...And wearing a tuxedo, and looking rather smashing, as the ringmaster, is none other than the future Ma Kettle herself, Marjorie Main! She would appear in several movies involving circuses or carnivals, just a few years later a Monogram melodrama called "Under the Big Top" where her character was as cold as they come.
Main plays Hayworth's aunt, her sole surviving relative after the death of Hayworth's father, the former circus owner, who has left the circus to his daughter plus a ton of bills which have been picked up to pay by circus employee Vernon Dent (given the name of gangster Dutch Schultz to show how rotten he is) who gives Hayworth 24 hours to make good. After he orders all of the side show attractions out of the big tent (making many potential sinister enemies), it isn't too surprising when he is all of a sudden murdered, and with the help of Hayworth's boyfriend (Charles Quigley), the real killer is unmasked.
Dwight Frye ("Dracula") gives a sensitive performance as a hunchback once wounded in the circus and left crippled who reveals some facts about the late Dent. This isn't a standard murder mystery because of several light elements of Gothic horror added, and of course the similarities to the 1932 cult movie "Freaks" will be obvious, including the presence of a pair of Siamese twins.
It's a curiosity for fans of Rita Hayworth's to see her this early in her career, playing a complete innocent. Main's character is deliciously "butch" and totally devoted to her niece, stealing every scene she is in. Overall a decent but quickly forgettable B picture that did Hayworth no harm but didn't ascend her to stardom either.
Main plays Hayworth's aunt, her sole surviving relative after the death of Hayworth's father, the former circus owner, who has left the circus to his daughter plus a ton of bills which have been picked up to pay by circus employee Vernon Dent (given the name of gangster Dutch Schultz to show how rotten he is) who gives Hayworth 24 hours to make good. After he orders all of the side show attractions out of the big tent (making many potential sinister enemies), it isn't too surprising when he is all of a sudden murdered, and with the help of Hayworth's boyfriend (Charles Quigley), the real killer is unmasked.
Dwight Frye ("Dracula") gives a sensitive performance as a hunchback once wounded in the circus and left crippled who reveals some facts about the late Dent. This isn't a standard murder mystery because of several light elements of Gothic horror added, and of course the similarities to the 1932 cult movie "Freaks" will be obvious, including the presence of a pair of Siamese twins.
It's a curiosity for fans of Rita Hayworth's to see her this early in her career, playing a complete innocent. Main's character is deliciously "butch" and totally devoted to her niece, stealing every scene she is in. Overall a decent but quickly forgettable B picture that did Hayworth no harm but didn't ascend her to stardom either.
