User Reviews

A young girl (Anne Baxter) runs away and joins a traveling carnival troupe in Colonia (Germany), an American-owned circus in all its beautiful and sadness in the setting . She falls in love with her employer (Steve Cochran) and is hired by the ringmaster (J.C. Flippen). Later on , she is contracted by a somersault artist (Lyle Bettger), who teaches her the leap routine and soon becomes the main attraction but he has a fatal accident . Anne Baxter as an aerial acrobat dropping to swimming pool is interested in both men.

The film is a melodramatic and romantic tale with the classic triangular love story through an European tour and meshing drama with events offstage . It deals with an U.S. carnival in Colonia sets the scene for sin , sex , passion and melodrama . The movie is wrought with romance and glamour but is a simple and tragic story about a scheming young girl and the men of whom she takes advantage . This dramatic flick packs an exciting final adding the beauty-beast myth . Extraordinary cast and good performances , especially from Anne Baxter and George Nader as a journalist , both of whom are top-notch under Kurt Neumann's correct direction . Furthermore , some scenes the actors perform their own stunts . After that , George Nader stayed in Germany where had success playing Jerry Cotton , a solid entry in German crime series . Fine camera work with exquisite images in Agfacolor and superb European location by cameraman Ernest Haller . The motion picture was well directed by Kurt Neumann , known director of classic Sci-Fi (The fly , Rocketship X-M , Kronos) , besides he realized at the same time the German version titled ¨Circus of love¨ with Curt Jurgens and Eva Bartok in similar roles .

Anne Baxter is channeling her 'inner Joan Crawford' at every key scene of this lively B-Movie time waster. Carnival Girl Joan was a natural for this - a shame she was too old. Those looks of blazing hatred and the words Baxter spits out at Steve Cochran (when she's not grinding all over him) need some serious eyebrows and shoulder pads. To be honest I watched this from start to finish and never felt the urge to turn it off. Many a 'great' movie I've left half finished. This is pure B movie and certainly not great but the story hooks keep it moving from scene to scene. I should have seen the ending a mile away but didn't bother to look for it.

That male high diving husband wore the CREEPIEST bathing suit I have ever seen on a man. I never saw the actor before but he was oddly sexless, effeminate and unsettling. There is one scene when he is having his blond locks lovingly styled by a midget that belongs in a Bunuel movie.

Made a couple of years after Cecil B. Demille's circus tribute movie almost epic "Greatest Show on Earth," this movie is a wayward daughter of that film. The great circus acts are pretty well limited to a single high diving act. It is set in Germany because a carnival can't make any money any more in the United States. The television series, "Flash Gordon" was also made in Germany in 1954, so I guess, producers heard they could get a lot for their production buck in Germany at that time.

The movie works better than it should. Being filmed in Germany, it allows Ann Baxter to show a bit more sexuality than she could have gotten away with in Hollywood under the moral code at that time. She shows a lot of leg and showers while taking a shower.

She really turns in a strong performance. The script is cliché ridden and the lines are as deep as a pulp detective novel, but she managers to really make us believe her when she strips to her underwear and tells a man that she's not afraid of anything. This is about as far from "All About Eve" or "Magnificent Ambersons" material, but she carries it off somehow, and keeps your eyes glued to the screen.

Altogether, the script is mediocre melodrama, but good direction and good acting keep it on track and make it fun. While it never reaches the grandeur of "Greatest Show on Earth" it doesn't have the dull stretches that GSOE has either.

A movie equivalent of one of those 1950s gaudy crime paperbacks, this low budget effort starts down a familiar path but is still able to provide its share of suspense and surprises.

The lovely Anne Baxter, though a long way from ALL ABOUT EVE is an attractive heroine albeit with an accent that has a tendency to disappear at times. She obtains work in the carnival through Joe (Steve Cochran)whose pocket she has picked out of desperation and then becomes a partner of Lyle Bettger in a high-dive act. This is an intriguing start as Bettger often played sneering villains and Joe seems decent enough at first, though we soon learn that this is not the case. Steve Cochran was ideal in this sort of role.

