jacobs-greenwood
Directed by Charles Walters, with a Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur play that was adapted by Sidney Sheldon, this below average Musical does features a lot of good circus action. It also marks the last film of this type which features Doris Day. Stephen Boyd plays her eventual love interest; Jimmy Durante plays her father, and Martha Raye plays Durante's long term fiancée. Dean Jagger also appears as a rival circus owner.The film's Score, which is largely forgettable except for the (Richard) Rodgers and (Lorenz) Hart song "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World", was nominated for an Oscar, the last that George Stoll would earn. The film's title refers to the star of the show, a very talented pachyderm or, more specifically, an elephant. Billy Rose was the owner of the original musical extravaganza on whose 1934 show (starring Durante?) this film is based.Pop Wonder (Durante) runs a poor man's traveling circus that barely manages to keep ahead of its creditors. In fact, if it weren't for his daughter Kitty (Day), his assets including his best and favorite attraction, Jumbo, would have been taken away long ago. But Kitty's got just enough charm to assuage their pursuers until they can pack up and move on to the next town.Unfortunately, the Wonders haven't been able to pay their employees, so one by one they're losing their performers to a rival, better funded circus owned by John Noble (Jagger). It's not that the Wonder Circus isn't a pretty good show, capable of selling out the house; it's the fact that Pop can't resist losing the day's take in a local crap game afterwards.So, Kitty pretty much runs things as best she can. The fortune teller Lulu (Raye) is Pop's longtime girlfriend, to whom he's supposedly been engaged for 8 years. Pop is both a clown in the circus and it's master of ceremonies while Kitty performs on a horse and fills in anywhere else when necessary. Billy Barty (uncredited) is featured briefly in one scene.One day, a handsome circus tramp (a traveler who drifts from job to job in different circuses) named Sam Rawlins (Boyd) arrives. Though Kitty initially dismisses him, preferring to hire employees with staying power, Sam proves invaluable when the Wonder's tightrope walker disappears. So, he becomes part of the circus. Naturally, a budding relationship develops between Sam and Kitty, especially after Sam helps Kitty recoup most of the $800 that her father had lost shooting craps, enabling her to pay and thus retain most of the circus's staff.Somehow, without any money, Pop finds a way to purchase the cannon he's always wanted and attempts to launch Lulu across the ring; it doesn't work. What Kitty doesn't know is that handyman Sam is actually John Noble's son, who is using his father's cash to buy up all the Wonder's bills. Grady Sutton appears briefly, and nearly unrecognizably, as a hay seller. Noble covets Jumbo and hopes to gather enough of Wonder's debt to takeover his circus and own the elephant that Wonder refuses to sell.Of course, Sam's relationship with Kitty grows, making him feel guilty and, just about the time he decides to quit working for his father, Kitty finds out and is disillusioned, when he's nowhere to be found.Without their circus or Jumbo, Pop, Lulu and Kitty form a small, one cart vaudeville type show, traveling, and swindling, their way around the country to survive. One day, Sam catches up with them to re- declare his love for Kitty. The fact that he's somehow managed to (buy from his father and) bring Jumbo with him seals the deal. With the elephant, and an added performer in Sam, the four person Wonder circus quickly grows to be bigger and better than the original show by the film's end.
JLRMovieReviews
Doris Day, Jimmy Durante, Martha Raye, and Great Songs. That's what makes this film so good. Other than that, this tale about life in the circus may seem predictable with a paper-thin plot. But, the stars boost it to a fun, non-stop rollick with elephants, high-wire acts, and clowns. There is also Stephen Boyd. But while he may seem fairly nice to look at, he doesn't quite have the star power to carry the viewer's interest his character should have, even if he really was singing "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" and didn't need to be dubbed. With Doris Day singing "Little Girl Blue" and "My Romance" as highlights, this pleasing musical should keep the viewer out of trouble for well over two hours and in the world of the greatest show on earth.
theowinthrop
JUMBO is a very curious musical film to me for several reasons. It was one of the first musical films I ever saw. I watched it in the auditorium of my public school in Queens in the 1963 - not in a movie house. I suppose it was shown because it deals with a circus theme. Secondly, it is based on a musical by Rogers and Hart that was made in the middle of the 1930s, starring Jimmy Durante. In fact, the movie kept one of Durante's classic moments of stage comedy. He is trying to lure the elephant off the circus grounds, and is moving very quietly followed by Jumbo, and is being nonchalant while doing this. Then a guard stops them, yelling, "Where are you going with that elephant?!" Looking haughty and insulted, Durante stretches to his full height, and asks, " ELEPHANT? WHAT ELEPHANT?!"The original Broadway show was a real extravaganza, due to it's circus setting - produced by the legendary showman Billy Rose. If you are not old enough to recall Rose, you may remember that James Caan played him in the movie FUNNY LADY (the sequel to FUNNY GIRL, that starred Barbara Streisand as Rose's wife Fanny Brice).The real Jumbo was the elephant who is associated with P.T. Barnum's circus in the 19th Century. That Jumbo was originally a star of the London Zoo, very popular with children in England who were allowed to ride his back. Barnum bought him in 1882, and he was the last great star in the impresario's career. Unfortunately Jumbo got killed in Canada in 1885 in a tragic railroad yard collision.Here Jumbo is the star attraction at a circus that is run by Durante, Martha Raye, and Doris Day. But the circus has attracted the attention of Dean Jagger (in one of his villainous roles). Jagger wants to get control of the small circus and Jumbo, and slowly does just that. To confuse the matter, Stephen Boyd plays a trapeze walker who romances Day. Boyd turns out to be Jagger's son, and something of a spy on the competition. The romance between Boyd and Day adds to the tension of the film.The music is first rate, particularly the introductory "Over and Over Again", and the number which is the sweetest moment in Durante's movie career - when he is marrying Martha Raye, he sings "The Most Beautiful Girl In the World" to her. It is an adorable moment, as these two plain people glow with affection for each other. Well worth catching the film for that reason alone.
