Jumbo, la sensation du cirque

In the beginning of the Twentieth Century, the traveling The Wonder Circus has the greatest attraction the elephant Jumbo and is full of debts. The owner, Anthony 'Pop' Wonder (Jimmy Durante), works as a clown but is a gambler addicted in dice games and usually loses the box office gambling. He has been deceiving the clairvoyant Lulu (Martha Raye) for many years promising to marry her. His daughter, Kitty Wonder (Doris Day), is the trick rider and tries to negotiate with creditors and the circus performers to keep the business going on. John Noble (Dean Jagger), who owns a famous Noble Circus, wants to buy Jumbo and The Wonder Circus, but Pop refuses his offers.

When the mysterious Sam Rawlins (Stephen Boyd) asks for a job in the Wonder Circus, Kitty refuses and tells that they do not want adventurer working in their circus. But he proves to be an excellent aerialist and handy man and Pop hires him since they lost many performers due to the lack of payment. Soon Kitty falls in love with Sam, but he has a secret agenda and she does not know.

"Billy Rose's Jumbo" is a forgettable and cute musical based on a 1935 Broadway show. The silly plot is a predictable romance entwined with many songs and performances by circus performers and entertains. The work of the stunts and the edition is wonderful. Unfortunately the songs in the DVD released by Warner in Brazil do not have subtitles in a absolute lack of respect from Warner to the Brazilian costumers. Shame on you Warner! My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "A Mais Querida do Mundo" ("The Dearest in the World")

For all its merits, "Jumbo" was not a perfect entity as it was released upon the last rung of film musicals, and by the 60's only adaptations of Broadway shows like "West Side Story" and "The Sound Of Music" were being released. As a result a lot of folks have dismissed this one, but I find it to be one of the best exhibitions of a specialized art form- namely, the circus. Populated with many real circus headliners, its musical portions are quite stylish and joyful- especially "Circus On Parade," the equestrian-flavored "This Can't Be Love," and the gorgeous opening number "Over and Over Again-" which shows off 2nd unit man Busby Berkely's visual flourish. (Note, in particular, the final pullback shot which shows all of the acts rehearsing en masse at the same time.) Ms. Day, already a top box office star due to her romantic comedies with Rock Hudson, is gorgeous in the film and her voice can only be described as velvety. Listen especially to her solos "My Romance," "Little Girl Blue," and most impressive, a nighttime duet between Day and Martha Raye in a wagon caravan entitled "Why Can't I?" Portions of the film are directed too slowly and leading man Stephen Boyd is wooden (I would have preferred Harve Presnell or even Howard Keel), but circus owner Jimmy Durante is marvelous in every scene he's in- especially where he's trying to hide an elephant!! The finale, with the cast dressed for a double wedding and dancing to "The Most Beautiful Girl In The World" is truly lovely. If you've never seen a circus you could watch this and be satisfied that you spent an evening under the big top.

I saw this as a teenager, and fell in love. Doris Day was one of the most popular and yet one of the most underrated movie stars of her generation. Her reputation hasn't survived into our modern era as other film icons of the time, including Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, Sophia Loren, Shirley MacLaine and Elizabeth Taylor.

She was an excellent singer, actress, film personality, and she shines in this less-than-perfect screen adaptation of Billy Rose's Broadway extravaganza. Doris was 38 when she made this film, and she looks a tad too old. But she had one of Hollywood's greatest bodies and looks sensational in the many period costumes. She sings this glorious Rodgers and Hart score magnificently, particularly "My Romance," and "Little Girl Blue." The highlight in the movie is the "Why Can't I" duet between Doris and Martha Raye. Raye, a wonderful singer in her own right, and Doris simply shine in this small scene, harmonizing beautifully.

Jimmy Durante is also superb as her charming scamp of a father and head of the family circus. His asides to Jumbo, the elephant are wonderfully comic. Stephen Boyd has been criticized, but I think he's the classic leading man here and doesn't spoil any scene he's in.

