(2013-05-05 23:44:36)

Rare John Wayne Movie

This review is from: Circus World (1964) John Wayne, Claudia Cardinale[All Region, Import, NTSC] (DVD) Good movie however this version was from Asia so audio had been re-dubed numerous times and print was very choppy. Out of production in US markets.

(2013-05-05 15:38:02)

"Why isn't this movie classic made in the United States"

This review is from: NEW Circus World (DVD) (DVD) This specific production of a John Wayne classic "Circus World" by GARRY'S Trading Co. is pretty frustrating to watch, the Chinese subtitles DO NOT turn off and make it very hard to enjoy the movie with the distraction of the foreign subtitles constantly on the screen. Granted it is better than nothing, since this specific title is NOT available in the United States...why is that I ask? I grew up watching John Wayne thru out my childhood with my Dad and LOVE his movies, now my son is growing up watching all of his films that I can get my hands on. John Wayne films are classic and they should be produced in the United States, and be available to everyone young and old alike.There is only one "DUKE". Circus World is a classic, yes it is totally different than his usual cowboy movies, but so is Hatari and many others, every one of them Wonderful! If you have never seen Circus World you're missing out, there is another version available now that is suppose to be a lot easier to view with the ability of subtitles being turned off. I'm purchasing that one now and suggest to any viewers out there to try that one over this version.**~UPDATED INFORMATION~** 8-2-11I highly recommend purchasing the following DVD of Circus World {Circus World (Import NTSC All Regions)} The ISBN # 8809151402761**Don't buy** the version by GARRY'S Trading, purchase the one listed above. The movie is clear, sound is terrific and you can turn off the foreign subtitles..Yeah. The movie is Fantastic and until they finally bring it back to the US the above version is the one to own.

(2013-05-03 00:21:24)

John Wayne in Circus World

My husband is a John Wayne fan. So I was delighted to add this one to our collection. You can't go wrong on a John Wayne movie!

(2013-05-02 06:19:13)

Lost Gem For Wayne Fans

This review is from: Circus World (Import NTSC All Regions) (DVD) Impressive production and a well written script propel this hard to find film above the ordinary. Wayne is comfortable as ever in an unsusual roll while Claudia Cardinale is nothing short of adorable. Strong supporting cast lead by the always great Lloyd Nolan. Amazingly good print accompanied by a surprisingly clear and detailed soundtrack in 4 channel Dolby surround. Circus World is a definite winner for fans of good old entertaining movies!

callingbrian

(2013-03-27 06:51:31)

We ain't talking "Citizen Kane" here.

Some sources claim Samuel Bronston's "Circus World" was filmed inCinerama. It wasn't. It was filmed in Ultra-Panavision 70 and releasedin some venues in the single lens "Ultra-Cinerama" format, whichoptically expanded the image to fill the huge Cinerama screen.Regardless, the cinematography is outstanding, which, along with ahaunting Main Title theme by composer Dimitri Tiomkin, is perhaps thebest thing that can be said about this unfortunate production. That is,unless you consider the fact it contributed to the collapse of producerSamuel Bronston's short-lived film empire to be a good thing.It, along with its' sister 1964 Bronston mega-production, "The Fall ofThe Roman Empire", served to sink the producer's four year Spanishproduction company and end his fairly short career as a film mogul. Inthose four years he produced, besides the two films already mentioned,"King of Kings", "55 Days at Peking", and "El Cid". No independentproducer had ever attempted so ambitious an undertaking, which madeBronston's failure perhaps even more spectacular than the films heattempted.

GJValent

(2013-03-26 18:14:40)

Cinerama or not ?

