Carnival Story

The believable atmosphere and some moments of real tension, along with Anne Baxter's starring performance, make "Carnival Story" worth watching despite its somewhat uneven quality overall. It has some strengths, but it leaves you feeling that it could have been improved without too much difficulty.

The story has an interesting setting, with the drama and romance taking place in an American traveling show that is touring Germany, having attracted little interest in the US. Although the portrayal of the show and its players uses a number of clichés, in general the atmosphere is believable, and it supplies an effective background to the story. The world of the carnival is self-contained to begin with, and their presence in a foreign country emphasizes their isolation from the 'real world'. Jay C. Flippen plays the show's manager, and his character adds an appropriate air of run-down authority.

Anne Baxter stars as the only German native among the main characters, an intense young woman who becomes involved romantically with more than one of the show's employees. In itself, the plot is the same as that in many other movies about romantic rivalry, with Baxter's character torn between the 'good' lover and the 'bad' lover. Baxter herself works well enough in the role, since her restless style fits in with her character here.

Most of the other characters, though, remain one-dimensional, and some of the confrontations and tense moments lose something as a result. When the dramatic turns work, it is usually because they take place in an interesting setting, rather than because they have been filmed with any particular skill. The pacing likewise is inconsistent. There are a number of slow stretches that do little of note, but then it does make good use of the recurring high dive scenes, with the pageantry, danger, and tension that they bring.

Overall, it has some definite strengths and some obvious weaknesses. It is essentially a formulaic drama about romantic rivalries, with a relatively interesting setting that hides enough of the weaknesses to make it worth seeing.

Anne Baxter is channeling her 'inner Joan Crawford' at every key scene of this lively B-Movie time waster. Carnival Girl Joan was a natural for this - a shame she was too old. Those looks of blazing hatred and the words Baxter spits out at Steve Cochran (when she's not grinding all over him) need some serious eyebrows and shoulder pads. To be honest I watched this from start to finish and never felt the urge to turn it off. Many a 'great' movie I've left half finished. This is pure B movie and certainly not great but the story hooks keep it moving from scene to scene. I should have seen the ending a mile away but didn't bother to look for it.

That male high diving husband wore the CREEPIEST bathing suit I have ever seen on a man. I never saw the actor before but he was oddly sexless, effeminate and unsettling. There is one scene when he is having his blond locks lovingly styled by a midget that belongs in a Bunuel movie.

Mrs. Shullivan and I both worked for the biggest and longest running Carnival the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) so we know a thing or two about the Carnival life. The people employed in the Carnival come from all walks of life and all have a past life. In Carnival Story an attractive lady named simply Willi (Anne Baxter) is desperate for employment when she encounters a suave talker named Joe Hammond (Steve Cochran) who helps her get her start in the carnival as a short order cook and waitress.

It doesn't take long before the other carnival workers take notice of Willi and are talking about this new girl in the kitchen named and the men's heads start turning none more than the high wire diver Frank Colloni (Lyle Bettger) who suggests that Willi join him in his high wire diving act and he will not only mentor her but make her his wife.

So a love triangle quickly unfolds with Willi in the middle between the rugged and handsome fast talker Joe Hammond and the high wire diver Frank Colloni. All three main characters cause problems for each other and the carnival's most famous line "the show must go on" is ever so appropriate at the climax of this genuinely interesting film for all carny workers and carny lovers.

I give the film a redeeming 7 out of 10 IMDB Rating.

In many ways this is a strange film with Anne Baxter being the black widow of sorts. The screen seems to come alive only when she is on screen with Cochran.

The plot is very simplistic and the characters not well developed and are even contradictory.

However, any film with them in it is worthy of viewing. Maybe a better script would have enhanced this film.

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.