The Big Circus

A watchable movie about a struggling circus, but with less Red Button and more circus, this could have been much more enjoyable.

Not the worst circus movie ever made: that would possibly be THE BIG SHOW, made a couple of years later. There's a ton of genuine mid-century circus atmosphere on display, and an array of famous actors turn in mostly sincere performances. But it's wasted on a dismal script that does not fail to dig up every single hoary cliche in the Hoary Cliche Melodrama Scriptwriting Handbook. Oh, and the god-awful song that starts the picture almost kills it before it even begins.