{"id":43818,"date":"2024-05-17T07:30:33","date_gmt":"2024-05-17T11:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=43818"},"modified":"2024-05-16T20:23:50","modified_gmt":"2024-05-17T00:23:50","slug":"the-bootleg-files-carnival-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2024\/05\/17\/the-bootleg-files-carnival-story\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bootleg Files: Carnival Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOOTLEG FILES 866:<\/strong> \u201cCarnival Story\u201d (1954 drama starring Anne Baxter and Steve Cochran). <\/p>\n

LAST SEEN:<\/strong> On YouTube and other online video sites. <\/p>\n

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO:<\/strong> On public domain labels.
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\nREASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: <\/strong>A lapsed copyright enabled endless duping.<\/p>\n

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE:<\/strong> The likelihood of a Criterion-style restoration and release is unlikely. <\/p>\n

For many years, I avoided the 1954 \u201cCarnival Story,\u201d even though there were endless opportunities to view it. Back in the pre-cable television days, the film was a staple of very-late-night programming on local stations that needed to fill space between commercials during their twilight hours. With the dawn of VHS videos, the film\u2019s public domain status ensured there were too many copies available from rival cheapo labels in bargain basement bins. And with the dawn of online video, \u201cCarnival Story\u201d is all over the Internet \u2013 but, then again, too many public domain films are all over the Internet, so why seek out this title?
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Finally, I wound up catching it after a Facebook posting from a few weeks back noted the film would be broadcast on TCM in a 6:00 p.m. screening. As luck would have it, my schedule was free for that time block and my longtime indifference to the film abated. I was able to plop myself on my living room couch and see \u201cCarnival Story\u201d without staying up through the wee hours or shelling out five bucks on a crummy video.<\/p>\n

To my relief, \u201cCarnival Story\u201d wasn\u2019t a bad film. It wasn\u2019t a good film, either. It\u2019s one of those films that just sort of lays there \u2013 a mildly entertaining distraction that doesn\u2019t wear out its welcome, yet it also doesn\u2019t linger once the closing credits run their course.<\/p>\n

\u201cCarnival Story\u201d takes place in Munich, Germany, where a struggling American circus arrives in search of an audience. No one who runs the circus can speak German without reading from a translation guide, but the circus owner thinks the postwar Germans will become enchanted by the sawdust and hokum imported from across the Atlantic.<\/p>\n

When the circus opens, its barker Joe (played by Steve Cochran) has his wallet stolen by a destitute German woman named Willi (Anne Baxter). Joe catches Willi, but instead of calling for the police he offers her a job as part of the kitchen staff. The star of the circus, the high diver Collini (Lyle Bettger), notices this unusually attractive kitchen worker and offers to train her as his assistant in his act. In almost no time, Willi is diving from a platform atop a 100-foot ladder into an above ground pool.<\/p>\n

Collini falls in love with Willi, but she\u2019s in love with Joe. However, Joe enjoys fooling around with Willi but is phobic to the concept of love and marriage. Willi reluctantly accepts Collini\u2019s wedding proposal and they get married, but Willi can\u2019t shake Joe from her carnal appetite. For his part, Joe still considers Willi to be his girl \u2013 or as he puts it, \u201cWe\u2019re not going to let a litle thing like you being married come between us!\u201d <\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, Collini is not please with either Willi or Joe, and this triangle soon spirals into some rather nasty emotional territory \u2013 and for the sake of the readers who never saw \u201cCarnival Story,\u201d I won\u2019t go further with the plot summary.<\/p>\n

Viewed today, \u201cCarnival Story\u201d has a strange vibe, with a very American melodrama awkwardly set in a German location that is mostly used for some fleeting travelogue shots. This set-up was created because the film\u2019s backers, King Brothers Productions, were making two films with the same story and most of the same supporting cast. While \u201cCarnival Story\u201d was being shot for English-language audiences, director Kurt Neumann was simultaneously shooting the German-language facsimile \u201cRummelplatz der Liebe\u201d (\u201cCircus of Love\u201d) starring Eva Bartok, Curd J\u00fcrgens and Bernhard Wicki. As an inside joke, the German stars appeared as background extras in the American film while Baxter, Cochran and Bettger returned the favor by occupying the extra ranks in the German film. <\/p>\n

To its disadvantage, \u201cCarnival Story\u201d comes across as a film created by writers who never interacted with real people \u2013 dialogue and character behavior is often borderline ridiculous. A pair of blacklisted writers, Dalton Trumbo and Michael Wilson, made uncredited contributions to the screenplay \u2013 and to be cruel, perhaps it was best that they didn\u2019t get public recognition for this work. But, then again, how often do you watch films where the characters say lines such as \u201cWe\u2019re both bad, baby \u2013 that\u2019s why we\u2019re good for each other!\u201d and \u201cIf you were starving to death, howling for food, I wouldn’t throw you a rotten bone\u201d?<\/p>\n

To its credit, the film\u2019s cast tries their hardest to create cinematic alchemy by turning leaden material into gold. It doesn\u2019t work, but not for lack of trying. Baxter taps into some of her \u201cAll About Eve\u201d-level conniving early in the flick \u2013 and while she never quite masters the German accent, she looks great in a swimsuit and gets to run the melodramatic gamut. Cochran is his usual sexy villain and Bettger, who often played a villain, is a credible good guy. Another big screen good guy, George Nader, turns up later in the film as a photographer, but the real fun is Adi Berber, a Tor Johnson clone whose small role as the mute and simpleminded strongman that adores Baxter\u2019s character creates a wonderfully silly climax involving a chase on a ferris wheel.<\/p>\n

\u201cCarnival Story\u201d was shot in Agfacolor but was printed in and marketed as a Technicolor feature. Some sources claim the film was planned as a 3D feature, but it was never presented in that format. <\/p>\n

RKO acquired the film for theatrical release and placed it in New York City\u2019s prestigious Criterion Theatre for its premiere. King Brothers Productions worked with RKO in the release of several of its films \u2013 most notably the 1956 Mexican-based feature \u201cThe Brave One,\u201d which won Dalton Trumbo an Oscar for Best Story under his pseudonym Robert Rich \u2013 but the producers later sued the studio for mishandling the release of their titles. Today, King Brothers Productions is best known for a pair of giant monster classics: the American release of \u201cRodan\u201d and the British-based \u201cGorgo.\u201d<\/p>\n

I will point out that the aforementioned TCM broadcast of \u201cCarnival Story\u201d used a slightly faded print that was clearly from a public domain source. I suspect that this film will never get a Criterion-worthy treatment of 4K restoration from original negatives, so anyone who is curious to experience this old romp will have to tolerate the not-so-pristine prints that are floating about in abundance.<\/p>\n