Cinema Circus

Cinema Circus (1937)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Back in the Golden Age of Hollywood, several short subjects were produced just to show various stars in their off time or fooling around on the set. This Technicolor short takes place at a circus where we get to see various acts perform but the real reason this was made was to show off several stars. Most of the time the stars are just sitting in the crowd where they get a quick introduction. We get the likes of Boris Karloff, William S. Hart, Alice Faye, The Ritz Brothers, Ben Turpin, James Gleason, Charles Murray and several others. The "ringmaster" of the event is Lee Tracy and we also get a man in a gorilla suit. I've seen quite a few of these "show off the stars" shorts and there's no question that this one here is the most boring. Yes, it was fun seeing the stars and yes the Technicolor looks amazing but this is really all there is and it's not enough to carry the 19-minute running time. I will admit that I was deadly bored throughout the running time because there just wasn't enough going on to keep you interested or entertained. I will say that the final cameo by a star who I won't name was very funny and it almost makes the entire thing worth sitting through. Or, perhaps you can just fast forward to the end.

This 1937 Technicolor short from MGM has many of its and other studios' stars doing small parts or acts in a circus setting. William S. Hart and Rex Bell do rope tricks, Mickey Rooney shows up in a gorilla suit, there's an annoying segment with The Ritz Brothers aping The Three Stooges (and not very well) as audience members gawk at a dozen or so leggy showgirls prancing around in a dance routine, Cliff Edwards does his "Ukelele Ike" bit in a routine with an almost unrecognizable Pert Kelton and another group of leggy showgirls dressed--skimpily, as luck would have it--as Indians, Lee Tracy is the ringmaster, and various other celebrities show up. The Technicolor is nice to look at, as are the bevy of beautiful showgirls, but overall there's not that much to it. Worth a look, though.

This is a practically plot less promotional short film from MGM. Like many of their shorts of the day, this one's in color as the studio was practicing how to use this before committing it to full- length films, as it was a very expensive process. They made several shorts like this...shorts with very little in the way of plot and a variety of stars either in the audience or participating as performers.

In this case, it's a bizarre circus with some characters wearing giant cartoon heads of famous movie stars of the day. As the acts are going on, you see mostly B and C-list stars like the Ritz Brothers, Olson and Johnson, Ben Turpin, Cliff Edwards and Leo Carillo. Some A-list or soon to be A-list stars (Boris Karloff and Alice Faye) are also on hand. Lee Tracy is on hand as the emcee. The entire list of the stars is listed on IMDb.

The film is a strange collection of acts and a really weird finale featuring Olson, Johnson and Mickey Rooney....which you just have to see to believe! Overall, diverting...but pointless.