Okay, I'll admit this movie ain't Shakespeare nor is it likely to be confused with a Bergman or Fellini film! The movie, like many of Joan Crawford's later films, is highly entertaining but also high on the camp factor--with lots of suspense but also lots of over-the-top action! It seems that after WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? that Crawford cheerfully accepted the schlocky direction her career turned and played it to the hilt--starring in some wonderfully clever suspense films like STRAIGHT-JACKET and BERSERK! All these film are far from subtle and low-budget, but somehow in spite of their many shortcomings, they entertain! Snobs and sophisticates may not think much of them, but they deliver on the chills and action! This film casts Joan in a very odd role as the owner of a small circus and ringmaster. During the course of several months, several performers die. At first, it might just be accidental, but when the business manager gets a tent spike driven through his head, you know it ain't suicide! In fact, for the kitsch film lover, the many deaths in the film are all rather entertaining and silly--a lady getting sawn in half, a man being hung by a high wire rope, a guy getting a knife in the back and falling to his death on a bed of swords! I tell you, it's never dull! It's also very reminiscent of the Dr. Phibes films because of all the clever killings. In addition to a fun script and lots of shrill acting, the film features some dandy real circus acts. I particularly loved the poodle act--it's a real hoot.
About the only letdown is the very end. How the murderer is exposed seemed a little too easy but how they soon died by accident shortly after this just seemed silly and anti-climactic. Other than the ending, the only other negatives are seeing Joan in tights (at 61) and her love affair with Ty Hardin who was significantly younger than her. I don't know if Ms. Crawford had anything to do with it, but in several of her newer films she played characters way too old to be bedding such young men (such as Hardin, Jack Palance and Jeff Chandler).
By the way, for you "Pepsi Watchers" out there, note the kid in the audience near the end of the film drinking Pepsi from a bottle. This is sort of an inside joke, as Crawford was on the board of directors at Pepsi and insisted on sneaking a bottle into her films as often as possible. In her later films, it's much like trying to spot Hitchcock in his films--you know that if you look closely enough, it's bound to turn up somewhere.
About the only letdown is the very end. How the murderer is exposed seemed a little too easy but how they soon died by accident shortly after this just seemed silly and anti-climactic. Other than the ending, the only other negatives are seeing Joan in tights (at 61) and her love affair with Ty Hardin who was significantly younger than her. I don't know if Ms. Crawford had anything to do with it, but in several of her newer films she played characters way too old to be bedding such young men (such as Hardin, Jack Palance and Jeff Chandler).
By the way, for you "Pepsi Watchers" out there, note the kid in the audience near the end of the film drinking Pepsi from a bottle. This is sort of an inside joke, as Crawford was on the board of directors at Pepsi and insisted on sneaking a bottle into her films as often as possible. In her later films, it's much like trying to spot Hitchcock in his films--you know that if you look closely enough, it's bound to turn up somewhere.