One of the previous poster's referred to this NOT being a Cineramafilm. He's right, it's not. However, he alludes to it having beenadvertised as such in some cities. Chicago was one of those. CircusWorld premiered in Chicago at the McVicker Theater on Madison just westof State. (That theater had previously screened How the West was Won, aTRUE Cinerama film. HTWWW ran there for what seemed to be a year beforemoving to the neighborhood theaters.) As stated, they had three screensto fill. The newspaper ads even used the Cinerama trademark, (theaccordion folded logo). A friend saw it there with his parents, and allhe talked about was the ship capsizing sequence. I saw the flick on TV,and, that seemed very anti-climactic. All in all a pretty underwhelmingfilm. One big fluke, near the beginning, John Wayne is being wheeledaround the circus ring on top of a stagecoach at full speed. He thenshoots burning lamps (or something) off the tops of poles held byassistants in front of the stands full of spectators. Um, wouldn't thebullets being fired hit at least some of those folks behind the targets? Maybe my memory isn't so good.

TheLittleSongbird

(2013-03-13 09:41:37)

Not as magnificent as the title suggests, but a pretty entertaining movie

Is The Magnificent Showman a good movie? Not really. Is itentertaining? In some ways, yes, but it also has a number of problems.As far as John Wayne go, The Magnificent Showman is not among the bestlike The Searchers, Fort Apache and The Quiet Man. But he has also doneworse in his career as seen(in my opinion that is) with The Conqueror,Brannigan and The Green Berets. In fact, it probably belongs somewherein the middle.I did very much like how The Magnificent Showman looked. Thecinematography, effects, costumes and sets/scenery are amazinglyeffective. There are also some scenes that hold up well and entertain,particularly worth of note are the climatic fire and the capsizing ofthe circus ship, both scenes are full of excitement and tension.The Magnificent Showman was begun as Circus World, directed by FrankCapra. As much as I very much like Capra and his films, Henry Hathaway,who the film was later entrusted to, in my view was much more suitablefor the job. And while there are some assets that don't work as well asthey should, Hathaway does deserve credit for directing as solidly ashe did.Aside from the cinematography, effects and set pieces, the otheroutstanding asset is Dmitri Tiomkin's score, which is energetic,beautiful, haunting and rousing as it should be. And while I wasn'tthat impressed really with the acting, two performances do stand out-Rita Hayworth and Claudia Cardinale. Hayworth is captivating andCardinale is a sheer delight. Together they are even better, here theyseem to be having a contest at who's the best at upstaging the other,and it is a lot of fun to watch. Just for the record, I think Cardinalejust about wins the contest.These aside, I was divided personally on the performance of John Wayne.I do like Wayne a lot, but I wasn't sure about him here. What I didlike was his charisma, Wayne was a very charismatic actor and thatcomes loud and clear here. However, for my liking his delivery of thelines seemed rather stiff and there were times where I couldn't helpthinking he was too old for the role.The film is too long, at 133 minutes it is very lengthy. This wouldn'thave mattered so much if the pace and story were good, sadly neitherwere as solid as I would have liked. There are a fair number ofexciting scenes that do elevate the story, but the more talky andslower moments are rather sluggish. The story had a great concept towork from, but the final result seemed rather over-stuffed and cobbledtogether, also some plot points could have been better developed. Butmy main gripe was the dialogue, some of which was really quite badbeing very clichéd and silly.All in all, entertaining enough but has a lot of flaws that stop itfrom being any more than that. 6/10 Bethany Cox

(2013-03-13 04:11:40)

Buy the OTHER version!!!

From all of the complaints about the quality of THIS Korean import release, may I suggest you check Amazon for availability of the alternate Korean version. I just purchased it, and it has an excellent fully synchronized clean sound track, presented in its original wide-screen cinamascope, and transferred from a fairly clean original print. I only saw some minor dust during the opening credits. Maybe some day Hollywood will do a much deserved full restoration on this circus classic, throw in some bonus features, and even English sub-titles for the hearing impaired and those who have a problem with Claudia Cardinale's Itallian dialect. But until then, the alternate Korean version is probably your best way to view this classic! Region "0" NTSC is playable in US and Canada.

