El circo del terror

In some ways this is s standard "formula" mystery. Yet it's a very interesting and off beat film in other respects. A young Mickey Spillane; looking like a near clone of Sean Penn; plays himself as a rather inept detective.

The action takes place in the real Clyde Beatty Circus, where a homicidal maniac is on the loose. Clyde Beatty, who also plays himself, was perhaps the most skilled animal trainer of all time and in the 40s and 50s ran his own circus, a serious competitor to Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey. The best parts of the film (at least from my perspective) were closeups of him performing with lions and tigers, often several at a time. You can actually see the highly specific and technical body poses and behaviors he uses to control multiple animals that would love to tear him to pieces. A fascinating peek into the psyches of large carnivores.

Entertaining and quite out of the ordinary.

Ring of Fear (1954)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Weird blend of action and horror as a maniac gets loose in Clyde Beatty's circus and soon bodies are starting to pile up so the manager (Pat O'Brien) calls in writer Mickey Spillane to solve the case. Both Beatty and Spillane play themselves and both give an equally bad performance, which I guess is to be expected. Spillane is really, really bad but at least he gave us some great stories in his real job. The film's only real highlights are the scenes with Beatty trying to tame a wild lion. These scenes here are pretty exciting but they work against the so called mystery that's suppose to be going on and at times it seems the mystery is completely forgotten about. O'Brien comes off pretty good but he's not given a lot to do. The 2.55:1 aspect ratio makes for some good circus scenes but for the most part this thing is dead on arrival.

While RING OF FEAR may not qualify for Best Film of the Year (as DeMille's circus epic did), it is a colorful and fast moving story of life under the big circus tent, whereby an ex-employee returns to his old job seeking vengeance on none other than CLYDE BEATTY and intent on evening the score for an ex-girlfriend who married another man (JOHN BROMFIELD). Beatty's lion-taming act is fascinating to watch.

The film's main purpose seems to be in showcasing the circus life, the roustabouts setting up the tents, the training of wild animals (and I do mean wild), the petty arguments among the trapeze artists and other performers, and all of it supervised by a caustic manager (PAT O'BRIEN) in the sort of brassy wise-guy role he could have performed in his sleep. For added interest, there's a laid-back performance from MICKEY SPILLANE as himself, helping O'Brien solve the case of the psychopath bent on murderous revenge, who is hiding out in the traveling circus.

SEAN McCLORY is guilty of overacting in many a scene but he does create a fascinating offbeat character as the madman who has escaped from confinement and is intent on revenge. The last fifteen minutes of the film contain more suspense and excitement than deMille managed to do in his lengthy, pretentious Oscar-winning epic THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH.

Summing up: Not masterpiece theater as far as acting and script are concerned, but interesting enough as a suspense tale played against a colorful circus background, to maintain a reasonable amount of interest.

I am not crazy about "Circus" Movies - As a child I was taken to Barnum and Bailey's "Three Ring Circus" and the seats were so high up and far away that I did not understand any of the activities going on. All I remember is a guy riding a bicycle that happened to be about 200 feet in the air. Maybe I am wrong about the hight, I was only 3 feet high myself: To me he was very high in the air. Unfortunately I was not excited about the experience, and shortly after, circuses changed radically from this image we are presented with in this films and other films like "Trapeze," "The Greatest Show on Earth," "The Flying Fontaine's" etc.

Maybe if I had been taken to a Clyde Beatty circus I would have felt differently. I did not see Barnum under any "Big Top" or any other kind of tent... The circus I was taken to was given in a large outside stadium: So as a child I never experienced that intimacy of the center ring, and after that I just never had the interest in the circus that most kids had at that time.

The actual star of this film is of course Clyde Beatty's circus: Do not be mistaken, all of the other things in this film are an excuse for this film to exist. And so, we have things like Pat O'Brien as the Manager of the Circus, "Twitchy" the drunk, O'Malley the obsessed murderer, and a thin plot of insanity, obsession, revenge, and detection: Enter Mike Hammer/Mickey Spillane.

