Im Zirkus der 3 Manegen

As some of you may be aware, I’m no longer that much of a fan of Jerry Lewis – though I did acquire the Paramount 10-disc set of his vehicles recently; growing up I watched a number of them (and also a lot of his teamings with Dean Martin) on Italian TV – and, not having checked out the latter in ages, I was wondering how they held up. Since I can easily lay my hands on the films released on DVD, I opted to give another look to one which, for some reason, has yet to appear on the format and which had certainly been among the first I became acquainted with all those years ago.

I’ve watched scores of films over the years set inside a circus (and should be getting to one more, THE BIG CIRCUS [1959], presently); many comic stars had tried their hand at this exciting and evocative milieu – so it was natural for Lewis (and Martin) to get in on the act as well. Jerry, of course, wants to be a clown but has to go through the ropes first – therefore, we see him as a lion-tamer(!) and, with Martin in tow, sweeping the tents, washing the elephants and as an ice-cream vendor, etc. – inadvertently, he even does a tightrope routine on a bike(!). Soon enough, his antics are getting more laughs than those of the company’s star clown who, naturally, is jealous of all this attention – thus becoming mean in Jerry’s regard, and is generally so soused that he becomes unfit for work! Another clichéd turn-of-events is the fact that the circus (owned by Joanne Dru) would be impoverished if it weren’t for a star attraction in the form of trapeze artist Zsa Zsa Gabor; for this reason, she acts like a diva and, worse for Dru (who, surprise surprise, is attracted to Martin), holds him under her thumb! Helping Dru out is old-timer Wallace Ford – who purports to give the boys a hard time but, predictably, emerges to have a heart of gold underneath; also on hand are Sig Ruman as the veteran lion-tamer and Elsa Lanchester as The Bearded Lady!

Martin (and Lewis) gets to sing a couple of resistible tunes, one of them to a bunch of caged animals!; the soundtrack, then, includes his hit from the previous year “That’s Amore” (first heard in THE CADDY [1953]) and the Paramount standard “Lover” (from the superb Maurice Chevalier/Jeanette MacDonald musical LOVE ME TONIGHT [1932]). Anyway, at the bat of an eyelid, Lewis is awarded the spotlight of star clown (without having really demonstrated any outstanding comedic skills), while Martin – who introduces a spot of gambling to aid the circus – takes over the joint when Dru decides to call it a day. Eventually, Lewis and Martin also quarrel over the circus’ customary show at an orphanage – which Dru returns to compere…but, all’s well that ends well, as Dino has a change of heart and turns up to sing for the finale (following Jerry’s attempts to put a smile on a crippled girl’s face).

As can be seen, the formula is typical Martin & Lewis: songs, girls, sentiment and Lewis’ love-it-or-hate-it shtick; if anything, it’s certainly colorful and mildly entertaining along the way – but hardly a classic of screen comedy and, while clearly a popular title in the Lewis canon because he gets to don the clown make-up (the film, in fact, was re-issued in a shortened version entitled JERRICO, THE WONDER CLOWN!), not one of the better outings from the team.

3 Ring Circus was not a film Dean Martin cared to remember. Apparently this was a film that Jerry Lewis wanted to make because he got to play a circus clown. Dean had very little to do here, he only got one solo song though it's a good one.

Nick Tosches fine biography of Dean Martin says that Jerry ran the film, including picking the director Joseph Pevney. It was the first time that real tension was rather public between the team.

Dino and Jerry play a pair of newly discharged veterans who pick up jobs in a circus. Jerry is placed as a lion tamer's assistant and he has a marvelous scene with Sig Ruman as a rather inpatient lion tamer. Trying to teach Jerry the trade would be enough to drive anyone crazy. But Jerry is actually correct in his reasoning that if he just hires on with the circus, sooner or later his talents as a clown will shine through. Though he drives owners Wallace Ford and Joanne Dru wacky with his antics, he becomes a marvelous clown. That's a profession you are born to, either your funny or you're not. My favorite scene with him is Jerry trying to hand the aerial cyclist his unicycle and then getting caught on the high wire with it.

On the other hand Dino is caught between Joanne Dru and the star attraction of the show, trapeze artist Zsa Zsa Gabor. Gabor is also jealous when Lewis gets to be the real star of the show. I think you can figure out how all this ends.

Dean and Jerry do a song written for the film Hey Punchinello by Paramount contract songwriters Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. But Dean's one and only solo was the interpolated classic, It's A Big Wide Wonderful World. For reasons I don't understand he made no record of this so the only place you'll hear him is in 3 Ring Circus. The song was introduced by Buddy Clark in the Forties and it fits Dean's style perfectly.

Other than that song, this film was strictly Jerry's show with Dean only in support. No wonder tension flared.

This must have been a tough film for Dean Martin to make. After all, his character is a bit of a jerk and he garners so sympathy or love from the audience in this one. As for Jerry, he is an oddball in this one--not bad at all, but also not exactly funny. Instead, he's amusing and it's nice to see him take on a lot of different jobs at the circus.

When the film begins, Pete (Dean) and Jerry (Jerry) are leaving the army. They have no prospects and are mostly just concerned with getting a free meal when they wander into a circus. But Jerry would love to one day be a clown--but en route he tries his hand at lion taming, tightrope walking and even getting fired out of a giant cannon! As for the unlikable Pete, he's a schemer and loves it when the circus' resident prima donna (Zha Zha Gabor) falls for him--as he is allow to loaf about and not get fired because he's her boy- toy. Later, as Pete takes on more and more responsibilities with running the circus, he begins to act like it's his and is a pretty obnoxious guy--so much so that his pal, Jerry, becomes rather disillusioned with him. Does this sound like a comedy? No...well you get the picture. It has some sweet moments and Jerry gets to do quite a bit--but Dean is in a thankless role as the film lumbers along. Certainly not one of their better films since the chemistry that made the team enjoyable is a bit lacking.

There are some strange echoes of the real life bust up between Martin and Lewis in the script. It's saddled with Jerry's sincere but misguided belief that he is a natural clown and screen heir to Emmett Kelly, who's makeup he closely resembles in some scenes, imitation being flattery I guess. The buddies, newly discharged from the army and penniless head for the circus where Jerry, longing to become a clown instead has to apply to be a trainee lion tamer (as if..) the usual water squirting elephants and disgruntled, drunken clown lead us to the quease-inducing finale when Jerry as the clown succeeds in making a sad little girl (in leg irons, yet)smile at his tears. For 1954 audiences I'm sure it was a pleasure break from post war blues but it's well past it's sell by date. TRIVIA: Unless I'm much mistaken the sequence where Dean Martin does acrobatics on some low bars is doubled by Nick Cravat who appears elsewhere in the film and was an acrobatic partner of Burt Lancaster.

Reports I've read state that "3 Ring Circus" was a very troubled production, ranging from stars Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis demanding a lot of script changes through filming to the fact that their partnership was at this stage becoming very strained. All of this turmoil may explain why the end results do not manage to be all that humorous. Much of the movie is surprisingly played in a lower key than usual; even Lewis doesn't go all out like he did in other movies. I will say that Lewis all the same is pretty good, especially when he's in clown makeup and performing in front of an audience. Martin does try, but the script for the most part makes him a kind of a heel instead of a humorous straight man, and often doesn't seem to know what to do with his character. There also isn't a heck of a lot of plot on display as well. The movie had potential, but this is definitely one case where everyone involved should have come to some sort of agreement first about how to do the movie - or simply not have done the movie at all.