|
Post by petrolino on Aug 4, 2018 0:56:53 GMT
Circus Of Horrors (1960)
Requiem For A Vampire (1971)
Vampire Circus (1972)
The Funhouse (1981)
Santa Sangre (1989)
Death Mask (1998)
Sideshow (2000)
'The Circus' - Erasure
|
|
|
Post by timshelboy on Aug 4, 2018 8:32:39 GMT
Hi there London777 Great thread , nice to see your mention of Dual Alibi a terrific dark sideshow gem !. Dual Alibi (1947) dir: Alfred Travers**** SPOILERS **** Not having planetX's generous disposition I would not call it "terrific", though watching a better copy might have enhanced my appreciation. It is a low-budget British B-movie which tries to do too much with its limited means and has a few script problems too, not least relying on a combination of two extreme unlikely occurrences for its plot. But I did enjoy it and it has some interesting talking points: It is the story of a French trapeze act, identical twins both played by Herbert Lom, one reserved and calculating, the other outgoing and (as it proves) feckless. An unscrupulous publicity agent uses a femme fatale to drive a wedge between them, and their brotherly affection turns to hatred. So far, so corny. But what I liked was that instead of the brotherly rivalry ending in tragedy, as normally happens in movies, they are eventually reconciled. If blood is thicker than water, then identical twins' blood must be positively viscous, so that seems more realistic. Top-billed opposite Lom is Phyllis Dixie. I am sure that is a name unknown to all but the most knowledgeable film-buffs, but it came to my mind as readily if she were Deborah Kerr or Valerie Hobson. But I did not know why, as this was her only screen appearance apart from one walk-on. Then I remembered. She had been the "Queen of Striptease", filling the Whitehall Theatre throughout the war years and rivaling the more famous Windmill Theatre (which featured naked still tableaux rather than live striptease). She was a local personality in my area until her death in much reduced circumstances at 50. Maybe she should have persevered with movies, as she is more than adequate here and not at all over-shadowed by her co-stars. Though the film poster shows a curvaceous damsel in a swimsuit, this is not her, as she plays a secretary, not an artiste in the circus ring and, sadly, keeps her kit on throughout. Her part is well written too. Though loyal to her boyfriend, played by Terence de Marney, we are never sure which way she will jump. She is greedy and impressionable, but not a really evil femme fatale, and seems genuinely fond of the twin she is conning, with the 30-year-old Lom looking surprisingly personable, Terence de Marney is less distinctive than his rather odd and effete brother Derrick, but a more versatile actor. He was also a writer and influential figure in London theater, introducing several modern classics as producer and director. He committed suicide at the age of 63. As the scheming Cockney agent he resembles Sid James before his "Carry On" days. The plot development used the hackneyed device of one twin committing a blatant murder in public, but not convicted because no-one can identify "whichdunnit". Siodmak's "The Dark Mirror" using the same idea was released only the previous year, and there have been several variations since, such as Dead Ringers (1985) with Jeremy Irons. On top of that, the trigger for the plot is the twins winning the top prize in the Loterie Nationale, stated to be a many millions-to-one chance. Now I can suspend my disbelief with the best of you, but the national lottery being won by absolutely identical twins is a bit much to swallow. This disbars the film from being a good Film Noir, which should depict events that are disturbingly possible. The film is told as one long flashback. We are first shown one of the twins, who has fallen very low, in clown make-up. We have seen many a humiliated clown in the films already discussed in this thread but Lom really takes the biscuit. He is not even a real clown, just one of the vagrants employed to put up posters for the circus, but the agent has the idea of making them up as clowns. As Lom trudges off at the end, his make-up running in the pouring rain, he exceeds even Tyrone Power's and Ingmar Bergman's worse nightmares. This flashback setting illustrates the careless script-writing I mentioned above. The story is told in a conversation between the surviving