Movie review - "Circus World" (1964) **1/2

Along with The Fall of the Roman Empire this was the last gasp of the short-lived Sam Bronston experiment. There is plenty of production value in this tale of an American circus in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century and John Wayne is at home as the owner of the circus; Claudia Cardinale is beautiful as ever although a little silly (she has to act like a child who becomes a woman - but I'm sorry the way she fills out those outfits she's a woman from the get-go).

Despite all the writers who worked on it the story is not strong, most of it concerned with Wayne casually looking for ex love (and Cardinale's mother) Rita Hayworth. The big secret is that Hayworth was having an affair with Wayne... Cardinale is shocked for about five minutes before forgiving him. And that's it. John Smith (in a role Rod Taylor was meant to play only he walked out prior to shooting) plays Wayne's partner and Cardinale's love interest - you keep expecting him to do something, some confict, but nothing happens. Ditto Lloyd Nolan as Wayne's off sider. Hayworth isn't bad in her role, a faded beauty - the part is similiar to the one she played in Separate Tables.

The best bit comes around 20 minutes in when there's an accident involving the circus at the docks and everything sink. There's also a decent fire sequence towards the end. Colourful and not bad, but, like so many Bronston productions, needed a little more care in the script.