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1960 British film by Val Guest From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Life is a Circus is a 1960 British comedy film directed by Val Guest[1] and starring Bud Flanagan, Teddy Knox, Jimmy Nervo, Jimmy Gold and Charlie Naughton of the Crazy Gang. The screenplay concerns a down-on-its-luck circus that uses an Aladdin's Magic Lamp to try to save their business.
| Life Is a Circus | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | Val Guest |
| Written by | Val Guest Len Heath John Warren |
| Produced by | John Pellatt E.M. Smedley-Aston |
| Starring | Bud Flanagan Teddy Knox Jimmy Nervo Jimmy Gold |
| Cinematography | Arthur Graham |
| Edited by | James B. Clark Bill Lenny |
| Music by | Philip Green |
Production company | Vale Film Productions |
| Distributed by | British Lion Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 84 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The film is generally considered inferior to the Crazy Gang's previous screen appearances.[2]
Val Guest said British Lion and E.M. Smedley-Aston "called me up and said “We want to make another picture with The Crazy Gang, are you interested?” and I said “Yes.” Because he said that they’d mentioned me or something…so the whole idea was to write a picture for the Crazy Gang. There we were writing for the Crazy Gang again, and all the boys got together again; we made this circus film for which we put up a big tent in Windsor, near the castle and shot it. They were all exactly the same, they hadn’t changed." Guest felt the film "worked, but I think the humour became dated... however much you tried to update it a bit was difficult. It wasn’t a success. I mean I don’t think it lost money, but it certainly didn’t make anything."[3]
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Script and settings here simply provide a flimsy framework for knockabout antics in which the Crazy Gang disarm criticism by their innocent and undisciplined enthusiasm. As writer-director, Val Guest seems to take control only for an elaborate and hilarious trapeze sequence and the rather tedious romantic interludes with the self-consciously charming Michael Holliday. The woodenness of the small team of extras, and the almost total absence of children, make the circus and funfair scenes strikingly unplausible."[4]
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