twin and the circus manager. Vincent Barney (Ronald Frankau), who each relates the bits the other did not already know. But before we start on that, the manager enters the shed where Lom has just made up and says "Wait, I know you from somewhere. I never forget a face." Even after Lom removes most of his make-up, the manager at first struggles to remember from where, and his name. But as we watch the startling events, which occurred less than ten years previously, it is clear that Barney was either involved in, or close at hand to, all of them. How is it possible that he could ever forget them in so short a time? The circus world is small. Everyone knows everyone and theirs was a top act famous in England and France, with a murder, a huge lottery win and a dramatic trial to jog his memory on top. Barney is an exception to the usually brutal or exploitative circus or showground bosses. He runs a happy crew and is protective of his workers. The French judge in the trial is Abraham Sofaer. The previous year he had played the Heavenly Judge in A Matter of Life and Death (1946). Here is DUAL ALIBI- sounds wonderful. TWO Herbert Loms in one movie is a dream come true chez timshel Thanks
and here is some footage of the real Phyllis Dixey washing herself in her back garden. Please do not view if you are a child or have a nervous disposition
There was a hit TV drama about her from 1978 UK called THE ONE AND ONLY PHYLLIS DIXEY, which was a star maker for Lesley Anne Down. Can't find it online but probably worth tracking down if you like the idea of Lesley-Anne playing a stripper! Until we find it console yourselves with the bookPhyllis Dixey
EDIT here is a source for the TV movie I've not used em myself but they look kosher and it is not expensive Phyllis Dixey movie
|
|
|
Post by manfromplanetx on Aug 4, 2018 21:31:12 GMT
The boxing tent is a popular fairground attraction. The Ring (1927) is Alfred Hitchcock's only original screenplay, the excellent silent drama tells the tale of an undefeated fairground boxer named "One Round" Jack Sander (Carl Brisson) who is beaten in the ring by a mysterious challenger, later revealed to be... Sideshow challenge, step right up...
|
|
|
Post by london777 on Aug 8, 2018 1:26:55 GMT
Tonight I stumbled on a movie of which I had never heard, which is equally eligible for two of our current threads, so I will discuss the relevant aspects in each of them. Man in the Dark (1953) dir: Lew Landers stars Edmund O'Brien as a gang boss who has lost his memory and cannot remember anything, least of all where he stashed the proceeds of his last heist. The finale is such an over-used device, a chase through a fairground, complete with hysterically laughing clowns, and ending up on the roller coaster (or big dipper as we limeys call it). At least we are spared the distorting mirrors this time. I never know why, in thrillers, when people are fleeing for their lives, instead of quietly merging with the crowd, they run down lonely streets or climb up towers, bridges, or roller coasters where they can be seen by everyone and can enjoy falling from a great height. Our amnesiac hero has been led to the fairgound by a nightmare in which it appeared to him. As the movie contains many flashbacks, it is not at first obvious that this is not another one, until the dream becomes ever more surreal, culminating in a hilarious sequence where O'Brien occupies one car of the Whip/Octopus and seven cops each occupy one of the other cars. Round and and round they go with the cops firing at O'Brien at point blank range. Lost memories, dream sequences, flashbacks, Audrey Totter, it has got to be Film Noir, though a tired rehash of stuff we have seen previously. Dan Riss, a new name to me, is good as the hard-boiled insurance investigator with some sharp one-liners. Those guys often seem to be more efficient than the cops in these movies. More in BAT's "Second Chance" thread.
|
|
|
Post by teleadm on Aug 8, 2018 17:26:01 GMT
Max Ophuls last movie Lola Montes 1955:
|
|
|
Post by london777 on Aug 19, 2018 4:46:28 GMT
Man in the Dark (1953) dir: Lew Landers ... The finale is such an over-used device, a chase through a fairground, complete with hysterically laughing clowns, and ending up on the roller coaster (or big dipper as we limeys call it). Woman on the Run (1950) dir: Norman Foster is an earlier film also ending in this way.
