Welcome to the jungle or what is known as the Dungeon Garden Maze because tonight's Saturday Night Special is just that! Freakin' Special with extra sauce!
"Ring Of Fear" is a real dichotomy unto itself! It is seemingly an extremely fascinating movie, and yet, boring as Hell, and somehow it manages to do it all at the same time!
Awesome amazing colour and wide screen CinemaScope for 1954!"
Here's the names of just some of the acts in the circus! The only thing missing is "The Flying Zucchinis" and "The Harvey Wallbangers!"
Sean (Them!) McClory is Dublin O'Malley, fittingly enough since that's where the man was born! Sean was also in the "Outer Limits" episode called "The Duplicate Man!"
Dublin is the real beast who needs to be behind bars, not the lions and tigers!
Dublin O'Malley is a psychopath who has just escaped from a mental hospital! He robs this dude, switches clothes with him, and throws him in front of a train so that it looks like he himself has died!
Too bad they never delved more into the Side Show, but then again, Dublin O'Malley is a big enough freak! "Step right up, and see the nice man, who is really a vicious killer!" That's what the barker should be saying!
Out of some 40,000 pictures we've put up on this blog, this circus crowd shot is one of the strangest!
1950's power trio left to right Pat (Harrigan and Son) O'Brien, the world famous Clyde Beatty, and wise-crackin' Mike Hammer author, and the only reason I wanted to see this movie, Mickey Spillane!
Hopped up on hot dogs, candy apples, ice cream, and soda pop, the crowd goes wild!
Just about as creepy as a clown can be!
Ta - Da!!
What a way to earn a living!
The circus is in town, and with each appearance comes the big parade! These people had some payroll!
How can you go wrong with Mickey Spillane playing himself in a movie? You can't! He's not an actor, he's a writer, and quite an eccentric character at that! He's here at the circus because there have been a series of mysterious deaths, and they thought his crime writing skills might come in handy trying to figure it all out, especially, since he wrote the freakin' story!
Here's what Mickey was focused in on!
Here Mickey can be seen interrogating Dublin! You wanna talk about laid back??
Mickey in a Hawaiian shirt!
Another great thing about "Ring Of Fear" is when there aren't elephants, there is an abundance of gorgeous gals in the background, and you just can't go wrong there!
Here's the big problem! A circus in 1954 made for a real interesting backdrop for a film. It doesn't have an every day appearance, and you don't really have to pay much for any sets or extras, but they always cram circus movies full of what else but circus footage, and as much as I liked the circus as a kid, I don't really enjoy watching animals like lions and tigers in small cages having whips cracked at them, and it's totally lost it's appeal, and consequently, there lies the rub! Without all that, this would have been a really good 40 minute movie! (but even as it is, it's worth it just to see Mickey Spillane's performance!)
I went to circus once with my dad, but so long ago I can't recall where or when, but I was probably like 6 or 7 years old. In Pittsburgh, most likely.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to see Vincent Price play the ringmaster in a circus flick, one of Irwin Allen's earliest feature films is THE BIG CIRCUS (with Victor Mature, Red Buttons, and a "galaxy of stars")...but interestingly, or maybe not, after Allen made the blockbuster THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE in 1972, he was going to make a 3-D movie called CIRCUS! CIRCUS! CIRCUS! Of course it got shelved once he became the "Master of Disaster" with THE TOWERING INFERNO in '74 (nominated for best picture Oscar, believe it or not). And after that, he went downhill career-wise, with a bunch of bum decisions.
Around 1980, Allen almost made a couple of sci-fi shows (The Hunters and The Time Project), but the big silly made another disaster movie, the volcano flop WHEN TIME RAN OUT... (yes, with 3 dots in the title) starring Paul Newman, Jacqueline Bisset, William Holden, Ernie Borgnine, Red Buttons, Burgess Meredith, et al., the biggest box-office "disaster" of his career, despite the big-name cast. (I met him at the sneak preview, where his publicity hack did all the talking and wouldn't let Mr. Allen give me more than a big smile and a "Thank you!" Allen's final production was the delightfully twisted yet highly entertaining and star-studded ALICE IN WONDERLAND *musical* miniseries (with songs written by Steve Allen!), in the mid '80s.
OOPS, sorry for the tangential detour...
PS: I never realized before who Mickey Spillane reminds me of, looks-wise. It's...Doodles Weaver!? OMG, sorry Mickey...
ReplyDeleteYeah, Mickey was an odd cat, and you feel free to take those detours any time you want. Stories are not interesting if they don't get told!
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