A "carnival" in British English is a procession through the streets accompanied by singing, dancing, eating, drinking, general merrymaking and dressing up in flamboyant costumes; London's famous Notting Hill Carnival is a good example. This film, however, is about a "carnival" in the American sense, that of a travelling funfair or circus. It is unusual in that it was produced by a major American studio (RKO Radio Pictures) with American actors but made in Germany by a director (Kurt Neumann) who was also making a German language version of the same story using German actors. It was originally intended to make the film as a 3D feature, but this plan was dropped, probably when the 3D craze ended as abruptly as it had begun.
The "carnival" in question is an American travelling circus, touring Europe because there is too much competition in the States, which arrives in Munich. (You can tell that it's Munich because the local cathedral features in a number of shots, although the famous domes atop its twin towers seem to have been missing in 1954; possibly they had been damaged in the war). A local girl named Willie joins the show and is offered a job as assistant to Frank Collini, the high-dive artist. Exactly how Willie got her masculine-sounding name is never precisely explained, although it is always pronounced in the English way. When someone tries to germanicise it to "Villi" she corrects him.
Frank trains Willie to become part of his act, which involves diving into a flaming tank of water from a great height. (I suspect that this detail was probably inserted to allow as many shots as possible of the lovely Anne Baxter in a swimsuit). The story is a melodrama based upon a love-triangle. Frank falls deeply in love with Willie, but she only has eyes for the handsome Joe Hammond, another carnival employee, even though Frank is decent and kind-hearted whereas Joe is an arrogant swine (or, in American usage, a "heel") who treats her badly. The film explores the complications arising from this triangle, including jealousy, theft, violence and a suspicious death.
There is nothing particularly distinguished about "Carnival Story". Unusually for a crime drama from the fifties it was shot in colour, but the colours are rather dull and muddy. None of the acting contributions really stand out; at her best, as in "All about Eve", Anne Baxter could be a brilliant actress, but this is not one of her better films. The plot is little more than a standard melodrama, with the circus background and the German setting adding a touch of exoticism, at least for American audiences. It was obviously made on a relatively small budget and therefore lacks the spectacle of something like "The Greatest Show on Earth", Cecil B. DeMille's circus extravaganza from two years earlier. Neumann gets enough out of his cast to make the film watchable, but is perhaps not difficult to understand why it has faded into obscurity in the sixty years since it was made. 6/10
The "carnival" in question is an American travelling circus, touring Europe because there is too much competition in the States, which arrives in Munich. (You can tell that it's Munich because the local cathedral features in a number of shots, although the famous domes atop its twin towers seem to have been missing in 1954; possibly they had been damaged in the war). A local girl named Willie joins the show and is offered a job as assistant to Frank Collini, the high-dive artist. Exactly how Willie got her masculine-sounding name is never precisely explained, although it is always pronounced in the English way. When someone tries to germanicise it to "Villi" she corrects him.
Frank trains Willie to become part of his act, which involves diving into a flaming tank of water from a great height. (I suspect that this detail was probably inserted to allow as many shots as possible of the lovely Anne Baxter in a swimsuit). The story is a melodrama based upon a love-triangle. Frank falls deeply in love with Willie, but she only has eyes for the handsome Joe Hammond, another carnival employee, even though Frank is decent and kind-hearted whereas Joe is an arrogant swine (or, in American usage, a "heel") who treats her badly. The film explores the complications arising from this triangle, including jealousy, theft, violence and a suspicious death.
There is nothing particularly distinguished about "Carnival Story". Unusually for a crime drama from the fifties it was shot in colour, but the colours are rather dull and muddy. None of the acting contributions really stand out; at her best, as in "All about Eve", Anne Baxter could be a brilliant actress, but this is not one of her better films. The plot is little more than a standard melodrama, with the circus background and the German setting adding a touch of exoticism, at least for American audiences. It was obviously made on a relatively small budget and therefore lacks the spectacle of something like "The Greatest Show on Earth", Cecil B. DeMille's circus extravaganza from two years earlier. Neumann gets enough out of his cast to make the film watchable, but is perhaps not difficult to understand why it has faded into obscurity in the sixty years since it was made. 6/10