La carovana del luna park

The believable atmosphere and some moments of real tension, along with Anne Baxter's starring performance, make "Carnival Story" worth watching despite its somewhat uneven quality overall. It has some strengths, but it leaves you feeling that it could have been improved without too much difficulty.

The story has an interesting setting, with the drama and romance taking place in an American traveling show that is touring Germany, having attracted little interest in the US. Although the portrayal of the show and its players uses a number of clichés, in general the atmosphere is believable, and it supplies an effective background to the story. The world of the carnival is self-contained to begin with, and their presence in a foreign country emphasizes their isolation from the 'real world'. Jay C. Flippen plays the show's manager, and his character adds an appropriate air of run-down authority.

Anne Baxter stars as the only German native among the main characters, an intense young woman who becomes involved romantically with more than one of the show's employees. In itself, the plot is the same as that in many other movies about romantic rivalry, with Baxter's character torn between the 'good' lover and the 'bad' lover. Baxter herself works well enough in the role, since her restless style fits in with her character here.

Most of the other characters, though, remain one-dimensional, and some of the confrontations and tense moments lose something as a result. When the dramatic turns work, it is usually because they take place in an interesting setting, rather than because they have been filmed with any particular skill. The pacing likewise is inconsistent. There are a number of slow stretches that do little of note, but then it does make good use of the recurring high dive scenes, with the pageantry, danger, and tension that they bring.

Overall, it has some definite strengths and some obvious weaknesses. It is essentially a formulaic drama about romantic rivalries, with a relatively interesting setting that hides enough of the weaknesses to make it worth seeing.

A young girl (Anne Baxter) runs away and joins a traveling carnival troupe in Colonia (Germany), an American-owned circus in all its beautiful and sadness in the setting . She falls in love with her employer (Steve Cochran) and is hired by the ringmaster (J.C. Flippen). Later on , she is contracted by a somersault artist (Lyle Bettger), who teaches her the leap routine and soon becomes the main attraction but he has a fatal accident . Anne Baxter as an aerial acrobat dropping to swimming pool is interested in both men.

The film is a melodramatic and romantic tale with the classic triangular love story through an European tour and meshing drama with events offstage . It deals with an U.S. carnival in Colonia sets the scene for sin , sex , passion and melodrama . The movie is wrought with romance and glamour but is a simple and tragic story about a scheming young girl and the men of whom she takes advantage . This dramatic flick packs an exciting final adding the beauty-beast myth . Extraordinary cast and good performances , especially from Anne Baxter and George Nader as a journalist , both of whom are top-notch under Kurt Neumann's correct direction . Furthermore , some scenes the actors perform their own stunts . After that , George Nader stayed in Germany where had success playing Jerry Cotton , a solid entry in German crime series . Fine camera work with exquisite images in Agfacolor and superb European location by cameraman Ernest Haller . The motion picture was well directed by Kurt Neumann , known director of classic Sci-Fi (The fly , Rocketship X-M , Kronos) , besides he realized at the same time the German version titled ¨Circus of love¨ with Curt Jurgens and Eva Bartok in similar roles .

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.

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.

In many ways this is a strange film with Anne Baxter being the black widow of sorts. The screen seems to come alive only when she is on screen with Cochran.

The plot is very simplistic and the characters not well developed and are even contradictory.

However, any film with them in it is worthy of viewing. Maybe a better script would have enhanced this film.