A Garota do Circo

Henry Fonda is adequate but really nothing more in this story of a 19th century love triangle. He is a young and naive erstwhile stable-lad who joins the travelling circus community and pretty immediately falls for "Albany" (Dorothy Lamour). She is feisty and determined - she is the fearless horseback rider after all. Things become more complicated for him, though, when he takes a shine to an elephant and hops big tops. That's when he encounters "Caroline" (Linda Darnell) - a familiar face from his youth and from here on in this film slips, effortlessly, into the realms of romantic melodrama - and becomes really all rather predictable. There are a few characterful contributions from John Carradine's rabble-rousing ("Bisbee") and Jane Darwell as his long suffering wife, but after a lively start that demonstrates some of the considerable skills on display for a very appreciative public, this all just drifts into mediocrity and though kills ninety minutes without difficulty, is all pretty wordy and unremarkable. The photography captures something of the excitement of the arena when it is given a chance by Henry King, Otherwise - Hmmm!

Henry Fonda did his third and last big screen adaption of a Walter Edmonds story about upstate New York with Chad Hanna. The other two were his debut film The Farmer Takes A Wife and the John Ford classic Drums Along The Mohawk. Though Chad Hanna is the least of the three it's still an entertaining film and Fonda could play these rustic characters well, investing in them a sense of dignity and strength.

He's got the title role in Chad Hanna who's a farm boy who gets a yen to join the traveling circus after seeing a poster of Dorothy Lamour as a bareback rider. That's Hank's hormones talking there, but later on another runaway in the person of Linda Darnell and it's the two of them that are fated for each other

The circus business back in the day was one dangerous profession and I'm not just talking about under the big top. Guy Kibbee and Jane Darwell's show is plagued by the much bigger outfit that Ted North runs and he wants them out of business. North even steals Lamour away from Kibbee's show, but that only serves to give Darnell a break and making her the top bareback rider.

Just the names I've mentioned so far indicate that Chad Hanna has a cast of some colorful players and you can add John Carradine to that list as well as Kibbee's advance man. One thing I don't understand is why Kibbee thought Fonda would make a good ringmaster when Kibbee was injured in a fracas with North's show. He promoted the shy Fonda over Carradine who has one of the great voices in the English language. Go figure that one.

Despite that faux pas, Chad Hanna remains a fine film done in nice technicolor and does capture the flavor of rural western New York back in the next to last century.

The great director Henry King comes up with a most charming and unpretentious film about a circus full of generally likable characters soon to be joined by a young Henry Fonda who is completely fascinated by lovely temptress Dorothy Lamour... only to see her depart and join another circus.

That is not all, either: Lamour is in love with another guy, and so it comes to pass that the pendant Fonda wanted to give her lands up with another beautiful female, Linda Darnell. Therein lies an interesting twist in that you feel that Fonda's first love is Lamour, and only living the hardships of live - especially circus life - and Lamour's experience tell him that Darnell owns his heart.

Superb scenes with a lion and an elephant, the circus' entry into town, Darnell learning horseriding with suspender cables, all part of lovely cinematography by Ernest Palmer. Top notch acting across the board, with Jane Darwell and Guy Kibbee a particular standout as the Huguenine couple.

Thoughtful script.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I have!

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.