Made a couple of years after Cecil B. Demille's circus tribute movie almost epic "Greatest Show on Earth," this movie is a wayward daughter of that film. The great circus acts are pretty well limited to a single high diving act. It is set in Germany because a carnival can't make any money any more in the United States. The television series, "Flash Gordon" was also made in Germany in 1954, so I guess, producers heard they could get a lot for their production buck in Germany at that time.
The movie works better than it should. Being filmed in Germany, it allows Ann Baxter to show a bit more sexuality than she could have gotten away with in Hollywood under the moral code at that time. She shows a lot of leg and showers while taking a shower.
She really turns in a strong performance. The script is cliché ridden and the lines are as deep as a pulp detective novel, but she managers to really make us believe her when she strips to her underwear and tells a man that she's not afraid of anything. This is about as far from "All About Eve" or "Magnificent Ambersons" material, but she carries it off somehow, and keeps your eyes glued to the screen.
Altogether, the script is mediocre melodrama, but good direction and good acting keep it on track and make it fun. While it never reaches the grandeur of "Greatest Show on Earth" it doesn't have the dull stretches that GSOE has either.
