match. One hasn't come out in many years now, probably the market isn't there. Pity too, in this age of computer graphics, the potential to out DeMille DeMille is there.This film can still stand on its own however as good entertainment. As in The Grestest Show On Earth, someone is out trying to sabotage the circus. The villain here isn't doing it for some nefarious scheme to enrich, it's a very psychologically disturbed individual who is not unmasked until the very end.The leads here are Victor Mature in the role of circus boss and he's got financial troubles. Working to help straighten out the circus's finances are Rhonda Fleming and Red Buttons. Both aren't quite used to the culture of the circus, but Vic works the old heavy lidded charm and he's got a sister in Kathryn Crosby who brings the circus out in banker Buttons.In The Greatest Show on Earth James Stewart took a supporting role as a clown because he always wanted to play one. Peter Lorre departs from his usual villainy to play a similar kind of clown, kind of a father confessor to the show.But my favorite in the film is Gilbert Roland. He plays the patriarch of a high wire act and the high point of the film is his walk across Niagara Falls as a publicity stunt for the financially strapped show. Roland is under a lot of pressure, his wife, Adele Mara, having been the only fatality in a planned train wreck. In fact The Big Circus took so much from The Greatest Show on Earth like the train wreck and other things that producer/director Irwin Allen was rightly criticized for a lack of originality. It seems he was just trying he could do the same things on the screen better than DeMille.Nevertheless The Big Circus is a fine film on its own, entertaining and colorful for children of all ages.

One of the great injustices in movie history was the fact that "The Greatest Show on Earth" won a best picture oscar. This eye glazer was too long, too overblown and just too boring.By contrast the little seen "The Big Circus" is everything that a great circus movie should be. Lions on the loose, tents burning and mysterious killers lurking around.It features great performances by character actors such as Peter Lorre, Vincent Price and Gilbert Roland. Victor Mature, the Sylvester Stallone of his day, as circus owner Hank Whirling is wonderfully over the top.Granted the circus movie genre is regrettably slim, but The Big Circus stands out. It has energy and innocence and features a spectacular ending with Gilbert Roland attempting to tightrope walk across Niagara Falls.In the annals of the big top cinema The Big Circus stands as tall as a tent pole.