(2013-02-26 23:26:14)

An American circus in Europe

Don't be scared off by the (presumably) Korean lettering on the case: this is the real "Circus World," with the full English soundtrack (though I must admit that it sometimes gets rather echo-y). The time is the first decade of the 20th century, and Matt Masters (John Wayne), a former "rodeo bum" who took over an ailing circus, added a Wild West Show, and has made a success of it in the 20 years since, has an idea: a European tour. His boss rigger, Cap Carson (Lloyd Nolan), warns that "Europe has always been a big Jonah for American circuses," but Matt is determined--perhaps because he has some hope of finding Lilli Alfredo, the love of his life, who 14 years earlier ran out of the tent in a panic when her aerialist husband fell to his death, and hasn't been seen since. Matt has raised Lilli's daughter, Toni (Claudia Cardinale), as his own, although he forbids her to attempt high work--which hasn't stopped her from trying it! With them goes Steve McCabe (John Smith), the headliner of the circus's Wild West segment and Toni's suitor. But Cap's gloomy prediction proves on target: scarcely has the circus arrived in the Old World than, putting on a shipboard show in Barcelona Harbor, a freak accident leaves their ship half submerged and causes an explosion that destroys their Big Top. Miraculously no lives--human or animal--are lost, but without a tent, what's a circus? But Matt's not down yet. Boarding his animals, he sets out, with Cap, Toni, and Steve, to join Ed Purdy's Wild West and use its tour as a base while he recruits acts for an all-new show. As he observes, "Europe is the home of the circus!," and acts there are in plenty, including lion tamer Emile Schuman (Hans Dantes) and his managing redheaded wife (Wanda Rotha), and Toni's uncle, Aldo Alfredo (Richard Conte), now known as Tojo the Clown, with his young niece Giovanna (Katharyna), whom Matt envisions doing a ballet routine on the high wire. Soon all they really need is a headline aerialist. And then Lilli (Rita Hayworth) finally emerges to see her grown-up daughter...Amplified with real acts from the Althoff Circus (plus some thrilling Wild West segments), and climaxing with a tent fire that threatens to undo everything Matt has accomplished, this is a good family-friendly film with an engaging cast, notably Smith (then fresh off his role as Slim Sherman in Laramie: The Final Season), who carries off the kind of ingenue role that James Caan took on in El Dorado with energy and style. Almost the only flaw in it is Cardinale's very thick Italian accent, which sometimes makes it difficult to make out what she's saying, although at 26 she manages to do a pretty convincing job as a girl of 18 or 19.

(2013-02-26 02:31:29)

I really loved it !!!

I remember seeing circus world when I was a kid! I really enjoyed seeing it again. John Wayne is one of my all time favorites. He played in alot of westerns and military movies, it was great to see him play in something different. If you have kids it's a great circus movie to show them and they will remember it like I did. I highly recommend this movie to all ages.

(2013-02-16 22:21:02)

Circus World

This review is from: CIRCUS WORLD (DVD) The product arrived damaged as it was only sent in a plastic bag. The seal was not broken, but the case damaged and the DVD sliding around inside.

bkoganbing

(2013-02-16 15:36:54)

