Side Show

... with the exception of Guy Kibbee who, ironically, at age 49 was just starting out in motion pictures.

I will say it didn't end up where I thought it would, and you'll have to watch and find out what I mean by that. It's about a small circus traveling from town to town during the Great Depression. The owner, Col. Gowdy (Guy Kibbee) spends lots of his time drunk because it kills him that he can't pay the staff. As a result, Pat (Winnie Lightner) does lots of extra duty trying to hold the circus together and filling in here and there when members of the circus quit or just don't show up for a performance, never to return.

Pat is living with Joe Palmer (Donald Cook), who is a barker for some of the circus acts. He's no good, but for some reason that I could never ascertain, she loves him. He sponges money off of Pat to cover his gambling debts. He seems to be with Pat because no other more attractive or lucrative options have presented themselves. And then one day a more attractive if not more lucrative option presents itself - Pat's kid sister who isn't THAT much of a kid anymore has come to spend the summer with Pat traveling with the circus. Complications ensue.

Punctuating the melodrama I just described are a bunch of short comic bits featuring Lightner and Charles Butterworth, another member of the circus. This usually involves Pat substituting for somebody who has run out on the circus, most prominently the "flame jumper" - a high diver who sets himself aflame and jumps into a tub of water below that has also been set afire.

Like I said, this was a bit of a "last hurrah" for the main actors. Evelyn Knapp, Winnie Lightner, and Donald Cook would never have parts as big as these in a major studio movie again. Donald Cook usually played the rather dull straight arrow, so the part of Joe was a bit of a departure from his usual roles. In fact, if this film had a bigger budget and was made a year later, it would have probably had James Cagney in the part of Joe.

Guy Kibbee runs a traveling circus that barely makes any money. Since Kibbee is usually drunk, the whole show is really run by versatile circus assistant Winnie Lightner, who fills in wherever needed, including doing the flaming high dive into a shallow pool when the regular diver is out sick.

Lightner has an understanding with long time boyfriend Donald Woods, who works as a barker. Fellow circus employee Charles Butterworth has the hots for Lightner himself, although she considers him strictly low comic relief.

The action really starts when Lightner's kid sister Evelyn Knapp shows up and is immediately drawn to dangerously attractive Woods. Will Woods take advantage of her youthful crush? Or stay true to his devoted girl Winnie?

The plot isn't that great but at least the picture doesn't take itself too seriously. Butterworth has a few funny lines but his humorous moments are mainly rather tame bits like appearing in his nightgown while still wearing his hat. Woods is manly, Knapp is very cute, Kibbee is blustery as the boss who is generally overruled.

Winnie Lightner is clearly our heroine, the talented and dedicated woman holding the whole show together - and while she does fine, neither the plot nor the dialog really give her much to work with.

Mildly entertaining but mostly interesting for the cast.

Side Show (1931)

** (out of 4)

Decent melodrama from Warner has Winnie Lightner playing Pat, a jack-of-all-trades working in a traveling circus whose life falls apart when the man she (Donald Cook) loves runs off with her younger sister (Evalyn Knapp). While all of that is going on Winnie is also having to worry about the circus itself falling apart as its owner (Guy Kibbee) can't afford to pay the workers. SIDE SHOW is a pretty bizarre little movie that's story is way too weak and predictable to work but thankfully the cast are so good that they make the film worth sitting through and especially at such a short running time (64-minutes). I think the best thing that can be said about the film is that the performances are exceptionally good with each cast member coming off very believable in their part. Lightner plays a very tough, head strong woman and she makes you believe that this is the way she is. I thought he handled some of the lighter comedy just fine but she also did a good job once the drama starts. Cook delivers a fine performance as the dirty two-timer and Knapp beings a certain naive quality to the role and you can see why she'd fall for her sister's man. Charles Butterworth gets a lot of screen time but most of it has him looking straight at the camera and delivering his type of humor. It seems more people are torn on the comic ability of Butterworth but I've always found him rather entertaining and I think he gets to shout off a few good jokes here. Kibbee plays the lovable drunk like only he could. One other good thing is that you really do get a good, intimate feel of what a traveling circus must have felt like. With all of that said, there's no question that the film is way too predictable for its own good and the entire love triangle just isn't believable. What's even worse is the horrid ending, which is just so bad that you can't help but think the studio must have gotten a hold of it. SIDE SHOW is certainly minor entertainment but fans of the cast will want to check it out.

Winnie Lightner, who I remember liking as a supporting player in Dancing Lady, brings her affable personality to the lead role in this comedy centered around the goings-on in a traveling circus. Although rather episodic, there is a narrative throughline dealing with a love triangle between her, another guy named Joe, and her sister, who visits during the summer when she's out of school. While there wasn't a really memorable arc for anyone, the performances were generally good and there were a couple of standout moments for Winnie Lightner. The first was a bawdy musical number; and the other was late in the film when she really lets one guy have it (Go off, Winnie!). I found the narrative resolution to be rushed, and a bad example of the "Hollywood ending," but I found this Side Show a pleasant diversion.

Winnie Lightner seems very game. She looks like someone who'd be a lot of fun. She's likable and seems up to pretty much any task. But she doesn't come across as someone who could carry a movie -- though she's called to here.

Donald Cook, on the other hand, seems very modern as her shiftless boyfriend. He was an interesting leading man who never really made it big. One wonders why.

The rest of the cast includes many character performers such as Guy Kibbee who worked in Hollywood for decades. I think I a caught a glimpse of the straying husband from "Freaks" (a totally different and infinitely better movie also with a circus theme.)