After watching the tough Sports Drama Blue Chips on Netflix UK,I took at the films page on BBC iPlayer. Checking what was about to be removed,I spotted an interesting-looking circus tale,which led to me putting up the big top.The plot:Caught pick-pocketing at a carnival,Willie is offered the chance to go back stage by Joe Hammond. Caught up in a whirlwind romance,Willie accepts an offer from performer Frank Colloni to be his assistant. Seeing Colloni and Willie get close together,Hammond starts making plans to bring the curtain down on their romance.View on the film:Originally planned for 3D,co-writer/(with Hans Jacoby/Marcy Klauber/Charles Williams/Michael Wilson and Dalton Trumbo) director Kurt Neumann & cinematographer Ernest Haller retain a 3D sense of scale,with the somersaults and other carnival acts diving out of the screen.Shot at the same time as a German version,Neumann sets the stage alight with Melodrama flourishes,as the camera swoons to the seedy lions prowling the backstage. Taking six writers to put the show on,the screenplay never quite finds its footing,with Willie's romances lacking any moments of intimacy or warmth to make them a winning double act. Throwing knives at Willie,the writers display a deliciously merciless side to making Willie's Melodrama as harsh as possible,with everyone that Willie holds dear being thrown to the demons that rule her life. Juggling with Steve Cochran's devilish cad Hammond, Anne Baxter gives a fabulous performance as Willie,thanks to Baxter balancing the show -woman glamour with a taut fragility backstage,as Willie's life becomes the carnival story.

No doubt the great success of The Greatest Show On Earth inspired somebody at RKO to put this together. If they had done it as originally planned in 3-D it might have sold some tickets. But in just ordinary technicolor, it's just a very trashy story with Anne Baxter trying in her blond wig and most unconvincing German accent when she bothers with it to be Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Mamie Van Doren or any of the rest of those busty blond sex objects of the 50s.Jay C. Flippen has brought his show to Germany for a fresh start and Steve Cochran is his sideshow barker. Cochran takes a look at Anne after she tries to steal his wallet and convinces Flippen to take her on to help him learn German, the better for his spiels in Germany.Lyle Bettger who does a high diving act takes Anne on as a partner and teaches her the act. That's the start of a rivalry between two of the biggest screen villains of the 50s for Baxter. Bettger marries her, but she can't resist Cochran when he wants a booty call.Great actress that she was Anne Baxter just does not convince in this one. George Nader is kind of shoehorned into the film to give her a third and decent love interest. But in the end he's not Anne's savior. You won't believe who is. This film might have been in the planning stage when Howard Hughes owned RKO. I can see Hughes saying he could do a better circus film than Cecil B. DeMille. But he sold RKO and we get this.This is one trashy movie, but there are those of us out there who love trashy movies.

In a melodramatic story of life behind the big top, the lack of a believable story is the ingredient which causes this film to collapse in a pile of clichés and over-the-top ridiculousness. Whoever told circus barker George Nader that it was sensible to have an affair with a woman (Anne Baxter) who pick-pocketed him must have been in cahoots with her, and when she turns around and prepares to marry one of the trapeze artists (Steve Cochran), Nader insists that this doesn't have to end what they already have. Throw in a jealous female (Helene Stanley) and a Tor Johnson look-alike wrestler (Ady Berber), and you end up with a film that tries to rip off "The Greatest Show on Earth" and ends up a predictable yet convoluted mess.The ugly color photography and patchy editing only stress the insipidness of the screenplay and one-dimensional characters who try to flesh out this mishmash of unbelievable dreck. Baxter, still looking beautiful, fails to make her character more than a wooden vixen, even if her haunting breathy voice is always a pleasure to the ear. The highlight really is the magnificently scary dives Baxter and Cochran (or at least their stand-ins) must perform. You know exactly where this film is going to go and how all will end up, having been done so many more times before and so much better.

Unpretentious describes this film production fairly well. But that's consistent with the setting: a small, insular world, wherein a variety of atypical and colorful people move in and out of scenes, as the plot dictates. These people, for the most part, are tricksters and hangers-on whose only claim to fame relates to some physical trait, or some bizarre gift or craft.More talented than most is Frank (Lyle Bettger) who high dives into a burning tank of water. Then there's Joe (Steve Cochran), an announcer who tries to convince attendees to part with a few cents, to see the magic of the headless wonder, or some such. But one of Joe's attendees, a young, attractive woman named Willie (Anne Baxter), follows Joe to a snack stand, whereupon she proceeds to swipe Joe's wallet from his back pocket. With his money, she buys some food. But he catches her. And in so doing, he takes a liking to her. She's destitute, you see, and shapely. And she'll do anything to make some money, even if it's just wash dishes in the carnival's kitchen.That's the setup for this modest melodrama, wherein Willie learns about life in the circus and, in the process, finds that love can be confusing with so many guys attracted to her. At one point, she concedes hopelessly: "I don't know what love is". Will things work out for Willie? Will she find true, lasting love?"Carnival Story" is largely a cinematic vehicle for Anne Baxter. I've always liked her. But in this film she overacts a lot. Steve Cochran gives a more relaxed, naturalistic performance, as does Lyle Bettger. Tension derives from Frank's high-dive act, and the rivalry among the various guys drawn to Willie. The film's visuals are acceptable, if unremarkable. Sets seem realistic. Toward the end, the plot trends melodramatically hokey.A prospective viewer needs to keep expectations reasonably low for this film. It's got melodrama and tension. It's got several fine actors. It's got an unusual setting. And that may be enough, for this small, low-concept story.