Carnival Story (1954)

★ 4.7 1h 35m IMDb

Drama

In search of a better life, a German girl named Willi joins an American carnival passing through Munich. While traveling from town to town, she is torn between two suitors: cruel carnival barker Joe and kindhearted high-dive artist Frank. Frank gets the upper hand when he asks Willi to join his act. The partners soon become the most popular attraction at the carnival. But tragedy is only a slip away.

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Cast

Anne Baxter as Willi Died 1985 · Michigan City, Indiana, USA Anne Baxter (May 7, 1923 – December 12, 1985) was an American actress best known for her work in Hollywood films, Broadway, and television during the mid‑20th century. Born on May 7, 1923, in Michigan...

Steve Cochran as Joe Hammond Died 1965 · Eureka, California He is perhaps best remembered for his role of Big Ed Somers, the power hungry gangster pal of James Cagney in "White Heat" (1949). Born Robert Alexander Cochran in Eureka, California, he was the son o...

Lyle Bettger as Frank Colloni Died 2003 · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Lyle S. Bettger (February 13, 1915 – September 24, 2003) was a character actor known most for his Hollywood roles from the 1950s, typically portraying villains....

George Nader as Bill Vines Died 2002 · Pasadena, California, USA George Garfield Nader, Jr. (October 19, 1921 – February 4, 2002) was an American actor and writer of Lebanese descent. He appeared in a variety of films from 1950 to 1974, including Sins of Jezebel (1...

Jay C. Flippen as Charley Grayson Died 1971 · Little Rock, Arkansas, USA From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Jay C. Flippen (born March 6, 1899, Little Rock, Arkansas – February 3, 1971, Los Angeles, California) is an American character actor who often played police...

Helene Stanley as Peggy Died 1990 · Gary, Indiana, USA Helene Stanley (born Dolores Diane Freymouth; July 17, 1929 – December 27, 1990) was an American actress. She is best known for being the live model for Cinderella, Aurora, and Anita Radcliffe..

Director Kurt Neumann

Cast Anne Baxter, Steve Cochran, Lyle Bettger, George Nader, Jay C. Flippen, Helene Stanley, Ady Berber, Anni Trautner, Jadin Wong

John Chard 5/10 Jul 26, 2014

You will go wherever I tell you.

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

CinemaSerf 5/10 Nov 21, 2022

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.