|
|
|
Post by telegonus on Aug 19, 2018 7:43:05 GMT
Great thread and idea for a thread. We had one like this on the old IMDB a long time ago. There was a kind of gradual "merger of consent" that circuses, carnivals, fairs, sideshows and the like can suggest something spooky or even, literally, the supernatural... This is, if true, and I think it is, I imagine a great part of their appeal, even for (as we used to call them) "highbrow" film-makers of the Fellini-Bergman type; and, much later on, Woody Allen. While they are by and large unpretentious films, such pictures suggest something larger at work, aesthetic as well as metaphysical. I don't think Gorilla At Large has been mentioned here, though it deserves to be. It's a modestly budgeted exploitation type film from 1954, originally 3D, and in color, it's easy on the eyes in many ways, and it features a surprisingly distinguished cast for the kind of movie it is: Anne Bancroft, Cameron Mitchell, Raymond Burr and Lee J. Cobb, among many others. Then there are those movies that may feature a carny atmosphere but aren't about that. I think of the 1950 Irving Pichel directed Quicksand, a low budget vehicle for Mickey Rooney, his career headed downhill at the time; he and his fellow cast members are very good in this dark story of an auto mechanic who "borrows" a few bucks from his boss and pays a very high price for having done so. The carny scenes are set at what I believe is the Santa Monica Pier (could be wrong), and an arcade figures in the story. Peter Lorre contributes a good deal to the proceedings. Carnivals, fairs and the like figure in many mystery films as well. There may be a Thin Man entry that features something alone those lines. I know there's at least one like that in the Rathbone-Bruce Sherlock Holmes canon. There appear to be a number of Charlie Chan entries that feature carny places (broadly speaking) as well. Among them, Charlie Chan At The Circus, At Treasure Island; and a case can be made for his visit to a wax museum, not quite a carnival or sideshow but similar in spirit, albeit rather more "educational".
|
|
|
Post by petrolino on Aug 19, 2018 11:26:00 GMT
Great thread and idea for a thread. We had one like this on the old IMDB a long time ago. There was a kind of gradual "merger of consent" that circuses, carnivals, fairs, sideshows and the like can suggest something spooky or even, literally, the supernatural... This is, if true, and I think it is, I imagine a great part of their appeal, even for (as we used to call them) "highbrow" film-makers of the Fellini-Bergman type; and, much later on, Woody Allen. While they are by and large unpretentious films, such pictures suggest something larger at work, aesthetic as well as metaphysical. I don't think Gorilla At Large has been mentioned here, though it deserves to be. It's a modestly budgeted exploitation type film from 1954, originally 3D, and in color, it's easy on the eyes in many ways, and it features a surprisingly distinguished cast for the kind of movie it is: Anne Bancroft, Cameron Mitchell, Raymond Burr and Lee J. Cobb, among many others. Then there are those movies that may feature a carny atmosphere but aren't about that. I think of the 1950 Irving Pichel directed Quicksand, a low budget vehicle for Mickey Rooney, his career headed downhill at the time; he and his fellow cast members are very good in this dark story of an auto mechanic who "borrows" a few bucks from his boss and pays a very high price for having done so. The carny scenes are set at what I believe is the Santa Monica Pier (could be wrong), and an arcade figures in the story. Peter Lorre contributes a good deal to the proceedings. Carnivals, fairs and the like figure in many mystery films as well. There may be a Thin Man entry that features something alone those lines. I know there's at least one like that in the Rathbone-Bruce Sherlock Holmes canon. There appear to be a number of Charlie Chan entries that feature carny places (broadly speaking) as well. Among them, Charlie Chan At The Circus, At Treasure Island; and a case can be made for his visit to a wax museum, not quite a carnival or sideshow but similar in spirit, albeit rather more "educational".
Some directors brought with them experiences from their days in circuses and carnivals. Horror filmmaker Tod Browning was a circus performer who'd direct 'Freaks' (1932). Pierre Etaix worked as a circus clown and directed 'Insomnia' (1963) & 'Yoyo' (1965). Fred Olen Ray worked as a carny and would direct 'Sideshow' (2000).
