Carnival Story

Mrs. Shullivan and I both worked for the biggest and longest running Carnival the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) so we know a thing or two about the Carnival life. The people employed in the Carnival come from all walks of life and all have a past life. In Carnival Story an attractive lady named simply Willi (Anne Baxter) is desperate for employment when she encounters a suave talker named Joe Hammond (Steve Cochran) who helps her get her start in the carnival as a short order cook and waitress.

It doesn't take long before the other carnival workers take notice of Willi and are talking about this new girl in the kitchen named and the men's heads start turning none more than the high wire diver Frank Colloni (Lyle Bettger) who suggests that Willi join him in his high wire diving act and he will not only mentor her but make her his wife.

So a love triangle quickly unfolds with Willi in the middle between the rugged and handsome fast talker Joe Hammond and the high wire diver Frank Colloni. All three main characters cause problems for each other and the carnival's most famous line "the show must go on" is ever so appropriate at the climax of this genuinely interesting film for all carny workers and carny lovers.

I give the film a redeeming 7 out of 10 IMDB Rating.

Made a couple of years after Cecil B. Demille's circus tribute movie almost epic "Greatest Show on Earth," this movie is a wayward daughter of that film. The great circus acts are pretty well limited to a single high diving act. It is set in Germany because a carnival can't make any money any more in the United States. The television series, "Flash Gordon" was also made in Germany in 1954, so I guess, producers heard they could get a lot for their production buck in Germany at that time.

The movie works better than it should. Being filmed in Germany, it allows Ann Baxter to show a bit more sexuality than she could have gotten away with in Hollywood under the moral code at that time. She shows a lot of leg and showers while taking a shower.

She really turns in a strong performance. The script is cliché ridden and the lines are as deep as a pulp detective novel, but she managers to really make us believe her when she strips to her underwear and tells a man that she's not afraid of anything. This is about as far from "All About Eve" or "Magnificent Ambersons" material, but she carries it off somehow, and keeps your eyes glued to the screen.

Altogether, the script is mediocre melodrama, but good direction and good acting keep it on track and make it fun. While it never reaches the grandeur of "Greatest Show on Earth" it doesn't have the dull stretches that GSOE has either.

Anne Baxter is channeling her 'inner Joan Crawford' at every key scene of this lively B-Movie time waster. Carnival Girl Joan was a natural for this - a shame she was too old. Those looks of blazing hatred and the words Baxter spits out at Steve Cochran (when she's not grinding all over him) need some serious eyebrows and shoulder pads. To be honest I watched this from start to finish and never felt the urge to turn it off. Many a 'great' movie I've left half finished. This is pure B movie and certainly not great but the story hooks keep it moving from scene to scene. I should have seen the ending a mile away but didn't bother to look for it.

That male high diving husband wore the CREEPIEST bathing suit I have ever seen on a man. I never saw the actor before but he was oddly sexless, effeminate and unsettling. There is one scene when he is having his blond locks lovingly styled by a midget that belongs in a Bunuel movie.

A movie equivalent of one of those 1950s gaudy crime paperbacks, this low budget effort starts down a familiar path but is still able to provide its share of suspense and surprises.

The lovely Anne Baxter, though a long way from ALL ABOUT EVE is an attractive heroine albeit with an accent that has a tendency to disappear at times. She obtains work in the carnival through Joe (Steve Cochran)whose pocket she has picked out of desperation and then becomes a partner of Lyle Bettger in a high-dive act. This is an intriguing start as Bettger often played sneering villains and Joe seems decent enough at first, though we soon learn that this is not the case. Steve Cochran was ideal in this sort of role.

There is an incredibly similar sequence featuring a high-diver who jumps into a blazing tank in a section of the British film ENCORE, released two or three years before, which may have given the makers of this film some ideas.

As I remember it, this was an exciting movie of the day and it still stands up to the test in my opinion. Steve Cochran was still the right age to look good and so was Anne Baxter. His character has caught up with her again, and they have some history together. She has got a job in a circus with a high diving swimmer. I remember the diver for his unique soft voice. He was the "goody" in the film. Anne Baxters character doesn't want to take up with him again and Steve Cochran sort of become a stalker, hanging around the tent at night and giving a low whistle. The dim witted strong man of the circus is a little in love with her himself and will do anything to protect her. The three main characters are all good looking people which puts this film at it best. There is also the technical and interesting stuff of climbing a high ladder and looking down at a drum of water that looks like you are going to dive into just a teacupful of water for you are seemingly so high. Anne Baxter is also expected to learn how to do this. Steve Cochran is bothering her... And watch out for the Big Wheel. A wonderful film.