There is an incredibly similar sequence featuring a high-diver who jumps into a blazing tank in a section of the British film ENCORE, released two or three years before, which may have given the makers of this film some ideas.

"Carnival Story" is a film in the public domain, so it can either be downloaded for free from the link on IMDb or you get can the disc from Netflix--which is ALSO rather washed out and in need of restoration. Considering that the film is not all that good, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a cleaner copy.

This is an unusual film in that it's an American-German co-production. In fact, two different versions were filmed at the same time--one with American actors in the leads ("Carnival Story") and another with Germans ("Circus of Love"). It's about an American carnival (with circus acts as well) that has traveled to Germany. There, the show is a huge hit. Into this setting, a German lady (Anne Baxter) meets up with what SEEMS like a nice guy working with the carnival (Steve Cochran). He's really nice to her and she is smitten with him. Soon, a nice guy (Lyle Bettger--playing against type) teaches her his diving act and the two of them become a sensation. Soon, they marry but Baxter is an idiot and soon starts carrying on with Cochran behind her poor husband's back. What's going to come of this? See the film and find out for yourself.

This is a moderately diverting film. However, I think it could have been written a bit better. In particular, Baxter's character seems very inconsistent and silly---and is definitely a weak point in the film. Even if this had been better, the film screams 'mediocre' throughout and is only mildly diverting...mildly.

As I remember it, this was an exciting movie of the day and it still stands up to the test in my opinion. Steve Cochran was still the right age to look good and so was Anne Baxter. His character has caught up with her again, and they have some history together. She has got a job in a circus with a high diving swimmer. I remember the diver for his unique soft voice. He was the "goody" in the film. Anne Baxters character doesn't want to take up with him again and Steve Cochran sort of become a stalker, hanging around the tent at night and giving a low whistle. The dim witted strong man of the circus is a little in love with her himself and will do anything to protect her. The three main characters are all good looking people which puts this film at it best. There is also the technical and interesting stuff of climbing a high ladder and looking down at a drum of water that looks like you are going to dive into just a teacupful of water for you are seemingly so high. Anne Baxter is also expected to learn how to do this. Steve Cochran is bothering her... And watch out for the Big Wheel. A wonderful film.

Mrs. Shullivan and I both worked for the biggest and longest running Carnival the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) so we know a thing or two about the Carnival life. The people employed in the Carnival come from all walks of life and all have a past life. In Carnival Story an attractive lady named simply Willi (Anne Baxter) is desperate for employment when she encounters a suave talker named Joe Hammond (Steve Cochran) who helps her get her start in the carnival as a short order cook and waitress.

It doesn't take long before the other carnival workers take notice of Willi and are talking about this new girl in the kitchen named and the men's heads start turning none more than the high wire diver Frank Colloni (Lyle Bettger) who suggests that Willi join him in his high wire diving act and he will not only mentor her but make her his wife.

So a love triangle quickly unfolds with Willi in the middle between the rugged and handsome fast talker Joe Hammond and the high wire diver Frank Colloni. All three main characters cause problems for each other and the carnival's most famous line "the show must go on" is ever so appropriate at the climax of this genuinely interesting film for all carny workers and carny lovers.

I give the film a redeeming 7 out of 10 IMDB Rating.

Baxter is trained for the high-diving act, and her trainer/partner in the act waits until they both stand at the very top, 100 ft up. Then, as she prepares for her dive, he announces "Willie...I love you...and I want to marry you. I waited until now to tell you." Say what? Let's get this straight. You are a high diver, doing a dangerous routine. Everything about your act is highly structured and professional. To do otherwise is suicide. But in this case you'll make an exception?!

