For a minute, I thought I was going to find out what a flamarion was, never figuring that it was only somebody's name. In this case, "The Great Flamarion" was a trick shot artist, portrayed by German actor Eric Von Stroheim. Told in flashback, the story reveals how Flamarion came to murder his scheming lover after she shot him in self defense. But that's getting way ahead of the story.
I never really got the impression that Connie Wallace (Mary Beth Hughes) loved Flamo, he with the Nazi like exterior and the vein popping out of his head. When it looked like she was getting ready to ditch alcoholic husband Al (Dan Duryea), the story started to come together with a bit more sense. Turns out that Connie's hobby was actually collecting and discarding men as circumstances warranted, so she wasn't all that sympathetic a character to begin with. Getting Flamarion to do her dirty work was just part of a plan.
Considering the plot, this all might have worked better if the setting was a traveling carnival show instead of a stage act, with other strange and weird characters interacting with the principals. As it was, it all seemed a bit too sterile, even with Connie's underhanded machinations in play. Too bad, as I was really hoping a flamarion would show up to make things more interesting.
I never really got the impression that Connie Wallace (Mary Beth Hughes) loved Flamo, he with the Nazi like exterior and the vein popping out of his head. When it looked like she was getting ready to ditch alcoholic husband Al (Dan Duryea), the story started to come together with a bit more sense. Turns out that Connie's hobby was actually collecting and discarding men as circumstances warranted, so she wasn't all that sympathetic a character to begin with. Getting Flamarion to do her dirty work was just part of a plan.
Considering the plot, this all might have worked better if the setting was a traveling carnival show instead of a stage act, with other strange and weird characters interacting with the principals. As it was, it all seemed a bit too sterile, even with Connie's underhanded machinations in play. Too bad, as I was really hoping a flamarion would show up to make things more interesting.