Le cercle de sang

Old Joan Crawford, dressed in tights and a ringmaster's coat throughout much of the film, plays Monica Rivers, circus owner and apparently heart-breaker to men decades younger than herself. Watch Joan cavort first with Michael Gough with lots of suggestions about their business and personal lives merging(fortunately for Gough this does not last too long as he soon finds himself nailed to another post). So with Gough gone, he-man Ty Hardin, a new high wire act who arrives after the old one hangs himself while performing, comes into the picture, no shirt half the time and all, and makes his moves for the less-than-sexy sixty plus year-old. Watching Crawford and her beaus work with heavily-laden dialog laced with absurd innuendo was the highlight of this film as it was just so preposterous. She looks ancient and yet acts like she is still 25! Anyway, the film itself is one of those films that is so very fun to watch just for those elements already mentioned, the then grisly murders as circus people start to die off, and the lush colour used in the film. The settings of the circus are believably done and Herman Cohen, the producer, always knew how to put on a good show. I even enjoyed some of the circus acts that were intermittently laced in the picture. The rest of the cast is very able with Gough, always good, and George Claydon playing Bruno excelling. Lovely Diana Dors and Judy Geeson also star. Hardin was really quite bad but I really enjoyed his trapeze act at the film's end. While the story can only be classified as silly and absurd, the ending seems way too abrupt even for this film. The film seems to be going along almost effortlessly - Joan prancing about working her guys over(Yuck!) and circus performers dying - then a quick ending that comes out of left field. Despite the many shortcomings, Berserk - why the heck is it named that? - is a whole lot of fun and is very similar, as some other reviewers have noted, to Straight-Jacket, Crawford's film for William Castle.

In BERSERK, circus owner, Monica Rivers (Joan Crawford) finds a novel way to drum up business when a series of "accidents" prove to be profitable. The action starts right away when the high-wire act turns deadly. While Monica enjoys her windfall, and Scotland Yard snoops about, more performers come to their abrupt, grisly end.

Though thrillers set in circuses have been made before, none have had Ms. Crawford! She smokes! She glares! She romances the musclebound daredevil! Doesn't this guy own a shirt?

While some of the deaths are memorable, like the spiked noggin sequence, the actual circus acts aren't bad either. Especially, those adorable poodles, and the elephant stepping over the prone women! Yikes! One wrong move and your head is oatmeal!

Co-stars Michael Gough (KONGA, HORROR HOSPITAL) and the heavenly Diana Dors...

This is a strange movie on a lot of different levels. The basic premise is Monica Rivers owns a traveling circus, and in the first few moments of the flick her high wire star is murdered (inexplicably by the tightwire snapping and then hanging him-unbelievable). This gruesome death increases business so Monica is needless to say not to upset her star has gone to the big tent in the sky. There are several other wildly amusing murders and no one in the circus is safe. Is Monica the murderer or is she just an innocent victim, next on the list? The one and only Joan Crawford wildly overacts as the circus owner Monica Rivers. She chews up the scenery as she torments the poor, frightened circus performers. She looks pretty great in her Ringmaster's Costume, even at 63 she had fantastic legs, but it is stomach churning to see her love scenes with the hunky Ty Hardin who was young enough to be her son for God's sake!!!! The idea that any man would pick the aging Monica over the young and beautiful Matilda (sluttily played to perfection by Diana Dors)is just too hard to fathom. Joan was just too old to pull this off, yet somehow we are to believe that she has so much allure she can get any man she wants.

The circus scenes go on WAAAAAAAAAAY too long, endless scenes of leaping poodles and llamas running, etc. They should have spent the time used on these pointless scenes developing the storyline more. There could have been a great movie here, but it never quite comes together. Poor Joan had been reduced in her later years to playing the "Grand Guignol" and she does a fair job of it, but the material is just too weak. The color of the film is vibrant, and there are some creepy moments of Monica being stalked as she walks through the circus late at night, but the ending is just too sudden and too abrupt. It left me wanting to know more of why the killer did what they did. There are some great campy scenes as well, 2 women catfighting, Joan making out with the young lover, etc., but overall I would say this movie is for die hard Joan Crawford fans only.

"We've eaten caviar, and we've eaten sawdust".

Only Joan Crawford could muster the dramatics possible to make the above line actually work, but she does it all with a totally straight face and makes this movie hysterically funny! Her scenes in lingerie with studmuffin Ty Hardin must be seen to be believed. That woman must have had an ego the size of Texas. The movie is worth seeing as a 'bad' movie that you'll enjoy.

Joan Crawford's fans will appreciate her foray into yet another horror show, this time as the feisty, hard-edged manager of a traveling circus show suddenly burdened with murders of several circus members. The careful photography cannot hide the fact that Crawford has aged considerably--and consequently, although her figure is still trim, her scenes with hunky Ty Hardin have an unpleasant and unbelievable quality about them.

The plot is strictly standard fare--who is responsible for the series of gruesome murders? For awhile, it looks like Joan herself is probably the wicked one--and there are a few other red herrings to make you think you know who did it. When the ending is revealed, in a climactic thunderstorm, it comes as a distinct letdown although a surprise, the reason being the guilty one is given no substance in the plot. The killer's identity seems highly implausible which makes the ending seem as though it has been merely tacked on to provide a final scene.

As these sort of things go, BERSERK isn't a bad way to pass the time on a low-budget mystery. The technicolor is good, Joan's costumes are fantastic, her shapely legs are on almost constant display and she uses her haughty manner to great effect. The details of circus life are smoothly integrated into the story and some of the animal acts are amusing--but none of the characters have any depth. Ty Hardin makes a handsome and arrogant stud whose daredevil highwire act provides some high moments of suspense as he performs over a row of spikes below. Like Crawford, he's given ample opportunities to show off his handsome physique.

Diana Dors makes the most of her role as an outspoken tart and all of the supporting performances are competent enough--Michael Gough, Judy Geeson and Robert Hardy. Certainly worth a view if you're a Crawford fan. The dialogue is ripe with campy one-liners.

Trivia note: The plot is slightly reminiscent of Barbara Stanwyck's LADY OF BURLESQUE where a series of backstage murders takes place with a slim plot involving a jealous performer.