Obscure Rank feature from the 1950s despite being in colour and Vista Vision - it got a decent release but wasn't a TV perennial. Perhaps due to the story. George Baker runs a circus and becomes best friends with little person Jimmy Karoubi. Then Karoubi falls for Hungarian barmaid Diane Cilento.
Having a little person as protagonist is so unsual the film has a fascination. Karoubi isn't really up for the part - he's got a charisma, I just wish he was a better actor. George Baker isn't that good either - he wrote in his memoirs that Peter Finch should've played the role and he was right.
The film is too nice. Baker and Karoubi like each other. Cilento is a decent person. They still are selfish. Karoubi loves Cilento. She's hot for Baker. Baker goes for her even though he would (arguably) have other options and she would have other options. She's got to go for Karoubi's best friend and he's got to go for her. Sorry, they're selfish. They don't even struggle against their attraction. Then Karoubi dies in an accident (I think it's a hinted suicide because she set him up with a dwaf he rejected earlier in the film after Baker tried to set him up with her?) They go off together feeling a little bad. Sorry for bad language, but fuck them. In playing everyone as "nice" they still come across as insensitive pricks because at the end of the day Karoubi is a dwarf and he isn't.
It might've been more fun using the plot of Freaks. Cilento is tramp out for Karoubi's mother and hot for Baker. Or if they wanted to make Baker nice have some sexy dude she humps. Throw in a murder.
The writer has done for a more sensitive portrayal. Which is fine. But those need really skilled handling. Everyone tries. No one is outstanding. It needed a better director. Cilento comes off best despite a Hungarian accent - which again is fine just another layer of artificiality.
I read a review which said the film seems to go on forever. I get that and think I know why. It lacks pace, it puts everything out in a linear manner. We meet Baker. Establish his problems. We meet Karoubi. Things get better. We don't meet Cilento until 30 minutes in. The film could've stared five minutes before hand.
The glimpses of circus life are fun. This is a negative review but there are many good things about the movie. The fact it's about a dwarf is inherently interesting. It totally gets points for that.
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