Pierre Etaix
|
|
|
Post by telegonus on Aug 19, 2018 16:41:35 GMT
Thanks for that, Petro. and so true. I wonder how much of that remains out there. Circuses are in eclipse, as it were. Carnivals are still there but more out in the "boonies", further out than before. A lot of the culture associated with the kind of entertainment under discussion here has gone out of fashion or been banned, especially anything to do with freaks and animals. The "carny" atmosphere could be found to one degree or another in any urban "red light" district in America, and in my lifetime was in Boston as recently as thirty years ago, faded, yet present, till gentrification utterly obliterated it and the buildings where it made its home. In New York, Times Square became a sort of sordid carny district for a long while, and is now cleaned up. There was always air of cheapness ("cheapness"?, whatever) that pervaded those often transient entertainment venues, all but the most respected, such as the Disney parks and places like them, seems to have vanished. Then there's there Internet, which is a carnival of another kind.
|
|
|
Post by petrolino on Aug 19, 2018 18:17:25 GMT
Thanks for that, Petro. and so true. I wonder how much of that remains out there. Circuses are in eclipse, as it were. Carnivals are still there but more out in the "boonies", further out than before. A lot of the culture associated with the kind of entertainment under discussion here has gone out of fashion or been banned, especially anything to do with freaks and animals. The "carny" atmosphere could be found to one degree or another in any urban "red light" district in America, and in my lifetime was in Boston as recently as thirty years ago, faded, yet present, till gentrification utterly obliterated it and the buildings where it made its home. In New York, Times Square became a sort of sordid carny district for a long while, and is now cleaned up. There was always air of cheapness ("cheapness"?, whatever) that pervaded those often transient entertainment venues, all but the most respected, such as the Disney parks and places like them, seems to have vanished. Then there's there Internet, which is a carnival of another kind.
You make a good point. People nowadays play online carnival games and build virtual circuses.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
@Deleted
Posts: 0
Likes:
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2018 18:30:14 GMT
The Bongo segment from Fun and Fancy Free (1947)
|
|
|
Post by london777 on Aug 21, 2018 17:36:36 GMT
I am surprised no-one has discussed Walt Disney's Dumbo (1941), surely one of the most-watched (if not the most-watched) circus movies ever. I will leave others who care for that sort of thing to write more about it, but it was much admired and helped to pull Disney out of financial difficulties. We are promised a live-action remake from Tim Burton next year, which may be more my cup of tea (dark and menacing and no friggin' talking animals , so more attuned to my remarks opening this thread).
|
|
|
Post by telegonus on Aug 28, 2018 19:28:30 GMT
The opening Mardi Gras in FLESH AND FANTASY
SANTA SANGRE - an eye popping spectacle by any standards this is a special treat for circus fans
The garden party with Joyce Grenfell's shooting sideshow in STAGE FRIGHT
an early Rita Hayworth B - THE SHADOW
and count me a fan of THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH ( yes there were better films released that year but its a long long way from being the worst best picture recipient) - great fun for kids of all ages - Betty Hutton needs sedating for sure but what's new? , but Heston, Gloria and esp Jimmy Stewart are on top form.. as re the clowns and animal acts Also, the final scenes of The Burgler (1957), a gritty Noir featuring Dan Duryea and, yes, Jayne Mansfield, in a crime story set in the Philadelphia-New Jersey area. Some excellent location work in this one.
|
|
|
Post by london777 on Sept 1, 2018 0:41:51 GMT
The World (2004) dir: Zhangke Jia is a drama/documentary set in an actual tacky eponymous Beijing theme park, and details the lives of the alienated young workers who are spiritually and physically trapped there.
|
|
|
Post by poelzig on Sept 1, 2018 3:55:18 GMT
Darkman
He's a freak ladies and gentlemen. A freak.