Besides this unlikely and plain stupid event, the rest of the film is the standard "I love him, but he's so bad" routine. Add in the obligatory mid-century Freaks with their prejudiced behavior (fat lady is too happy, etc.) and you'll learn, as I experienced, why this movie is shown at 3 AM on television interspersed with "can-around" and "diet pill" offers.

In many ways this is a strange film with Anne Baxter being the black widow of sorts. The screen seems to come alive only when she is on screen with Cochran.

The plot is very simplistic and the characters not well developed and are even contradictory.

However, any film with them in it is worthy of viewing. Maybe a better script would have enhanced this film.

In Germany, beautiful homeless blonde Anne Baxter (as Willie) is taken in by scuzzy carnival worker Steve Cochran (as Joe). Ms. Baxter, with movie-star hair and make-up, is an atypical dirty waif. Mr. Cochran gets her a job serving freaky "Carnival Story" workers food and drink, after letting her wash up in his shower. "You wet all over?" Cochran asks. "All over!" Baxter replies. "I'll bet you taste clean," he says, before carrying her off screen. Conversations like this make this movie more fun that its worth.

Due to the way Baxter moves in her underwear, high-diver Lyle Bettger (as Frank) invites her to join his act. Baxter becomes a carnival star with Mr. Bettger, but remains hooked on Cochran. When tall, dark and handsome photographer George Nader (as Bill) gets in the picture, Baxter may finally have more men than she can handle. Mr. Nader was a much-noticed newcomer, with 1954 "Photoplay" and "Golden Globe" awards. Watching Baxter juggle her male admirers is ludicrously silly fun from the 1950s.

***** Carnival Story (4/16/54) Kurt Neumann ~ Anne Baxter, Steve Cochran, Lyle Bettger, George Nader

I like this movie a lot because it has a great story and great, yet unknown to me, actors, but also because it is a rare movie set in a postwar Munich. Ten years after the war the city still looks incredibly ragged. The stunts are still amazing. Another twist to this is that director Kurt Neumann started off in Hollywood reshooting German versions of successful US-American movies, yet here he is back in his homeland, creating a successful English-language venture in Germany and then reshooting it with German actors. If you don't know Kurt Neumann, his movies are really worth your while, and they include the earliest postwar scifi-rocket movie.

Kurt Neumann directs Carnival Story, starring Anne Baxter, Steve Cochran, Lyle Bettger, George Nader and Jay C. Flippen. Music is by Willy Schmidt-Gentner and cinematography by Ernest Haller.

Set in Munich, Germany, plot centres on the workings of Grayson's travelling carnival. The perils of love, infatuation and high diving acts come crashing together.

Filmed in Agfacolor/Technicolor and unfurling its narrative in a carnival atmosphere, Carnival Story is pleasing enough on the eyes and ears. That is once you get used to Baxter's German accent that is! Willi (Baxter) is the fulcrum for everything that happens, caught picking the pocket of carnival worker Joe Hammond (Cochran), she ends up getting employed by the owner Charley Grayson (Flippen). From there she starts to literally rise up the ladder of success whilst indulging in a torrid love triangle with Joe and Frank Collini (Bettger).

The temperature never gets above lukewarm settings, the narrative getting bogged down by a repetitiveness that grates entering the last third of film. There's much swooning and sexual discord, but it never steams the screen up, this in spite of Cochran's animal magnetism and Baxter's natural sexuality. While Flippen is under used and Bettger unsuited to the role of a swim trunk wearing high diver. It's all a bit flat in story telling terms, even the ending fails to close pic down with thrilling wonder. A missed opportunity here, but fans of Cochran doing bad boy are well served, as are those of us who have lusty lustations for Annie Baxter. 5/10

Maybe not a film Anne Baxter will look upon whilst compiling a list of her top ten films. She plays "Willie" who runs away to join a circus in Germany where she quickly learns the ropes, rising to become the star turn. Meantime, she has fallen for the rather ruthless owner Steve Cochran ("Joe") but is also quite keen on acrobat Lyle Bettger ("Frank Colloni") whom she marries - then tragedy strikes! It's actually quite an entertainingly filmed piece of melodrama - if you don't impose 21st century attitudes to 1950s circus acts (and some mean knife-throwing); but there is little to redeem the really rather hammy acting and terribly lacklustre storyline - and Baxter's Germanic accent wouldn't ever have to worry Marlene Dietrich! A colourful nostalgia piece, but not much more.

The believable atmosphere and some moments of real tension, along with Anne Baxter's starring performance, make "Carnival Story" worth watching despite its somewhat uneven quality overall. It has some strengths, but it leaves you feeling that it could have been improved without too much difficulty.

The story has an interesting setting, with the drama and romance taking place in an American traveling show that is touring Germany, having attracted little interest in the US. Although the portrayal of the show and its players uses a number of clichés, in general the atmosphere is believable, and it supplies an effective background to the story. The world of the carnival is self-contained to begin with, and their presence in a foreign country emphasizes their isolation from the 'real world'. Jay C. Flippen plays the show's manager, and his character adds an appropriate air of run-down authority.

Anne Baxter stars as the only German native among the main characters, an intense young woman who becomes involved romantically with more than one of the show's employees. In itself, the plot is the same as that in many other movies about romantic rivalry, with Baxter's character torn between the 'good' lover and the 'bad' lover. Baxter herself works well enough in the role, since her restless style fits in with her character here.

Most of the other characters, though, remain one-dimensional, and some of the confrontations and tense moments lose something as a result. When the dramatic turns work, it is usually because they take place in an interesting setting, rather than because they have been filmed with any particular skill. The pacing likewise is inconsistent. There are a number of slow stretches that do little of note, but then it does make good use of the recurring high dive scenes, with the pageantry, danger, and tension that they bring.

Overall, it has some definite strengths and some obvious weaknesses. It is essentially a formulaic drama about romantic rivalries, with a relatively interesting setting that hides enough of the weaknesses to make it worth seeing.

This movie is mostly just a sordid wallow, but features some good actors who at least are watchable. The turgid melodramatic plot is set in effective circus/carny atmospherics. It has some tense moments, mainly due to the dangerous stunts and to the clawing (if predictable) emotions of the lead characters.

Anne Baxter does a good job portraying a beautiful gold-digger in post-war Germany. Steve Cochran is very believable as a smarmy heel/conman/thief. You won't care about the characters, but together the lead actors manage to steam up the story enough to keep it interesting. Otherwise this movie doesn't have much to offer except for some good color filming and excellent nighttime photography.

Baxter has the usual potboiler dialog along the lines of "I'm no good for you", "I'm just rotten", etc. but she really can play this type of over-dramatics as well as any actress.

If you want to wallow for a while in a shallow, steamy potboiler for strictly entertainment purposes, this movie is for you. Enjoy it, just don't expect a classic.

No - that's not my opinion of the movie -- but a possible alternative title. Cecil B's classic a couple of years earlier caused a resurgence of movies with Circus/Carnival themes. To me this movie comes across almost as a knock-off. They even cast Lyle Bettger. It's as if GSOE had been rewritten as a Harlequin paperback.

Personally - - if I want a more or less serious circus movie - I'll watch the classic. - if I want a light formula romance with a circus theme - I'll skip ahead a few years and catch Roustabout.

Still - as mentioned by others - anything with Anne Baxter is definitely worth a box of popcorn and a couple of hours out of your life.

I could not help but compare this film to her earlier work "All About Eve", not because it was similar but because it was the first film I had seen her in since viewing "AAE".

I was looking for the same great performances from her, and on occasions I was satisfied, yet the rest of the cast WAS NOT on the same page as her! She out-shined them all, which I admit was not that hard to do in this lack luster, poor, foreign film about United States Carnivals...and of course the typical stereo typing of the so called freaks prevailed...

Still, I read another viewers comments on the film and I have to agree, it was rather odd of Anne's character, who was in fact, a Black Widow if you looked close enough...

See it for Anne and Steve Cochran if not for the exploitation of Carnies....

The tone of this film is unusual - rather more raw yet more authentic that its Hollywood contemporaries. German screenwriter, director and location and the period, early 1950s is relevant - a broken society before the economic miracle. Willi (Anne Baxter) is a good looking youngish pickpocket who nevertheless is redeemed by retaining a moral compass, she steals to live but yearns for a better life. There must have been many such as her, finding themselves fatherless even orphaned, living however she could. Steve Cochran the handsome heel - and worse= who makes women crave him and casually uses them (the whistling scene makes the passions absolutely clear). Central is the high dive - genuinely scary, the moment at the very top where all is quiet and the lights of other towns can be seen, is memorable - I got a sense of being there. Anne Baxter is particularly good - compare her coyness in All About Eve. Steve Cochran was not so far from playing himself. A memorable film.

No doubt the great success of The Greatest Show On Earth inspired somebody at RKO to put this together. If they had done it as originally planned in 3-D it might have sold some tickets. But in just ordinary technicolor, it's just a very trashy story with Anne Baxter trying in her blond wig and most unconvincing German accent when she bothers with it to be Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Mamie Van Doren or any of the rest of those busty blond sex objects of the 50s.

Jay C. Flippen has brought his show to Germany for a fresh start and Steve Cochran is his sideshow barker. Cochran takes a look at Anne after she tries to steal his wallet and convinces Flippen to take her on to help him learn German, the better for his spiels in Germany.

Lyle Bettger who does a high diving act takes Anne on as a partner and teaches her the act. That's the start of a rivalry between two of the biggest screen villains of the 50s for Baxter. Bettger marries her, but she can't resist Cochran when he wants a booty call.

Great actress that she was Anne Baxter just does not convince in this one. George Nader is kind of shoehorned into the film to give her a third and decent love interest. But in the end he's not Anne's savior. You won't believe who is.

This film might have been in the planning stage when Howard Hughes owned RKO. I can see Hughes saying he could do a better circus film than Cecil B. DeMille. But he sold RKO and we get this.

This is one trashy movie, but there are those of us out there who love trashy movies.

Unpretentious describes this film production fairly well. But that's consistent with the setting: a small, insular world, wherein a variety of atypical and colorful people move in and out of scenes, as the plot dictates. These people, for the most part, are tricksters and hangers-on whose only claim to fame relates to some physical trait, or some bizarre gift or craft.

More talented than most is Frank (Lyle Bettger) who high dives into a burning tank of water. Then there's Joe (Steve Cochran), an announcer who tries to convince attendees to part with a few cents, to see the magic of the headless wonder, or some such. But one of Joe's attendees, a young, attractive woman named Willie (Anne Baxter), follows Joe to a snack stand, whereupon she proceeds to swipe Joe's wallet from his back pocket. With his money, she buys some food. But he catches her. And in so doing, he takes a liking to her. She's destitute, you see, and shapely. And she'll do anything to make some money, even if it's just wash dishes in the carnival's kitchen.

That's the setup for this modest melodrama, wherein Willie learns about life in the circus and, in the process, finds that love can be confusing with so many guys attracted to her. At one point, she concedes hopelessly: "I don't know what love is". Will things work out for Willie? Will she find true, lasting love?

"Carnival Story" is largely a cinematic vehicle for Anne Baxter. I've always liked her. But in this film she overacts a lot. Steve Cochran gives a more relaxed, naturalistic performance, as does Lyle Bettger. Tension derives from Frank's high-dive act, and the rivalry among the various guys drawn to Willie. The film's visuals are acceptable, if unremarkable. Sets seem realistic. Toward the end, the plot trends melodramatically hokey.

A prospective viewer needs to keep expectations reasonably low for this film. It's got melodrama and tension. It's got several fine actors. It's got an unusual setting. And that may be enough, for this small, low-concept story.