I thought this was going to be a psycho biddy film because its starred Joan Crawford but it isn't really - it's a murder mystery. Someone is killing people at a circus run by Crawford. There's a bit of gore but not overly done - trapeze artists fall to their death, someone gets genuinely sawn in half, that sort of thing. As has been pointed out, it actually has more in common with Crawford's 40 melodramas than psycho thrillers - it's Mildred Pierce-y with its driven heroine, younger male lover, estranged daughter.
It's quite an entertaining film. I wish it was better directed - there's opportunities for spookiness which are thrown away - but they used a real circus. There's lots of circus action - animals, little people, etc. The circus performers even put on a number - I wonder if this was something they really did.
The photography is atmospheric and the cast is fun - Crawford having a high old time as an MC with a younger lover (Ty Hardin, walking around with his shirt off a lot), estranged from her daughter (Judy Geeson), dealing with a bitchy performance (Diana Dors, great fun) and business partner (Michael Gough).
The dialogue is on the the nose and it could have used another subplot or something - or enriched what's there. (Say a romance between Geeson and Hardin). The circus acts do feel like padding, as if the actual plot ran short. But I had fun.
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