Well, of my five most wanted Paramount titles on Blu-Ray for a US release, one at last is finally taken care of!

https://www.hometheaterforum.com/commun ... ay.370908/

Whether or not the film undeservedly got a Best Picture award, it's still a great spectacle movie for what it is and helped launch Heston's big-screen career. And as he pointed out, DeMille basically preserved on film something that would soon disappear completely from the American scene in showing the circus under canvas.

Paramount finally making some in-roads with the back catalog. KING KONG could well be on the docket!

The only part of this movie I've seen is the train wreck at the end. Interesting to read the favorable comments on the hometheaterforum board, with people excited about getting the movie, and then read the reviews on letterboxd in which people are downright angry at the movie, either because of "animal cruelty" or just because it won Best Picture.

Eric, good point about the movie preserving an aspect f American culture that does not exist any more. My only childhood experience with the circus was seeing the various circus acts at the Circus Circus casino in Reno.

At first I confused this with the John Wayne movie CIRCUS WORLD, then realized I've actually never seen this one (that I can recall). Golden Agers (and there are a lot of them on the HTF board) would be excited to see this, since it was the highest grossing movie of its year and was very popular in its day.

But what's also true is that it doesn't have any following outside that group, and is often criticized for being boring and obviously undeserving of winning Best Picture, which you hear all the time. Definitely not what fits in the category of "enduring classic", more like a spectacle very specific to its era, and did not cultivate an audience beyond that moment.

Still obviously worthwhile to see for historical purposes if nothing else!

My only childhood experience with the circus was seeing the various circus acts at the Circus Circus casino in Reno.

We went to the last Barnum & Bailey circus when it came to Providence, I think Theo was 2 so not that long ago. It was the last with the elephants, anyway, and then I think they tried to do it without them, then shut it down.

It was fun -- except for walking past the nutcase animal rights activists dressed up in cartoony mascot suits stabbing each other in front of children on the street outside.

I hadn't been to one of those since I was his age, though we had attended the Big Apple Circus many times over the years when it would come into southern RI, a few minutes from us. When it was in its prime back in the '90s it was really fun and not just "animal acts". Went downhill and stopped touring as much, but it was fun while it lasted!

AndyDursin wrote: ↑Tue Feb 02, 2021 1:28 pm It was fun -- except for walking past the nutcase animal rights activists dressed up in cartoony mascot suits stabbing each other in front of children on the street outside.

People like this are the reason why we got a cartoon CGI dog in Call Of The Wild instead of an actual pooch, because to use a real one would be "cruel". This despite the fact that real animals have been used in movie for a hundred years, the vast majority of the time being treated with the utmost care for their well-being.