L'Amour et la bête

The film was nothing more than a remake of "Kid Galahad," with the hero (Eddie Albert) as a lion tamer instead of a boxer… Bogart walked indifferently through his role as the owner of a traveling carnival whose plot was borrowed from Howard Hawks' "Tiger Shark."

Sylvia Sidney appeared in the Bette Davis as Bogart's troubled girlfriend, a fortuneteller with the carnival… The film was a very disappointing follow-up to Bogart's triumph in "High Sierra," but better things lay immediately ahead as Bogart was now ready for a new image, an image which was to dominate the screen for the next years, an image which found its basic construction in John Huston's "The Maltese Falcon."

Humphrey Bogart, Sylvia Sidney, Joan Leslie, Eddie Albert, and Sig Ruman star in "The Wagons Roll at Night," a 1941 film from Bogart, most likely made before Bogart really hit the big time with High Sierra and Maltese Falcon. 1941 was certainly an important year for him.

Bogart plays Nick Coaster, the head of a traveling carnival. When a lion escapes, he ends up in a grocery store where the clerk, Matt (Albert) saves the day and becomes a local hero. Coaster thinks the kid's a natural and talks him into learning the lion tamer trade. He needs him - his usual lion tamer, Hoffman the Great (Ruman) is usually drunk.

One night, Hoffman is too drunk to go on and despite objections from other members of the carnival, Coaster sends the novice Matt into the ring. He does such an excellent job that Nick fires Hoffman. Hoffman retaliates, gets into a huge fight with Matt, and ends up mauled by one of the lions. Matt has to get out of town fast, so Flo (Sidney) suggests they take him to Nick's farm. This is a big no-no because Nick is determined that his sister (Leslie) not mix with carnival people. You can guess the rest.

The young Albert was adorable, extremely likable in his role. Bogart is terrific as Nick, a tough as nails guy who considers all carnival people, including Flo and himself, the scum of the earth. Sidney shows her vulnerability here, as a woman who's been hurt by Nick but still cares for him, even while she's attracted to Matt.

Entertaining and predictable, and I have to make a disclosure here that Eddie Albert holds a special place in my heart. I interviewed him when he was in his 90s and quite frail, and after the article was published, I heard from some Navy veterans who wanted to publish the story of my father in a magazine - they'd known he was in the Navy but had no idea of his heroism. I wrote back and said fine, but Eddie Albert isn't my father, had I written something that made them think so? It turned out that Albert's daughter has the same first name as I do, and they got confused. My father, who died in 2007, got a huge kick out of that email and kept it.

A variation of Kid Galahad but without the Bogart character and the boxing. Humphrey Bogart plays the owner of a circus and Sylvia Sidney is his girl. The circus isn't very big and their lion tamer is always drunk. When a lion escapes and goes into a town, Eddie Albert winds up holding the lion back until Bogart shows up to get it. Bogart hires Albert as an assistant to the lion tamer but when the lion tamer gets really drunk, Albert has to go on by himself. He's a success and the other lion tamer is fired. The lion that escapes is very vicious and winds up killing a guy and when Albert goes to stay with Bogart's family after he is injured, Bogart gets an idea in his dead. The first part of the movie is pretty good but the ending is pretty obvious and also pretty bad.

In 1941 Humphrey Bogart was near to stardom, he starred also in ''High Sierra'' and his first classic, ''The Maltese Falcon''. I consider this a bit of a remake of ''Kid Galahad'', but instead of boxing it's set in the circus world. His co-stars here are Eddie Albert, Sylvia Sidney, Joan Leslie and Sig Ruman. The direction is by Ray Enright, the same who directed in 1936 ''China Clipper'' with Bogart

It begins when Matt Varney (a grocery store's clerk) saves a baby from an escaped lion and suddenly Nick Coaster, the circus manager makes him a star although Matt had never experienced lion-taming, and this because the other lion tamer, Hoffman the Great, is always drunk. One night Hoffman has a brawl with Varney and ends up mauled by a lion, and Flo (Coaster's girlfriend), tries to help Matt sending him to Nick's farmhouse. But trouble follows because Matt falls in love with Nick's sister, and Nick don't want her sibling mixed with circus people because they are the scum of the Earth! It ends with Coaster killed by Caesar, the fiercest of all the circus lions, after he wanted to punish Varney for his bad behavior.

Although Humphrey Bogart received top- billing Albert is the real star of the movie, as the grocery clerk- turned-lion tamer who suddenly becomes the circus star. The leading lady is Sylvia Sidney, as Bogart's girlfriend, torn between repulsion and love, and Joan Leslie in a supporting role, as Bogart's sister who falls in love with Albert's character. The always great Sig Ruman as Hoffman the Great, in a brief but interesting supporting role!

This movie is recommended to: (1) Humphrey Bogart fans (2) fans of movies set in carnivals.

Wagons Roll at Night, The (1941)

** (out of 4)

Circus promoter Nick Coaster (Humphrey Bogart) finds himself in trouble when a dangerous lion escapes his act but a grocery clerk (Eddie Albert) ends up saving the day. Nick, seeing the possibility for money, hires the kid on as a lion trainer but soon jealously gets involved as Nick's girlfriend (Sylvia Sidney) starts to fall for the kid but even worse is when his sister (Joan Leslie) falls for him. This film really comes off as a watered down version of Kid Galahad, which also featured Bogart in a supporting role. If you've seen that earlier film with Edward G. Robinson and Bette Davis (or the later Elvis remake) then you're going to know all the twists and turns that this film offers. The one thing this film has going for it is seeing the pre-fame Bogart playing this type of role so fans of the actor might get a kick out of this thing. I've read that Bogart really hated this film but he's actually not too bad in it. He certainly isn't giving a classic performance but he does a good job showing off his tough side and again, it's always fun seeing him in this type of role. Sidney ends up stealing the film as his troubled girlfriend who wants a better life outside the circus. She comes off very charming in her role and add a lovely realism to her character. Albert is also very good in his role and really comes across well as that bright eyed kid who is about to learn a lesson in life. There are some nice touches of humor thrown in including a great sequence when the lion escapes and wonders into Albert's grocery store. A woman is sniffing limburger cheese when she first sees the beast and Albert's reaction to what happens is great. It's also worth noting that this is the first film in which Bogart received top-billing so that's one historic reason, which might draw people to watch this.