Fearless Fagan

This film was shown in the wee hours of the morning and since I had taped this film by mistake, I decided I may as well find out what it was all about. Janet Leigh, (Abby Ames), "Scaramouche", plays the role of a very famous singer who was visiting Army bases during WW II and stops her car as she approaches the Army Base. Abby hears circus music playing from a wooded area of the camp and decides to see just what is going on and runs into Fearless a nice big Lion who has a dear friend called Carleton Carpenter, (Pvt.Floyd Hilston) "Up Periscope". The entire film deals with a great performance between Fearless who plays with and even sleeps with Carleton. Great Animal film along with a very pretty Janet Leigh who was just starting out in her career. This is a worthwhile film to view and I was glad to have taped the wrong picture.

Enjoy

Stanley Donen directed this movie immediately after directing Singin' in the Rain. He was to have directed Jumbo, but that film wasn't ready to go yet.

It's true that neither Stanley Donen, Janet Leigh or Carlton Carpenter wanted to do the film, but it did OK at the box office.

This is a fun movie, although slight, and the lion, Fagan, is amazing. (Fagan plays himself.) In one of the opening scenes, Carpeter's character performs with the lion, and the lion reminded me of a great big kitty cat playing hide n' go seek!

To read more about this movie, go to tcm.com.

The plot to "Fearless Fagan" is very stupid and impossible to believe...yet, amazingly, it's based on a true story! What's more, the film stars the actual lion, Fearless Fagan!

This weird story first came to light in "Life" magazine. It seems that a soldier was drafted back in 1951 and he had a pet lion that needed to find a home while he served in the Army. And, MGM thought (incorrectly) it would make a great film....but sadly the movie lost money according to the studio.

When the story begins, Floyd is working in the circus with his pet lion, Fearless Fagan. The pair have an act where Floyd is a clown lion tamer and Fagan chases him about the cage. It's pretty cute. But when Floyd is drafted, he's got a problem...he needs to find a home for it. This film is about his quest...as well as the lion's subsequent escape!

Carleton Carpenter is the relatively unknown actor who plays Floyd. I read about the film and apparently the real Floyd Hilston coached Carleton and introduced him to Fagan. As a result, the scenes are cute, look very real and work quite well. I really think Carleton Carpenter was a lucky guy to get such an amazing assignment!

So is it any good? Yes...it's quite charming...though how true all this story is, I have no idea. It's a nice family film...with a sweet happy ending.

The inspiration for the story can be found in the February 12, 1951 issue of Life magazine titled "Fearless Fagan Finds a Home". Fagan played himself in this movie, "And introducting Fearless Fagan (Himself)" appears in the opening credits and his owner PFC Floyd C. Humeston acted as an adviser. The true part of the story is that Humeston worked as a clown with his lion. When he was drafted, he could not find a suitable home for Fagan so he took Fagan with him to Ford Ord, CA. After the film was completed, Fagan remained as a resident of M-G-M's animal compound until Humeston's enlistment was up in Oct 1952. I would recommend this movie even though much of the comedy is contrived.

As a Generation X-er, I had never even heard of this movie before tonight. I was flipping through channels and saw some guy wrestling with a lion on AMC and had to stop and watch. Before I knew it, I was hooked and had to watch the whole thing. The lion, Fagan, must've either been drugged or he was the tamest lion ever. The main character not only dances and wrestles with this lion but get it to listen to commands like it is a dog. It even plays with string like a cat and sleeps in the same bed with the guy. Amazing. I have never seen anything like it. Granted lions are more docile than tigers but Siegfried and Roy had nothing on whoever trained Fagan. Today's movie makers wouldn't even bother, they would just digitize the lion.

The movie is short, only about 80 minutes. So if you see it on, do yourself a favor and watch it. Fagan is worth it.