A Garota do Circo

Made in 1940 in Technicolor on the Twentieth-Century Fox lot in Hollywood, this film suffers from uninspired direction by old reliable staff director Henry King, a man who could direct almost anything efficiently, but rarely with much flair or enthusiasm. The visual possibilities of the one-ring circus travelling from town to town in Upstate New York, ideal atmosphere for a movie, are hardly exploited by King. Co-star Dorothy Lamour as the bad girl bareback rider is attractive, but seems miscast as a seductress, although she tries. Linda Darnell, then a teenager, is lovely and appealing as the good girl, and has some good believable boy-girl moments with Henry Fonda, then under Fox contract. He made this film the same year as GRAPES OF WRATH, and a year before Sturges' THE LADY EVE. As always he is perfectly natural, ideally cast as the innocent American boy, shy, romantic, full of feelings he tries to hide. The perfect film actor.

TRIVIA: his Daughter Jane was three years old when this film was made.

Henry Fonda plays an "aw shucks" country boy who falls in love with Albany Yates (Dorothy Lamour) in the circus... before later marrying Caroline (Linda Darnell), who has also joined the circus.

The movie was okay, not great. I've enjoyed Fonda more in other roles (e.g. 12 Angry Men), and I've been appreciating Linda Darnell more as I see more movies that feature her, but here her role was weaker (or it was just a poorly written script). I liked the Technicolor and got a kick out of Jane Darwell's role as a feisty fat lady. In one scene she stands holding a rifle, making a man promise that he won't bother the circus team again. He does. She then hits him over the head with the rifle, knocking him out, then says, "Now I believe him!"

This is basically the price Henry Fonda had to pay to star in "Grapes of Wrath". He had to agree to be a contract player at Fox and he occasionally got stuck with this kind of role in this kind of film. But he did make the most of it like the trooper he was.

Boring story about a country bumpkin (Henry Fonda) and the girl (Linda Darnell) who loves him running off with a circus. Fonda's infatuated with bareback rider Dorothy Lamour but eventually realizes he was meant for the country girl. Darnell and Lamour look beautiful, especially in Technicolor. Really, the whole picture looks good. The problem is the story is dull and some of the acting is sub-par. Considering this cast, I expected better. Darnell's often spotty so I wasn't phased by her weak performance. But I was disappointed in Henry Fonda, whose rube routine was annoying. He reunites with his Grapes of Wrath costars John Carradine and Jane Darwell, both of whom are fine in this. Dorothy Lamour stands out the most. I wish I could recommend it but unless you're a Fonda, Lamour, or Darnell completist I wouldn't waste my time on it. Watchable but dull.

"Chad Hanna" is truly the kind of film they don't make any more. A pity!

Chad Hanna (Henry Fonda) is a country farm boy who helps a black slave to escape, and then runs away with a circus together with a slave tracker's daughter (Linda Darnell). Originally dazzled by a seemingly glamorous circus performer (Dorothy Lamour), Chad eventually falls in love with the daughter and marries her, and they both make the circus their way of life. Nothing very enthralling happens, and the charm of the film comes from watching famous people early in their careers.

Linda Darnell is particular is a revelation. She was about seventeen years of age when she made "Chad Hanna", yet already her rapport with the camera is evident. So too is the warmth of her personality and the skill of her underplaying. With the benefit of hindsight, it is easy to see why she became a big star, but what is intriguing is that in "Chad Hanna" Dorothy Lamour, who was already a big star, no longer seems attractive or interesting. It is not obvious why she was so popular at that time. Henry Fonda, of course, was already a movie "natural". He never seems to be acting, but somehow he is always both likable and believable. Fonda really holds this movie together.

20th Century Fox was the first major studio to master colour in movies. In the late 'thirties and early 'forties, most colour in films was garish and gaudy, but several Fox films had really beautiful colour, and "Chad Hanna" is one of them.

"Chad Hanna" is certainly a throw-back to the past, and quite possibly people who judge movies only in terms of their kinetic imagery will find it slow. For those who are not stimulated by violence and synthetic excitement, "Chad Hanna" is well worth watching.

1940's "Chad Hanna" was a colorful feast for the eyes, but far stronger on atmosphere than incident. We open in New York state, 1841, and the circus is coming to town. B. D. Bisbee (John Carradine) works as the advance agent for the Huguenine Circus, garnering attention wherever he goes, building up the audience to a fever pitch by emphasizing both male AND female acrobats...in tights! In the title role, Henry Fonda performs another expert character study, playing a Canastota stable boy who literally runs away to join the circus to escape a vengeful slave catcher whose daughter Caroline (Linda Darnell) later joins him, also a victim of her father's rage. Chad instantly falls for equestrienne Albany Yates (Dorothy Lamour), the star attraction for this one ring circus, but she soon spurns Huguenine for a rival circus that has an elephant. It's a shame that the filmmakers chose to showcase the dramatically anemic, predictably absurd romantic triangle over the more interesting circus life rarely depicted at that time. Fonda and Carradine are teamed for the fifth and last time, from "Jesse James," "Drums Along the Mohawk," "The Grapes of Wrath," and "The Return of Frank James." Carradine was no stranger to lovely Linda Darnell- "Brigham Young," "Blood and Sand," "Fallen Angel," and the 1958 WAGON TRAIN, "The Dora Gray Story." After such a powerful introduction, Carradine instantly fades into the background, disappearing completely after Chad and Caroline marry 54 minutes in. Sharp eyed viewers can catch canvasman Rondo Hatton at the 34 minute mark, looking quite menacing on the far right, one line of dialogue spoken in his own voice: "all right men, up to the next street!"