Circus World (film)
Encyclopedia
Circus World, also known as Samuel Bronston's Circus World, is a 1964 drama film made by the independent production company Samuel Bronston Productions
Samuel Bronston Productions
Samuel Bronston Productions was an independent American film production company, founded by Samuel Bronston in 1943.The company produced several epic films, the most notable of which are, John Paul Jones , King of Kings , El Cid , 55 Days at Peking and The Fall of the Roman Empire .The films were...

 and distributed by Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...

. It was directed by Henry Hathaway
Henry Hathaway
Henry Hathaway was an American film director and producer. He is best known as a director of Westerns, especially starring John Wayne.-Background:...

 and produced by Samuel Bronston
Samuel Bronston
Samuel Bronston was a Bessarabian-born American film producer, film director, and a nephew of socialist revolutionary figure, Leon Trotsky. He was also the petitioner in a U.S...

, with Michal Waszynski
Michal Waszynski
Michał Waszyński was first a film director in his native Poland, then in Italy, and later a producer of the major American films, mainly in Spain...

 as executive producer.

The screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...

 was by Ben Hecht
Ben Hecht
Ben Hecht was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, and novelist. Called "the Shakespeare of Hollywood", he received screen credits, alone or in collaboration, for the stories or screenplays of some 70 films and as a prolific storyteller, authored 35 books and created some of...

, Julian Halevy and James Edward Grant
James Edward Grant
James Edward Grant was an American short story writer and screenwriter who contributed to more than fifty films between 1935 and 1971....

, from a story by Philip Yordan
Philip Yordan
Philip Yordan was an American screenwriter of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s who also produced several films.He was also known as a highly regarded script doctor...

 and Nicholas Ray
Nicholas Ray
Nicholas Ray was an American film director best known for the movie Rebel Without a Cause....

. Its music score was by Dimitri Tiomkin
Dimitri Tiomkin
Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin was a Russian-born Hollywood film score composer and conductor. He is considered "one of the giants of Hollywood movie music." Musically trained in Russia, he is best known for his westerns, "where his expansive, muscular style had its greatest impact." Tiomkin...

 and the cinematography by Jack Hildyard
Jack Hildyard
Jack Hildyard, B.S.C. was a British cinematographer who worked on more than 80 films during his career...

. The film was made in Super Technirama 70
Super Technirama 70
Super Technirama 70 was the marketing name for films which were photographed in the 35 mm 8-perf Technirama process and optically enlarged to 70 mm 5-perf prints for deluxe exhibition....

 and shown at some venues in Cinerama
Cinerama
Cinerama is the trademarked name for a widescreen process which works by simultaneously projecting images from three synchronized 35 mm projectors onto a huge, deeply-curved screen, subtending 146° of arc. It is also the trademarked name for the corporation which was formed to market it...

.

It starred John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...

, Claudia Cardinale
Claudia Cardinale
Claudia Cardinale is an Italian actress, and has appeared in some of the most prominent European films of the 1960s and 1970s. The majority of Cardinale's films have been either Italian or French...

 and Rita Hayworth
Rita Hayworth
Rita Hayworth was an American film actress and dancer who attained fame during the 1940s as one of the era's top stars...

, along with Lloyd Nolan
Lloyd Nolan
Lloyd Benedict Nolan was an American film and television actor.-Biography:Nolan was born in San Francisco, California, the son of Margaret and James Nolan, who was a shoe manufacturer...

, John Smith
John Smith (actor)
John Smith was an American actor remembered in particular for two NBC western television series.-Early life and career:He was born Robert Errol Van Orden, in Los Angeles, California...

 and Richard Conte
Richard Conte
Richard Conte was an American actor. He appeared in numerous films from the 1940s through 1970s, including I'll Cry Tomorrow and The Godfather.-Life and career:...

.

The film won the Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...

 for Best Song
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song was awarded for the first time in 1962 and has been awarded annually since 1965 by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.-1960s:...

 for Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington
Ned Washington
Ned Washington was an American lyricist.-Biography:Washington was nominated for eleven Academy Awards from 1940 to 1962...

 (lyrics), while Rita Hayworth was nominated for the Best Actress award
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
The Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture - Drama was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as a separate category in 1951...

.

Plot

At the turn of the twentieth century, circus owner Matt Masters (John Wayne) takes his troupe on a tour of Europe in search of his long-lost love, Lili Alfredo (Rita Hayworth). With him are Lili's daughter, Toni (Claudia Cardinale), whom she abandoned years earlier and whom he has raised as his own, and his faithful friend, Cap Carson (Lloyd Nolan).

The circus is lost in a sinking ship, but Masters manages to salvage part of it. With the help of some European acts, he puts together a new show. Masters ultimately finds Lili, so mother and daughter are reunited.

Production notes

  • This was Wayne's last film before his lung cancer operation.
  • It was speculated that at the time this film was made, Rita Hayworth may have already been suffering the early stages of Alzheimer's disease
    Alzheimer's disease
    Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...

    . She was often late and had trouble remembering her lines and it was reported she was often drunk and abusive to those on the set. John Wayne had previously looked forward to working with her, but it was said he came to despise her behavior.
  • David Niven
    David Niven
    James David Graham Niven , known as David Niven, was a British actor and novelist, best known for his roles as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and Sir Charles Lytton, a.k.a. "the Phantom", in The Pink Panther...

     was originally cast as Cap Carson, but withdrew from the film.
  • Frank Capra
    Frank Capra
    Frank Russell Capra was a Sicilian-born American film director. He emigrated to the U.S. when he was six, and eventually became a creative force behind major award-winning films during the 1930s and 1940s...

     was originally going to direct, but quit during pre-production over disagreements with Wayne's favored screenwriter, James Edward Grant.

In popular culture

  • The film was the basis for a novel by the Spanish author Juan Miñana which was originally published in 1999 with the Spanish title Noticias del mundo real (News from the Real World). It is about two young Spanish law students who search the city of Barcelona
    Barcelona
    Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

     for main actor John Wayne
    John Wayne
    Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...

    who has not returned to the hotel for another day of shooting.

Film Rating

  • The film is rated  G  in New Zealand for extra material may offend or disturb.

External links

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