Circus of Horrors *** (1960, Anton Diffring, Yvonne Monlaur, Donald Pleasence, Jane Hylton, Conrad Phillips, Kenneth Griffith) – Classic Movie Review 4,289

Anton Diffring relishes his star role in the 1960 British horror film Circus of Horrors as a demented plastic surgeon with a perverted passion for disfiguring women, who moonlights as the boss of a circus starring his unfortunate patients. 

Anton Diffring rightly relishes his star role in the 1960 British Eastmancolor horror film Circus of Horrors as Dr Rossiter, a demented plastic surgeon with a perverted passion for disfiguring women, who uses his day job as the springboard to moonlight as the boss of a circus starring his unfortunate patients.

Circus of Horrors also stars Yvonne Monlaur, Donald Pleasence, Jane Hylton, Conrad Phillips, Erika Remberg, Yvonne Romain and Kenneth Griffith, heading a fine, intriguing cast.

Set in 1947, it follows the story of deranged plastic surgeon Dr Rossiter, who changes his identity after botching an operation on a socialite. Wanted by the police, he and his assistants Martin (Kenneth Griffith) and Angela (Jane Hylton), evade capture and escape to France, and he gains control of a circus to use as a front for his surgical horrors.

The movie may not be entirely successful, but director Sidney Hayers’s bizarre 1960 British horror film is an intriguing, often surprisingly involving work from Anglo-Amalgamated, the same company that financed Michael Powell’s simultaneously filmed Peeping Tom, and American International Pictures.

Circus of Horrors is imaginatively written in an original screenplay by American screenwriter George Baxt and neatly photographed in Eastmancolor by Douglas Slocombe, both of whom went on to work on the equally interesting The City of the Dead (1960).

Also in the cast are Erika Remberg, Yvonne Romain, Vanda Hudson, Colette Wilde, Vanda Hudson, Jack Gwillim [Jack Gwyllim] as Superintendent. Andrews, John Merivale, Chris Christian, Carla Challoner and Peter Swanwick.

Anglo-Amalgamated and American International Pictures (AIP) were trying to duplicate their success with Horrors of the Black Museum (1959) by making a horror film set in a circus. It was George Baxt’s idea the have a circus run by a plastic surgeon who turns criminals into beautiful people but he had to do several drafts of the script to satisfy AIP.

American International Pictures released it in the US in a double bill with The Angry Red Planet (1959) or with A Bucket of Blood (1959). It was the most popular horror film at the British box office in 1960 and  a surprise hit in the US too.

The film opened in London on 8 April 1960 and on 11 May 1960 in Los Angeles.

Circus of Horrors is shot at Beaconsfield Film Studios, Buckinghamshire, and on location on Clapham Common, south London, and in Old Amersham, Buckinghamshire. The big top circus is Billy Smart’s Circus, with some of its performers as extras. The boards at the ringside seats have BS for Billy Smart painted on them, so Diffring’s character of Bernard Schüler has the same initials to avoid replacing the boards.

Beaconsfield Film Studios has been the home of the National Film and Television School since 1971.

The score is by Franz Reizenstein and Muir Mathieson. The song ‘Look for a Star’ is written by Tony Hatch [as ‘Mark Anthony’]. Garry Mills recorded the song and made No 7 in the British chart.

In 1964, Tony Hatch was hired to write his first TV theme, for the soap opera Crossroads. Also in 1964, Hatch made his first trip to New York City in search of new material for Petula Clark, inspiring him to write ‘Downtown’.

He lives in Menorca, Spain, with his third wife, Maggie.

The cast are Anton Diffring as Dr Bernard Schüler, Erika Remberg as Elissa Caro, Yvonne Monlaur as Nicole Vanet, Donald Pleasence as Vanet, Jane Hylton as Angela, Kenneth Griffith as Martin, Conrad Phillips as Inspector Arthur Ames, Jack Gwillim as Superintendent Andrews, Carla Challoner as Young Nicole Vanet, Vanda Hudson as Magda von Meck, Yvonne Romain as Melina, Colette Wilde as Evelyn Morley Finsbury, William Mervyn as Doctor Morley, John Merivale as Edward Finsbury, Peter Swanwick as German Police Inspector Knopf, Chris Christian, and Walter Gotell as Von Gruber.

Circus of Horrors is directed by Sidney Hayers, runs 88 minutes or 92 minutes, is made by Lynx Films, is released by Anglo-Amalgamated (UK) and American International Pictures (US), is written by George Baxt, is shot by Douglas Slocombe, is produced by Leslie Parkyn and Julian Wintle, and is scored by Franz Reizenstein and Muir Mathieson.

The BBFC enforced cutting the topless female nudity during two of the sideshow scenes and a shot of a thrown knife hitting Magda in the neck. The footage has never resurfaced.

Some of the circus acts and crowd shots are edited into Circus of Fear (1966).

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 4,289

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