dkwootton Circus (1936) is a romantic-farce-musical directed by Grigorii Aleksandrov (1903-1983) who started as an assistant director to Sergei Eisenstein before graduating into the ranks of the great Soviet musical directors. Lyubov Orlova, the wife of Aleksandrov (and incidentally Stalin's favorite movie star), stars as Marion Dixon, a circus performer who flees to the Soviet Union only to be plagued by her troubled past of committing "history's biggest crime" of sleeping with a colored man and conceiving a colored child. Dixon falls in love with a theater director but is blackmailed by a Western man who has knowledge of her illustrious affair.While the arrival of sound brought a regression in the aesthetics of cinema, Circus manages to maintain the specificities of the medium offering spectacular visual sequences and technical perfection that makes the film seem rather Hitchockian. There are moments of Chaplinesque physical comedy (as well as a character physically resembling the Tramp (Chaplin's The Circus (1928) was made only six years earlier)) such as the man pulling the feather from the swan, using the feather as a pen, before putting it back into the swan. Aleksandrov stages the two protagonists falling in love in a spectacular shot as the camera pans down from Marion's face, to the couple holding hands in the reflection of the piano before rotating 180 degrees. Stalinist cinema, also known as socialist realism, abandoned the formalism that had categorized the Soviet films of the 1920s, to instead focus on wholesome entertainment and strong characters and plot intended for the masses. The films were similar to Hollywood narratives but located on the opposite ideological spectrum as they consisted of a naive, but good-natured hero developing the communist consciousness. Like, Chapaev (1934), Circus embodies the synthesis of ideology and entertainment that the Soviet center-moderate critics sought to achieve. At the climax of the film, Marion is exposed in front of the circus audience with the blackmailer claiming her actions justify her "banish(ment) from civilized society." The film portrays the socialist Soviet Union as a place of acceptance and understanding, compared to the harsh reality of race relations in the United States and other Western nations. The last minutes of Circus drive the message home as masses of people march through the streets carrying flags and banners of Lenin and Stalin as Marion turns to her comrade proclaiming, "now I understand."

cynthiahost I oppose communism.Its a dictatorship around workers.This is no different than a dictatorship around big business and the wealthy.No even right and responsibilities no checks or balance.But the Communist Russian classic film, I finally saw, was great .I happen to be Orlova fan.A piece of this film was used in a comedy documentary about Czechoslovakia or was it Poland? first feature that had sound in it,they were very late.This film tells the struggles of and circus performer ,played by Orlova ,and her tyrannical agent ,A German American,i think,Paval Masslasky ,who looks typical of a bad guy.She has a secret She has a black baby .He threatens her that if she dumps him he will tell every one about her truth.She fall in love with fellow Circus performer,played by Sergei Stolyarove,but her manger get in the way of that.Arlova was a good actress and singer and dancer.Unfortunately mainstream corporate film firms and broad cast channels would never broadcast or distribute this hypocritically just because it under the communist regime and its impersonating Hollywood throws of the fact that it was made under a murderous dictatorship fortunately on line resources offer the print for American players ,but no subtitles.One of the characters is another circus performer who pretend to be Charlie Chaplin.He must of been Russia's favorite,portrayed by a Charlie Chaplin looking N.Otto .This movie also pays Russian tribute to Busby Berkley.There a big number near the ending that shows all the chorus girl changing in one movement style to another with Lyuba in the middle singing and dancing.This should really appeal to serious classic film fans,who don't like to be over expose to popular classics.Cause this on is unpopular.This should appeal to you,to compete in a healthy way ,with t.c.m.By the way Sergei appeared in a popular Russian classic Ivan the terrible part 1 and 2.You can get it in the united states from amazon.com and eBay, at this writing. 06/23/13

pauldawg42 This is definitely a propaganda film in Russia. I would say the main theme is unity. Mary is an American who is performing in a Russian circus. Throughout the film Mary starts to become more and more Russian as the time goes on. In the end Von Kneishitz (the German) is chasing after Mary's baby (who is half-black) and show the Russians that the star, Mary, whom they've all been cheering for is less than human so to speak. The Russians don't care, in fact they say, "Who cares?" Their culture is all one and there isn't any differences between the people. This film came out before WWII and definitely sets up the Germans as the bad guys. Overall this movie was entertaining. It's interesting to see a propaganda film but the storyline was quite weak.

edwartell We rented this movie for my Russian grandmother; she's seen it, she says, 17 times. Scary. This is a saccharine romance in which an American actress, impregnated by a black man, escapes to Russia and starts a new life. She loves one man; the heavy, however, threatens that if she doesn't marry him, he will reveal her secret. This continues for a long time until the end, when he does so; indignantly, the masses at the circus rise and say that it doesn't matter what color the baby is, this is tolerant Russia! Then, for no reason whatsoever, the actress and her new lover are marching at the head of a huge parade singing about the freedom that Soviet Russia provides.This is one of those knock-off comedies that Aleksandrov made after returning from Hollywood. It even features a Chaplin impersonator. It's not that great, and anyone who masochistically feels they simply must learn about Soviet film in the 1930s would be advised to stick to Eisenstein and The Three Songs Of Lenin.