Circus of Horrors (1960)

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General		Extras
Category	Horror	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1960
Running Time	88:02 (Case: 79)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Sidney Hayers
Studio Distributor	Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Anton Diffring Erika Remberg Yvonne Monlaur Donald Pleasence Jane Hylton Kenneth Griffith Conrad Phillips Jack Gwillim Vanda Hudson Yvonne Romain Colette Wilde William Mervyn John Merivale
Case	?
RPI	$19.95	Music	Tony Hatch Muir Mathieson Franz Reizenstein

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    England, 1947. Illegal plastic surgery performed on a socialite goes horribly wrong. Rather than stopping at a police checkpoint, fleeing surgeon Dr. Rossiter (Anton Diffring) drives right through, killing a policeman. After crashing his car, Rossiter staggers into the home of his minions Martin (Kenneth Griffith) and Angela (Jane Hylton). He has them perform some surgery on his own face, which merely seems to involve shaving off his beard. On the run in France, the trio stumble across Nicole, a girl with a scarred face whose father runs a run-down circus.

    Rossiter, now under the name Schüler, performs surgery on the girl and successfully removes the scars. Her grateful father, Vanet (Donald Pleasance), agrees to an arrangement where Schüler will run the circus and make it a success. But then Vanet is killed when dancing with what appears to be a stuffed bear, and Schüler is able to take over the circus completely. Fast-forward ten years. No one bar Nicole (who has grown up into Yvonne Monlaur) has aged a day, but the circus is a major success. Schüler has populated the circus with criminals whose faces he has changed, all of whom seem to pick up circus acts without much trouble. Most of these are beautiful women who naturally all fall in love with Schüler. But when they try to leave, well, the circus is not known as the "jinx circus" for nothing.

    This is not a especially deep or intellectual horror film, but it moves at a fast pace and has a reasonably consistent and convincing plot, even if some elements are scarcely believable. It is very well photographed by Douglas Slocombe and has capable direction by Sidney Hayers, and it looks like a big budget film. Footage of actual circus performances are seamlessly integrated into the film. The female cast all look stunning, with a large degree of flesh on show, playing up to the male fantasy of killing beautiful women once they have served their purpose. Not my fantasy, but this does seem to be a recurring theme in films, even today.

    This film is as good as the better Hammer films of the era, with a high enjoyment factor. It is certainly a lot better than the similarly titled Circus of Fear, which is also included on this double-feature disc.

Video

    The film is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. The original aspect ratio was 1.85:1.

    This is a fine transfer, very sharp and with excellent detail. Contrast is fine, and shadow detail is also good, though there are very few sequences where this could be a potential issue.

    Colour is superb. There are rich and vivid hues of many primary colours, all appearing solid with no evidence of colour bleeding. Blacks are solid, and flesh tones accurate.

    I did not notice any MPEG artefacts whatsoever.

    Film grain is evident throughout, though never to distracting levels. Some of the inserted circus footage looks slightly less clean that the rest of the film, but the difference is very slight. I believe that the circus footage was shot for this film. There did not seem to be many white spots or other damage to the film.

    No subtitles are provided. This is a dual layered disc, with each of the features wholly contained on a single layer, removing the need for a layer change during either film.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The sole audio track is Dolby Digital 2.0 mono, reflecting the film's original audio.

    Dialogue is clear and distinct. Generally the audio transfer is good, with no noticeable hiss. However, I found that the sound was a little strident, with the upper frequencies sounding a bit sharp and piercing. This is not a major defect and the film can still be enjoyed despite this issue.

    The music score is by Muir Matheson and Franz Reizenstein and is very well handled. The music is not intrusive and is used sparingly and effectively. There are some traditional circus themes used during the performance sequences. The aerialist is accompanied by a pop song very much of the era called Look For a Star, which soon outlives its welcome.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    No extras are provided.

    The US Region 1 release is predictably from Anchor Bay, and the transfer sounds as if it is the same as the Region 4. However, the Region 1 also gets

• Theatrical Trailer TV spots (3)
• Anton Diffring biography and filmography
• Stills Gallery (a large one with more than 75 stills)
• Poster and Promotional Material Gallery (more than 50 items)
• Main Menu Audio and Animation

    This barely tips the balance in favour of Region 1, but if you only want the film, the Region 4 is better value.

    An enjoyable and well-made horror film.

    The video quality is excellent.

    The audio quality is good.

    No extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall