Bruno Everhard is the rigid and uncompromising owner of a German traveling circus. His four sons and daughter all work for the circus, including as performers. Three of the boys, in particular Klaus, resent the favoritism Bruno shows one son, Josef. To curry his father's favor, Klaus abandons his sweetheart, circus aerialist Carlotta Martinez, to instead marry Teresa Vizzini, whose father operates an animal menagerie that Bruno would like to merge with as a result. Josef, meantime, has fallen in love with a wealthy American woman, Hillary Allen, who wants him to quit the circus and begin a new life. Bruno is defied by his daughter, who marries Eric, a soldier who wishes to try the trapeze. Teresa, distraught at learning why Klaus married her, commits suicide at the circus, stepping into the cage of man-eating bear. Carlotta, too, is almost killed, due to a faulty high wire during her act. Negligence is charged and Josef accepts the blame, sparing his father from having to go to prison. The other brothers seize the opportunity to take control of the circus. Bruno attempts a comeback on the trapeze, but has a heart attack and dies. Released from prison, Josef vows revenge. Klaus decides to kill his own brother, but steps too close to the bear's cage and is killed. Wishing there to be no more violence or retribution, Josef decides to leave the circus for good, and Hillary agrees to marry him.
James Clark and Ted Sherdeman had worked together on A Dog of Flanders for Associated Producers Inc. They formed their own company, Gemtaur Productions, and made The Big Show with API. At one stage Millie Perkins was announced for the lead. The film was shot in Munich Germany and Copenhagen in November 1960. Esther Williams insisted on writing her own dialogue.
Reception
says the film was a moderate success at the box office.
Critical response
Howard Thompson of The New York Times wrote in his review of the film: "Against the excellently staged sawdust numbers, the increasingly ugly incidents edge toward dank, Gothic melodrama. There is little lightness or imagination in either the script or the directing. As softening concessions, we have two obvious romantic interludes. In one, young Carol Christensen pairs off with David Nelson, as a smitten American soldier—and the youngsters do very nicely. The main match brackets the laconic Mr. Robertson, as the noblest circus heir, and a starry-eyed Miss Williams, in the briefest role of her career, as a rich American expatriate without a pool to her name. She does dip once, swiftly, in an inserted and strikingly photographed, resort sequence. The film's best performance, with the cast striving hard, comes from Renate Mannhardt, as a lovely, betrayed bear tamer. Robert Vaughn, Margia Dean and Kurt Fecher are okay in other supporting parts. But The Big Show is an unappetizing bill of goods, beautiful to look at." Clark and Sherman worked on another film for API, Brother, but it appears to have not been made.
Release
The Big Show was released in theatres on July 14, 1961. The film was released on DVD on December 11, 2012.
