JohnHowardReid Allegedly based on the 1933 play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Alexander Woollcott, the movie bears little resemblance to this source at all and is actually based on the 1894 novel, Trilby, by George Du Maurier - a property that Warner Brothers also owned. The most notable film version was Svengali (1931) in which John Barrymore played the title character. On this occasion, the role is played - and played well - by sanpaku-eyed Herbert Lom, while Anne Crawford makes a most effective Trilby and David Farrar a more powerful and charismatic version of Little Billee. The setting has been cleverly changed from opera to a circus, enabling director Harlow to incorporate a number of genuine acts, including a thrilling sequence in which a clown performs a number of breathtaking high wire stunts. Nominal star, Ben Lyon, doesn't get too much in the way. Production values impress and the noirish photography by Otto Heller is a stand-out, particularly in the Herbert Lom sequences.

LeonLouisRicci An Early British "Horror" Film that was virtually Unseen in America until recently. The Circus really does have a Sleazy, Sinister side and has been Exploited in a number of Films and it usually is quite an Effective Backdrop for Suspense and Quirky Characters. This Movie Displays that Creepy Environs. Herbert Lom's Uncanny Performance as Torg, a Name that in itself Evokes Shutters, is the Mesmerizing Force behind this Offbeat Penetration into the Mind of a Desperate, Powerful Individual that literally Seduces his way to the (Big) Top. An Allegory of another Master Mind Manipulator.A Spellbinding Film that is an Unusually Dark and Disturbing War-Time Entry. Made at a Time when Germany was under the Sinister Spell of a Real "Svengali" named Hitler.

David (Handlinghandel) Herbert Lom plays a hypnotist in this thrilling British film noir. The young Lom seems an uneasy cross between Peter Lorre and Charles Boyer. The plot is gripping. It's familiar but beautifully executed here. As an audience of one, I was on the edge of my chair.The entire cast is excellent. The feel of a circus is real: It reminded me from time to time of an earlier great movie about a circus: "Freaks." And even the props are good: The laughing sailor is horrifying. When the circus owner shows this device off, members of his troupe laugh. But I was horrified by the grotesque laugh and jerky moments.The main draw is Lom's brilliant performance. He is meant to be creepy, and he is. But, often shown in close-up, he is also handsome. And that too is part of what makes the beautiful tightrope walker fall under his spell.He is a force of evil. Yet we are not, I think, meant to despise him. He has a few lines about the unhappy childhood that made him yearn to be taken seriously.This little known movie deserves a wide audience and great a critical acclaim

theowinthrop Last night three Warner Brother - Teddington Studios (U.K.) films were shown for the first time in decades and the first time on American television. All three were good productions, but this one is worth talking about first - it was the first big role that that fine character actor Herbert Lom ever got in British film.Born in Czechoslavakia, Lom came to England in the 1930s, and began acting in bit parts. But he has a face which is photogenically handsome but sinister, and soon began getting better and better roles - not all of them villains (his ruthless gang boss in NIGHT IN THE CITY has a legitimate, deadly gripe against Richard Widmark). He would also do well in comedies, playing with his villainy in THE LADYKILLERS and as "Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus" in the "Pink Panther" films.Here, he is Torg, later Mr. Torg, and later (for publicity) renamed Dr. Stephen Torg. He is a tramp who stumbles into a dying circus run by Ben Lyon (Phil Danton) and his brother (and trapeze star) David Farrar (Tom Danton). Tom's wife Mary (Ann Crawford) is his trapeze partner. The circus is collapsing for want of customers, and the players not paid. But Phil explains things to them, and they agree to keep going on for awhile. But the lion escapes from it's cage, and after the lion tamer collapses nobody knows what to do. Except Torg. He has a powerful command in relaxing the lion slowly, and getting it into the cage again. Everyone is impressed, particularly Phil and his publicity man Jim (William - here Bill - Hartnett, of later "Dr. Who" fame). They allow Torg to work for the circus. An idea is suggested concerning one of Mary's delicate high wire acts - what if Torg hypnotized her so she did not need her parasol for balance. Tom, of course, is against it, but Mary is willing to do it. And it works.Soon, due to Jim's publicity, the crowds start showing up. This is fine, but the circus people (except for Mary) don't like Torg. He is arrogant, and won't do his share of the work moving objects about when setting up and tearing down the campsites. He also does not care for any of their feelings. When the ringmaster Willy (Frederick Burtwell, in a nice comic performance) starts telling him off, Torg quietly informs him that with his usefulness to the circus he is irreplaceable, whereas ringmasters are easily replaceable.Tom is definitely angry with Torg - he sees Mary slowly falling more and more under Torg's influence. She even misses helping take down the camp at one point. Torg, who has forced Phil to make him a partner, takes her for a drive in his new MG. Here Lom has his best moment in the film - he's allowed to tell Mary what is behind his flawed character. He had a wretched youth in a children's home, and was bullied because he was small. It's actually quite touching as Lom demonstrates Torg wasn't made like he was by nature, but by the human race itself. It explains how he gained his arrogance by his powers of hypnosis, and how he really was potentially a better person than he became.Mary at this point rejects Torg's offer to marry her. She still loves Tom. Shortly after Tom knocks down Torg after an argument. And soon after that - there is an accident in an aerial act leaving Tom badly injured. It seems Mary claims as her hold fails she is too tired. Later she can't remember this. And Torg is smiling.Ever since George Du Maurier created "Svengali" in Trilby, hypnosis was seen as a potentially sinister force. John Barrymore played Svengali in the film of that name in the 1930s, and there were other similar films (both dramas and comedies) since then. This film treats the subject with some dignity, even having a psychiatrist examine Mary at one point. The entire cast is quite good (even Lyon's American accent is tolerable after awhile), but it's Lom's sinister Torg that holds it together best, and which opened his future career so well.