Circus World (1964) on Netflix
Matt Masters has toured his Wild West circus across America for years. Now he wants to take the show to Europe, and to find Lili Alfredo, whose daughter he adopted.
- Netflix2.8/5
- IMDb6.1/103,383 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes50%
Trailer
Plot summary
Matt Masters owns a Wild West circus, one he rebuilt from a bankrupt show he bought in 1885 and has toured across the United States for years. As the century turns, he wants to take it to Europe. His circus boss, Cap Carson, argues against the crossing, and so does Steve McCabe, one of his Western stars. Masters is also searching for Lili Alfredo, the lost love of his life, and he expects the tour to draw her out, if only to see Toni Alfredo, the daughter he adopted. He buys an old freighter, rechristens it Circus Maximus, and sets sail. At Barcelona the vessel capsizes at the pier, putting the show out of action.
Cast
Show all 13 cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Circus World (1964)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- While filming the climactic circus fire scene in December 1963, a real fire broke out and burned 40 square feet of the set in Aranjuez; John Wayne, Rita Hayworth and other studio personnel were unharmed and animals were moved off the set.
- Nicholas Ray was set to direct until a heart attack while filming 55 Days at Peking forced him out; Frank Capra replaced him but fell into creative differences with John Wayne and co-writer James Edward Grant, and by summer 1963 Henry Hathaway had taken over.
- Film historians have speculated that Rita Hayworth, only 46 when the film was made, was suffering from early onset Alzheimer's; she was often late, had trouble with her lines and was reported drunk and abusive on set, and John Wayne allegedly came to despise her.
- David Niven and Claudia Cardinale were reported to have joined the cast in March 1963, but by August Niven was replaced by Rod Taylor and Rita Hayworth had signed on; Taylor then quit over the size of his role and John Smith replaced him.
- Director Henry Hathaway brought in Ben Hecht to retool the script in two weeks, keeping the opening shipwreck and big-top fire scenes but improvising the rest; Julian Halevy, a pseudonym for Julian Zimet, was hired for on-set rewrites.
- The financial failure of The Fall of the Roman Empire left Samuel Bronston's company deeply in debt to financier Pierre S. du Pont III, and Circus World became the last of his big budget epics produced in Spain.
