Fixer Dugan

Made during the downside of Lee Tracy's career, but he's wide awake in this B, and doing what he did better than anybody: playing a fast-talking, conniving, but likable con man. And this time, as a troubleshooter at a middling circus, he has more morals than usual. It's a compact tale of the young daughter of a trapeze artist who slips and dies; the kid gets sent to a girls' school (which, in another unexpected twist, isn't a bad place at all), though she'd much rather be back in the carny life, where she's looked after by her late mom's former rival. Virginia Weidler was always wonderful, no simpering aren't-I-adorable child star but a real actor, and she plays beautifully off Tracy, as does Peggy Shannon, whom I wasn't familiar with, but she's a spirited, appealing leading lady. The lion-taming scenes are expertly faked, and a diverting supporting cast of characters keeps turning up--I especially liked Irene Franklin, an esteemed former vaudevillian, as a hanger-on at the circus who keeps looking back on her glory days. It's loaded with atmosphere and has some good lines, and it's over in 68 minutes. Very enjoyable.

After her mother suffers a high-wire mishap, 10-year-old Virginia Weidler (as Ethel "Terry" O'Connell) wants to remain with the "Barvin Greater Shows" circus. She joins lady lion-tamer Peggy Shannon (as Aggie Moreno), but lawmen think the job is too dangerous for a little girl. Another problem surfaces when a couple of shady men arrive and claim ownership of Ms. Shannon's lions. Smooth-talking circus "fixer" Lee Tracy (as Charlie Dugan) takes charge of the problems. There is a rather ordinary story, but Miss Weidler is an appealing child. Adults may have fun watching director Lew Landers and the RKO crew use lion-tamer Shannon's stunt-woman (or, very possibly, stuntman) and special effects in the second half.

***** Fixer Dugan (1939-04-21) Lew Landers ~ Virginia Weidler, Lee Tracy, Peggy Shannon, Bradley Page

The incomparable Lee Tracy stars as the title character, manager of a circus with many problems he fixes. The underrated child star, Virginia Weidler, becomes an orphan when her aerialist mother (Rita La Roy) falls to her death. She overhears some conmen planning to get two lions back for a rival circus and warns lion tamer Peggy Shannon. In retaliation, they inform the sheriff that Weidler is an underage orphan, so she is put in an orphanage. They also get the lions. Fixer Dugan, who is a bit of a conman himself, then has to get those lions and Weidler back. It's all pretty routine, but there is some suspense when a lion gets loose, and it's always fun to watch Tracy and Weidler.

Lee Tracy stars in the title role of Fixer Dugan, barker and all around handyman at a circus who thinks very fast on his feet and has a broad streak of conman in him. The part fits Tracy better than the glove that fitted OJ.

Top billed act is wire walker Rita LeRoy who's none too happy when lion tamer Peggy Shannon joins the circus. They have a rivalry like Davis and Crawford. But when LeRoy is killed, Shannone takes an interest in raising her daughter Virginia Weidler now left an orphan. Of course Tracy will help, but Shannon has some concern about the values he's imparting.

Shannon has her own problems as her former boss and rival circus owner Vinton Hayworth is trying to pull a fast one and attach the lions she works with in her act. And there are the juvenile authorities concerned about the atmosphere where Weidler is being raised.

Made on a budget at RKO that probably would have covered one of the salaries of the cast of The Greatest Show On Earth, this film has a nice quiet charm to it and in its own way is as good a circus film as DeMille's heralded spectacle.

One thing that I thought was colossally stupid was when Weidler went into the lion's cage to warn Shannon about Hayworth. If she had been raised around a circus she would know better than that. Still it was a hard and almost fatal lesson to learn. But Tracy milked it for all it was worth.

Fixer Dugan still holds up well and is highly recommended for family audiences.