One of my all time favorites.

Best movie ever!

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

"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. Henry Whirling, the owner of the Whirling Circus (Victor Mature) gets a loan from a bank, but an accountant (Red Buttons) is sent along to watch the investment. He hires a publicist (Rhonda Fleming), though Whirling objects strenuously. Meanwhile, a rival circus is trying to sabotage Whirling's efforts to get into the black.The film also stars Vincent Price as the ringleader, Gilbert Roland as the aerialist Colino, Peter Lorre as a Skeets the clown, David Nelson, a member of the high wire act, and Kathryn Grant. Grant plays Mature's sister -- they are twenty years apart, but it's within the realm of possibility.With more attention paid to the care of animals today, I doubt you'd see multi-colored elephants, which really bothered me.Some interesting aerial routines, a little suspense, and need I say that Red Buttons takes Skeets the Clown's place at one point.This is before CGI and computers, so the process shot of Colino walking a wire at a national landmark is lousy.The acting is nothing special. The best actors like Lorre and Price have smaller roles. Victor Mature was a serviceable leading man. Very, very few men in Hollywood were handsome throughout their lives; I think Gilbert Roland was a notable exception. He's quite effective in a dramatic role.All in all, entertaining.

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!"

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...IMMATURE (LOL). Victor Mature turned in some EXCELLENT portrayals, notably in MY DARLING CLEMENTINE, KISS OF DEATH and THE ROBE. Also, let me clarify a couple of other comments posted for this film: The train wreck here is NOT the climactic set piece that the one in GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH was and ZACH's (Gilbert Roland) attempt to walk Niagara falls is not this film's climax. As for why Vincent Price was in the cast, here comes my spoiler: The saboteur in the circus' troop turns out NOT to be the often-cast-as-villain, Price, but rather the young, clean cut, all-American boy, fresh from the OZZIE AND HARRIET show, David Nelson. A nice "red herring" to throw the audience off the scent of the real villain. I also thought Peter Lorre's "Skeeter the Clown" was just fine, especially when he is asked what bank watchdog/accountant, Red Buttons' "act" is: "He's a juggler. Juggles figures". Plus, Kathryn Grant (eventually Mrs. Bing Crosby) and Adele Mara both look great in tights!

Irwin Allen's take on circus life.Not really the sort of film I review.Footage of out-of-control wild animals upsetting folks in the circus does bring to mind later episodes of Lost In Space, Land Of The Giants and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea when wild animals/monsters would threaten the stars of these shows.Big Circus might not be the greatest show on earth but it is a taste of things to come, in the 1960s, from producer Irwin Allen!