This JUMBO was the end of the classic movie musical era, and you can hear it wheezing a bit. But anachronistic as it is, you have Busby Berkeley overseeing the musical numbers, and you would be hard-pressed to find two hours as heart-warmingly delightful as this movie is. Brava to Doris Day--long may she be remembered for the class act she was.

JUMBO might be silly (actually very deliberately silly, therein much of the enjoyment) but it is genuinely beautiful to look at and easy to enjoy. I saw it on DVD in widescreen and with a superb 5.1 sound system. The orchestral score by MGM arranger Roger Edens with Rodgers and Hart songs is truly sensational and as such adds a jumbo sized level of thorough professional musical lushness. Clearly made on the MGM back-lot with some obvious budget constraints, JUMBO is still delivered with the MGM polish for screen spectacle and a hankering to 'really entertain the audience'. There is some very unkind animal scenes (especially the muzzled bear dressed in a bonnet which looks like Hannibal Lecter in a fur coat and Grandma Duck hat) which only emphasizes how public acceptance of entertainment has changed. The special effects in some high-wire scenes are very clever and the tightrope act supposedly with Jummy Durante is perfectly achieved. As big as it could be JUMBO is solid family entertainment. Other comments will rave about Doris Day and moan about Stephen Boyd and they are all very right. Since this was Boyd's next film after BEN HUR do you realize that an advertisement could actually say "Stephen Boyd star of BEN HUR now in his biggest film: JUMBO" and it would actually make sense that JUMBO was indeed bigger than BEN HUR.............!! Yes, I know......I just wanted to say that. (but it IS true!)

Doris Day's final musical role was in Jumbo which finally came to the screen almost 30 years after it played at the legendary Hippodrome Theater for 233 performances in 1935. Henceforth all of Doris's films would be screen comedies in which she may have sung a ditty or two in the film or over the title credits. But Jumbo was her last true musical.

Jumbo was directed by Charles Walters an old hand at musicals, his best known probably being High Society. But Walters had an even older hand working with him in Busby Berkeley. His touch is obvious as the second unit director in some of the musical numbers. Jumbo marked Berkeley farewell screen credit.

The plot is little changed from the 1935 show. Jimmy Durante who was repeating his role from the original Broadway cast is Pop Wonder a kindly circus owner who owes everyone in a 20 mile radius because of his gambling problem. He's the despair of his daughter Doris Day and Martha Raye who does a crystal ball act on the sideshow who Durante's been carrying a long term courtship of.

His show is in desperate straights with acts quitting him left and right, Doris is fulfilling several acts and jobs on the show, from high wire work to clown. One day handsome and muscular Stephen Boyd comes looking for a job. He seems like the answer to a prayer, but it turns out he's the son of rival circus owner Dean Jagger and doing a little espionage for the old man.

Durante's show has one real asset, the legendary circus elephant Jumbo whom as we know was the real life main attraction of Barnum&Bailey's real life circus in the 19th century. It's that which Jagger means to have.

Of course the boy/girl thing as usual gets in the way with Day and Boyd. Their romance is played out under the big top to the strains of one of Rodgers&Hart's best scores. Made even better by the addition of This Can't Be Love from The Boys From Syracuse.

So many good songs by Rodgers and Hart you hardly know where to begin. Doris gets to sing My Romance, This Can't Be Love, and one of the most plaintive ballads of heartbreak ever written, Little Girl Blue. Stephen Boyd if he wasn't dubbed, had a nice singing voice and does a good job on The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, with an obbligato done by Jimmy Durante.

I've seen stills of the technically off Broadway production of the original cast in 1935. With all the circus acts, no conventional Broadway Theater could have possibly housed this show. The Hippodrome which was located on Sixth Avenue and 43rd Street has been gone since before World War II, Jumbo was the last show of any kind done there. I wish I could have seen it live.

My guess is that producer Billy Rose drove a hard bargain in getting just compensation for the screen rights. It's why Jumbo took so long to come to the screen. Fortunately it made it there just as musicals were being phased out. I'm sure Rose's name in the title was another bit of vanity for him to get the show to the screen.

Despite what I consider an almost surreal ending, Jumbo still delights musical and circus fans of all ages and will continue to do so. You can never go wrong with a musical by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart.