THE BIG SHOW
US, 1961, 113 minutes, Colour.
Esther Williams, Cliff Robertson, Robert Vaughn, Nehemiah Persoff.
Directed by James B. Clark.
The Big show is a circus film and invites comparisons with other circus films, like the contemporary The Big Circus with Victor Mature. However it moves from the presentation of circus acts to a family melodrama and a clash of personalities. The screen play is based on Joseph Mankiewicz’s story House Of Strangers, which was filmed with Edward G. Robinson and Susan Hayward. This was reworked in a western setting as Broken Lance with Spencer Tracy, Robert Wagner and Richard Widmark.
The theme is of the dominant father and the good son and the bad son and their reactions and taking blame for their father's mismanagement. Cliff Robertson is good in the central role at the beginning of a successful career. Robert Vaughan pulls the stops out as the evil brother. Esther Williams in a dramatic role has glamour as the leading lady. She even swims for about half a minute. The film has a European setting, is somewhat contrived. However, the basic themes of tensions in a family always hold interest.
1. An entertaining circus film? Family melodrama? The perennial value of themes of family, jealousy, guilt and blame, violence?
2. The use of circus conventions - the particular acts that were shown, their being worked into the plot? The presentation of the family - the personalities, the clashes, rivalries, jealousies?
3. Colour photography, the European locations, the special effects for the circus acts? The special effects for the violence, especially with the polar bears? The high wire? The musical score?
4. The adaptation of a popular screen play for a circus setting? The screenplay and its presentation of Joseph returning from prison, the confrontation with Klaus and his brothers? The memories of what had happened in the circus? The reality of the plot: the dominant father, his hold over his sons, his pressures on the personnel in the circus, his not allowing his children a social life, questions of mergers, the insecurity of the members of the family, the carelessness in looking after plant, accidents and court cases? The son taking the prison sentence for his father and the effect on the family?
5. Joseph as the focus of the film - his return from prison and the effect on him? His antagonism towards Klaus and his brother? His memories of what happened? His place in the family, his work on the high wire, his differences with his father and his father's retiring from the high wire? The rivalry with Klaus and yet helping him as regards his intended marriage? The infatuation with the American girl, the enjoyment of her company, his not wanting to be dominated by her? Her love for him especially during the court sequence and his going to prison? His decision to take the blame in the court case for his father? His statements in the court? His going to prison? His advice to his sister to go to America? The upright man? The final confrontation with Klaus and the ugliness of his death? The possibility of building a future for the family, for the circus?
6. The father and his hold over his sons, over the circus personnel? His relying on Joseph and favouring him yet auspicious of socialising? The expectations of a marriage with the Italian girl, the merger with the son? His high wire act and his retiring from it? The domination of his younger sons? The continued hostility towards Klaus and the
reaction? His letting his son take the blame for himself? His behaviour in the court case, his farewell to his son? His poverty? The two sons coming to see him in the down and out circus? His death? A portrait of a dominant father?
7. Esther Williams in a dramatic role? As a glamorous American living in Europe? The group that she was with, infatuation with Joseph, the outings, the falling in love, her planning his life for him, her leaving an engagement. her return during the court case, promise to wait? A glamorous heroine - believable? The contrast with the sister and her love for the American soldier in Europe, socialising, the reaction to her father's intrusion, the decision after the court
case to go to America?
8. Klaus as villain? His ruthlessness. his being put down by his father, the intended marriage, the vindictive woman? His disowning his father, hating him? The court case? Taking possession of the shares from his brothers? The final confrontation with Joseph and his death? The irony of his death after the cruelty of his arranged marriage with the Italian woman?
9. The minor characters and the gallery of circus people, the vindictive woman after her accident and rejecting by Klaus, Klaus's wife and her grief and betrayal, allowing herself to be killed by the bears? Her father and the merger? The various people around the circus?
10. The blend of circus acts with melodrama? How well did the film embody basic themes of interaction, human nature, love, cruelty, hatred, power and manipulation?
