Carnival Story (1954)
Director – Kurt Neumann
The Plot
In an attempt to revive its fortunes, a down on its luck American carnival company arrives in still recovering post-WW II Germany An equally luckless young German woman, Willi (Ann Baxter) picks the pocket of one of the Carnies – Joe (Steve Cochran). He catches her, but instead of turning her in, he gives her a job and turns her on. Soon enough she leaves Joe and the cook tent for Frank Colloni (Lyle Bettger) the high diver and becomes a diver herself, and the Carnival becomes a great success. But, to her everlasting shame she cannot control her red hot desire for Joe.
Film Notes
"The Story of a Woman's Shame"
There are petty crimes (thievery) and big crimes (murder) in Carnival Story, but the highest crime, in this somewhat forgotten film, is that of sexual desire.
Filmed in color in Germany, this 1954 movie plays like a sketch for the New German Cinema of the 1970s. You can almost imagine Rainer Werner Fassbinder or Wim Wenders taking this script and mining it deeply for the transcendent decadence of clashing the cultures of postwar Germany and the USA that these directors fed upon.
A Carnival Named Desire
Carnival Story turns the typical movie scenario a bit upside down. Generally, the woman is the object of sexual desire, however, in this sideshow of a film, it's most definitely a man – Steve Cochran. If the film works at all, it's because you believe that Anne Baxter just can't get enough him. Cocharan dominates every frame that he's in with king size confidence in his raw sexual power.
There's Someting Freaky About How it Looks
Thanks partly to its being filmed on-location in Munich, the film has a slight look of strange exoticness to it. The freakiness (beyond the actual freaks) may be due to the fact that it was filmed in 3D but released only in 2D. This fact probably accounts for many of the film's long shots and bizarre angles. Though accidental, it actually gives it a bit of Brechtian style of epic distance that adds, rather than subtracts, to one's interest in the film
Image = Action = Film
Carnival Story fills the screen with:
...German train stations and airports...dwarfs...bearded ladies...night time on the Midway...sexual desire... frankfurters...high diving...elephant parades...outdoor cafes...sawdust...slaps that lead to kisses...sexual desire...murder...Groppo the Strongman...flaming water tanks...Ferris Wheels...sexual desire...
A Sideshow...
Anne Baxter
In 1951 Anne Baxter narrowly missed a Best Actress Oscar for All About Eve. Though her career did not exactly take a high-dive in the wake of that loss, most of her films thereafter swam in a pool of mediocrity at best.
Steve Cochran
Steve Cochran will always be remembered for his performances in Michelangelo Antonioni's Il Grido (1957) and as James Cagney's accomplice/betrayer in White Heat(1949). Catch his interesting performance in another Crime Street offering – The Chase.
Kurt Neumann
Director Kurt Neumann was a German emigree who turned up in Hollywood in the 1930s. He gravitated toward the "B" side of the industry in the 1950s, where he deseves great credit for the low budget high merits of The Fly and Rocketship XM.
He returned to Germany to film Carnival Story, and his career came full circle. He'd began in Hollywood directing German language versions of American films. He filmed a German language version of Carnival Story with German actors (Rummelplatz der Liebe) simultaneously with the English version.
And I Quote
"What I've done shames me, but you love to wallow in the mud." – Willi
"We're very much alike, you and I. There's good things in there that are trapped but can't come out." – Willi
Trivia
Anne Baxter was the granddaughter of Frank Lloyd Wright.
Using the name Marcel Klauber, blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo was one of the co-authors of Carnival Story.
Cinematographer Ernest Haller was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, winning in 1940 for Gone With the Wind. A year after doing double duty on the two versions of Carnival Story, he was the man behind the camera for the Classic Rebel Without a Cause.
-- Ed Schneider
Cast & Production Credits
| Anne Baxter | Willi |
| Steve Cochran | Joe Hammond |
| Lyle Bettger | Frank Colloni |
| George Nader | Bill Vines |
| Jay C. Flippen | Charlie Grayson |
| Helene Stanley | Peggy |
| Ady Berber | Groppo |
| Produced by King Brothers | |
| Kurt Neumann | Director |
Marcy Klauber and Charles Williams |
StoryScreenwriter |
Hans Jacoby and Kurt Neumann |
Screenwriters |
| Ernest Haller | Cinematographer |
| Willy Schmidt-Gentner | Music |
| Merrill G. White | Editor |
| Ted Haworth | Production Design |
| Ursula Maes | Costumes |