Now as far as the performance of the main star of the film: I really do wish I had been brought to this circus instead of Barnum. I was entirely captivated by the acts that are shown. Clyde Beatty, who I remember from several films made in Africa, was a master, and I never knew that the iconic image of the Lion-Tamer, seen in cartoons and parodies and pictures and just about everywhere: That man with the chair in one hand and the whip in the other is based on Beatty. Someone mentioned that he had to shake himself to get an expression into the camera: I think that makes his character, which is himself, more believable.

Spillane is playing himself and not Hammer: Which is interesting because in one short scene where Spillane confronts O'Malley, O'Maley is calling Spillane "Mike" - I think perhaps the Mike Hammer character was going to be used, but had to be changed to Spillane himself for some reason. I think he is better in this flick than in "The Girl Hunters" - It says here that Jack Stang who appears also as himself is the detective on which Spillane based Hammer. When the two are together in a scene, the conversation flows like good 12 year old Scotch, it just seems natural. Most of Spillane lines and scenes are poses and one-liners, so there is not much for him to do: The main acting is left to the O'Malley character and the St. Dennis characters and O'Brien, who is great in this, even at his age.

This film follows the form: An introduction shows O'Malley's escape from the looney bin and threat to Beatty is set up. Then "The Circus Rolls Into Town" and they actually roll into town on a train, like circuses used to do until the late 50's.

Much of the first half hour of this film is establishing The Circus, and as I stated twice now, Beatty had a great circus: I wish I could have seen it. If anything, this film is an important documentary of the Clyde Beatty Circus.

As the detective story works it's way into the film, there are less and less "cuts" into regular circus life- There are about 15 minutes of Vignettes establishing the different people in the circus, what they are doing, and inserted into the vignettes are short flashes of the oncoming detective story, as if to say "Yes, this is a detective flick, here: Chew on this until we get to it" I have to say that this film comes together rather well. It's swell! Circus buffs will appreciate the circus aspect of this film, and Hammer buffs might like Spillane's bumbling about. Surprisingly, Paul Fix had a hand in the script: People might recognize him as the second doctor of the USS Enterprise, as seen in the Star Trek episode "Where No Man has None Before" (The first doctor was John Hoyt in "The Cage"). The final significant item is that this is one of John Wayne's "BatJac" films. Well, "The Dukes" Signature on this, just goes to show: Circus + Clyde Beatty + Mickey Spillane = Almost comical story in the unusualness of it's elements. Which is why I liked it... A lot.

After being analyzed by three psychologists and considered schizophrenic with homicidal tendencies, the former ringmaster Dublin O'Malley (Sean McClory) subdues the guard that is escorting him to his room and escapes from the mental institution where he is interned. He travels by train and later he attacks a worker and swaps the clothing, throwing the man on the trail of an approaching train. Then he goes to the city where the Clyde Beatty Circus is camped, seeking revenge against the lion tamer Clyde Beatty and also seeking out his former lover, the trapeze artist Valerie St. Dennis (Marian Carr). Valerie is married with her mate Armand St. Dennis (John Bromfield), with whom they have a daughter. Dublin meets the alcoholic clown Twitchy (Emmett Lynn) and uses booze to force him to sabotage the circus. Then Dublin is hired by Frank Wallace (Pat O'Brien) to his former position. Frank also brings the writer Mickey Spillane and detective Jack Stang to investigate the sabotages and make clear to the superstitious performers that there is no jinx in the circus. When Dublin kills Twitchy, the smart investigators find evidences that he might be a maniac killer.

"Ring of Fear" is a weird and disappointing movie, with a forgettable story, many non-actors performing themselves and filmed in a circus. The result is a great circus show, but with a predictable weak plot and terrible performances. In the end, it is better off going to the circus than watching this flick. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Circo do Medo" ("The Circus of the Fear")