We Are Talking International Showtime

I remember seeing this film as a lad on a family outing in Manhattan,topped off by my insistence that we have dinner at Jack Dempsey'sRestaurant in Manhattan. Too bad the old champ wasn't there that day orit would have been a perfect Sunday.Seeing it now on a formatted VHS the awesomeness of the spectacleduring the scenes of the circus fires and the capsized ship in theharbor is really lost. It's quite an eyeful and should only be scene intheaters.And the film would be revived, but we have a subdued John Wayne hereand it's not for the better. This was originally to be a Frank Capra film and Capra bowed out aftercreative differences with the Duke and some of the Duke's personalentourage. Read the Capra autobiography to find out exactly what theywere, but they weren't fully fixed in the final product by directorHenry Hathaway who later piloted the Duke to his Oscar in True Grit.John Wayne was a guy who was usually very careful to give the publicthe Duke they expected. Even when he stretched his abilities it wasdone with a firm directorial hand. We're asked to accept the Duke as a man who had an adulterous affairhere. He also does not throw one punch in this entire film or fire aweapon in other than it being part of his Wild West Show. The peoplewent to see John Wayne, but they didn't get their money's worth.Pity because it would have been great to see John Wayne with RitaHayworth in a great film. That couldn't have happened when they wereyounger because of Rita's contract with Columbia pictures and Wayne'spersonal boycotting of that studio because of his dislike for HarryCohn. That story I won't go into.Rita Hayworth who doesn't enter into the film until almost halfwaythrough is fine as Wayne's lost love. She and Claudia Cardinale lookedjust fine in tights as trapeze artists. Lloyd Nolan as Wayne's sidekickis always good.Richard Conte is Hayworth's brother-in-law and Cardinale's uncle. Thisfine actor is wasted here in a part that either was badly written orleft on the cutting room floor.John Smith was a Wayne protégé of sorts, Wayne gave him an early breakin The High and the Mighty which he produced. Smith went on to star inthe Laramie TV series and on completion of that he was cast oppositeCardinale, probably at Wayne's insistence. I remember always wonderingwhat happened to him because he left show business shortly afterward.Then back in the Nineties I read he had died of cirrhosis of the liver.I guess you can fill in the blanks.At the time Circus World came out, there was on television a prime timeseries called International Showtime. It was on Fridays at 8 pm. and itwas set in a different city in Europe every week. Hosted by Don Amecheit featured the very best circus acts in the world. So did CircusWorld, but it certainly was no incentive for people to come out to seethis when they could see the same thing at home. Also Paramountre-released Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth to a briskbox office business at the same time Circus World came out.So for all these reasons Circus World flopped and bankrupted producerSamuel Bronstein. Nevertheless if you're a circus fan you will enjoyseeing this. But it's not the Duke his fans have come to expect.

(2013-02-11 22:34:09)

Must Have Item For Any John Wayne Collector

This review is from: Circus World (Import NTSC All Regions) (DVD) Very good movie, hard to find but worth looking for. Not your average John Wayne if you are used to his westerns or war movies but a nice change. I enjoyed seeing him in a different role and I am sure he enjoyed doing something different as well. Lots of great scenery and fun circus feats for the kids.

(2013-02-11 13:01:07)

Circus World

This review is from: Movie - Circus World (DVD) Although an old John Wayne movie, it is still excellant to watch. It is a good family movie.

(2013-02-10 20:39:16)

Movie

This review is from: Movie - Circus World (DVD) This is not a very good copy, but this is a hard to find movie. So buy it.

kyle_furr

(2013-02-10 07:11:01)

pretty bad

I'm a big John Wayne fan and I had never heard of the film.Basically all it is is Wayne dealing with a lot of problems trying to putupa circus. John Wayne and Rita Hayworth are not very good in this movie.Fordie-hard John Wayne fans only.

(2013-02-08 09:23:52)

Movie

This review is from: NEW Circus World (DVD) (DVD) This is not a very good copy, but this is a hard to find movie. So buy it.

(2013-02-07 10:13:56)

GREAT IMPORT!!!!

This review is from: Circus World (1964) John Wayne, Claudia Cardinale[All Region, Import, NTSC] (DVD) THIS MOVIE OF THE DUKE'S HAS NOT BEEN RELEASED IN THE STATES, SO GET THIS IMPORT IF YOU LIKE J.W.'S MOVIES. HOWEVER, ONLY GET THIS VERSION WITH THIS COVER. THE OTHER RELEASED DVD VERSION IS "CRAP" AND THAT IS BEING KIND, I ASSURE YOU!

(2013-01-30 17:33:44)

Circus World

A movie that I really wanted. It had a bit of a problem with the audio in sections but otherwise no complaints

(2013-01-30 07:25:49)

Family entertainment

Claudia Cardinale is gorgeous here. She is evidently the best ingredient in the film. Good enough movie for a family gathering in the afternoon. Melodrama, grand sets, Claudia and the Duke all together.Now about my copy: A region 2 from Spain. It includes among the extras (only text extras) a Spanish film critic criticizing Mr. Wayne -but not for the way he does his role- for getting rid of Frank Capra, as he was the original director for this work, and bringing his pal Henry Hathaway in. And then the critic proceeds to award him three derogatory names. Well, Mr. Wayne isn't around anymore to defend himself, but I say this: You can't insult the Duke and have my money. I'm not buying anymore European Region 2 copies.By the mouth dies the fishBy their deeds you will know them