|
|
|
Post by amyghost on Sept 1, 2018 4:45:05 GMT
No doubt about whether the circus in Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983 dir: Jack Clayton) is a force for good or evil. It is a demonic production from the start, as its name "Mr. Dark's Pandemonium Carnival" suggests. It was based on a novel by Ray Bradbury, although that novel started life as a screenplay for Gene Kelly to produce. Mr Dark (Jonathan Pryce) brings his Carnival to a small town in Illinois and corrupts the inhabitants by granting them what they think they need (a traditional ploy by the Devil, as I explain to my three-year-old when refusing to buy him an ice-cream). Only the pure in heart resist and save the town. Clayton has a short resume as a director but it includes such excellent movies as Room at the Top (1959), The Pumpkin Eater (1964) which won Anne Bancroft an Oscar, and The Innocents (1961) a psychological probe into the nature of evil. It was probably this last which caused Disney to entrust him with the present film. It is worth a watch, but fails to live up to its promise. I suspect that Disney studio interference dumbed it down, for example Georges Delerue's creepy score was replaced by a more family-friendly one by James Horner. The film was a commercial flop. It failed to convey Bradbury's and Clayton's sombre and adult original concept but, on the other hand, many scenes would be incomprehensible or too scary for children. The finished film had extra scenes in CGI by a different director added before release, to Bradbury and Clayton's chagrin. A missed opportunity, but some aspects are very good. Jonathan Pryce makes this film worth at least one viewing--and if the rest of the cast had matched his performance, it would have been a memorable film, Disney dumbing down be damned. W.C. Fields got in on the act with Poppy (1936), where he plays a carnival con man attempting to stay one step ahead of the law, only to be felled through the love he has for his daughter; and in The Old Fashioned Way (1934) he's the head of a third-rate vaudeville troupe trying to stay one step ahead of the law, with not much better success. Buster Keaton played every act in a vaudeville show performance (including the audience) in the 1921 short The Play House; played a vaudeville performer in A Country Hero (1917 short); toured Coney Island with Fatty Arbuckle in 1917, and found himself an unwitting performer onstage in Free and Easy (1930) where he shared a very funny sequence with vaudeville great Trixie Friganza. He also launches an awful stage musical with Jimmy Durante in Speak Easily (1932), and is a wanna-be actor mistaken for an escaped convict in Le Roi des Champs-Elysees (1934)
|
|
spiderwort
Junior Member
@spiderwort
Posts: 2,519
Likes: 9,318
|
Post by spiderwort on Sept 2, 2018 0:35:44 GMT
Three versions of State Fair, adapted from the novel by Phil Stong, my maternal third cousin (never had a chance to meet him): 1933 (the only non-musical)
1945 1962
|
|
|
Post by amyghost on Sept 2, 2018 13:53:24 GMT
Three versions of State Fair, adapted from the novel by Phil Stong, my maternal third cousin (never had a chance to meet him): 1933 (the only non-musical) 1945 1962 Love the posters. The first one is a wonderful example of what real little works of art the early ones could be. I had to chuckle at the third one--it's actually pretty good, but the artist's attempt to make Pat Boone look manly doesn't really come up to scratch. You have Obscure Famous Relative Syndrome too, I see. (Not that the famous relative was obscure, but your life relation to him was). My mom's second cousin was Roy Clark, but we had no personal contact with him and never received any sort of invitation to any shows or such. In fact, ol' Roy actually changed his place of birth for the official version--he was born in Meherrin, Va ., but claimed in interviews to be from Tennessee. I notice Wikipedia sets the record straight on that one, giving his birthplace as Meherrin. Reading Strong's bio on Wikipedia turned up this line from him, which made me laugh: About his writing career, he once said, "Fell while trying to clamber out of a low bathtub at the age of two. Became a writer. No other possible career." That pretty much says it all.
|
|
spiderwort
Junior Member
@spiderwort
Posts: 2,519
Likes: 9,318
|
Post by spiderwort on Sept 2, 2018 22:34:10 GMT
Thanks, amyghost . I agree about the posters, btw. As for the famous relative syndrome, I have to say that that relationship is what motivated me to start doing genealogy. I was raised being told Phil Stong was my cousin, but had no evidence. So I did enough research to document that fact. It was gratifying, to say the least. He was Iowa born and bred, so his State Fair story was about the Iowa State Fair. And I further learned that his niece was Norma Stong Lyon, famous for being the "The Butter Cow Lady." She created elaborate butter sculptures at the Iowa State Fair from 1960 until 2006 - from life size cows to life size sculptures of Iowa born John Wayne. Quite remarkable. (And totally OT; apologies to London.)
Oh, and thanks for that Phil Stong quote. I love it!
|
|
|
Post by amyghost on Sept 2, 2018 22:48:44 GMT
I. Love. Those. Sculptures. I get the biggest kick out of things like that. How great to be related, even distantly, to somebody who creates them!
|
|