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Step right this way - Circus themed films
 86  8.4  7.7  Director: Victor Sjöström Cast: Lon Chaney, Norma Shearer, John Gilbert, Ruth King Story: An inventor who, suffering betrayal in life, makes a career of it by becoming a clown whose act consists of getting slapped by all the other clowns. mannapuuro's rating:
 
13 7.2 6.8  Director: D.W. Griffith Cast: Carol Dempster, W.C. Fields, Alfred Lunt, Erville Alderson Story: Judge Foster throws his daughter out because she married a circus man. She leaves her baby girl with Prof. McGargle before she dies. Years later Sally is a dancer with whom Peyton, a son of Judge Foster's friend, falls in love. 
141 8.1 7.8  Director: Tod Browning Cast: Lon Chaney, Norman Kerry, Joan Crawford, Nick De Ruiz Story: Alonzo is disguised as an armless knife thrower and gun shooter in a circus. He is actually a burglar with his arms intact. He and his accomplice are hiding from the police, and Alonzo's disguise is perfect since it keeps from view a deformity of his left hand that would give him away as the burglar. mannapuuro's rating:
8 0 6.5  Director: F.W. Murnau Cast: Anders Randolf, Barry Norton, Charles Morton, Janet Gaynor Story: Four orphaned daredevil trapeze artists are protected by a clown in a travelling circus. One girl, Aimee, loves one of the boys, Fritz, but Fritz' head is turned by a glamorous woman, who throws him roses and eventually seduces him into a wanton life. 
346 8.1 8  Director: Charles Chaplin Cast: Charles Chaplin, Al Ernest Garcia, Merna Kennedy, Harry Crocker Story: The Tramp character finds himself at a circus where he gets chased around by the police who think he is a pickpocket. Running into the bigtop, he is an accidental sensation with his hilarious efforts to elude the police. The ringmaster/owner immediately hires him. mannapuuro's rating:
 
41 8.7 7.5  Director: Herbert Brenon Cast: Lon Chaney, Bernard Siegel, Loretta Young, Cissy Fitzgerald Story: A professional clown and a self-indulgent count learn to help each other with their problems, but then become romantic rivals. 
722 8 7.9  Director: Tod Browning Cast: Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Olga Baclanova, Roscoe Ates Story: A circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance. mannapuuro's rating:
 
56 6.8 6.8  Director: Edward Buzzell Cast: Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, Kenny Baker Story: The Marx Brothers try to help the owner of a circus recover some stolen funds before he finds himself out of a job. 
2226 6.8 7.3  Directors: Ben Sharpsteen and Bill Roberts Cast: (voices) James Baskett, Herman Bing, Billy Bletcher, Edward Brophy Story: Ridiculed because of his enormous ears, a young circus elephant is assisted by a mouse to achieve his full potential. mannapuuro's rating:
 
7 7.3 6.3  Director: Ray Enright Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Sylvia Sidney, Eddie Albert, Joan Leslie Story: A lion escapes Nick Coster's carnival and is captured by grocery clerk Matt Varney whom Nick brings into the show and eventually makes chief lion tamer. When Nick finds out Matt has fallen for his convent-bred sister Mary he makes him go into the cage with the insane lion Caesar. 
112 6.6 6.7  Director: Cecil B. DeMille Cast: Betty Hutton, James Stewart, Charlton Heston, Dorothy Lamour Story: The dramatic lives of trapeze artists, a clown, and an elephant trainer against a background of circus spectacle. 
105 7.5 7.6  Director: Ingmar Bergman Cast: Åke Grönberg, Harriet Andersson, Hasse Ekman, Anders Ek Story: While traveling in caravan through the country of Sweden, one member of the decadent Alberti Circus tells the owner and ringmaster Albert Johansson a sad story about the clown Frost. mannapuuro's rating:
6 7 5.7  Director: Joseph Pevney Cast: Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Joanne Dru, Zsa Zsa Gabor Story: Jerry and Pete are two friends with no money, looking for a job. They finally find one as workers in a circus, but Jerry has different dreams. He wants to become a clown. 
7 6.3 5.1  Directors: William A. Wellman and James Edward Grant Cast: Clyde Beatty, Mickey Spillane, Pat O'Brien, Sean McClory Story: Three psychiatrists find that Dublin O'Malley has homicidal tendencies, an under-diagnosis at best. O'Malley kills a guard, escapes from the mental institution, and then kills a railroad worker. Eventually he heads to the Clyde Beatty Circus. 
538 8.3 8.1  Director: Federico Fellini Cast: Anthony Quinn, Giulietta Masina, Richard Basehart, Aldo Silvani Story: A carefree girl is sold to a traveling entertainer, consequently enduring physical and emotional pain along the way. mannapuuro's rating:
50 5.7 6.7  Director: Carol Reed Cast: Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Gina Lollobrigida, Katy Jurado Story: Mike Ribble was once a great trapeze artist - and the only to have completed a triple somersault - before his accident. Tino joins the circus, and manages to covince Mike to teach him the 'triple'. Meanwhile Lola, a tumbler, wants to get in on the act. mannapuuro's rating:
 
14 6.7 6  Director: Sidney Hayers Cast: Anton Diffring, Erika Remberg, Yvonne Monlaur, Donald Pleasence Story: In 1947 England, a plastic surgeon must beat a hasty retreat to France when one of his patients has ghastly problems with her surgery. Once there, he operates on a circus owner's daughter, deformed by bombs from the war. Later he becomes the owner of the circus, and continues transforming disfigured women into the beautiful stars of his show. 
8 6 6.7  Director: Charles Barton Cast: Kevin Corcoran, Henry Calvin, Gene Shledon, Bob Sweeney Story: Taken in by distant members of his family after being orphaned, Toby runs away to join the circus. 
16 6.1 6.1  Director: Charles Walters Cast: Doris Day, Stephen Boyd, Jimmy Durante, Martha Raye Story: A debt-ridden circus is saved by a well-meaning but inept publicity man Pop Wonder. 
11 5.6 6  Director: Henry Hathaway Cast: John Wayne, Claudia Cardinale, Rita Hayworth, Lloyd Nolan Story: In the early years of the 20th century, Matt Masters takes his rambling Wild West Show to Europe. His decision is prompted by his desire to find Lili Alfredo, who disappeared fourteen years earlier following the death of her husband, The Flying Alfredo. 
100 6.6 6.6  Director: Jack Clayton Cast: Jason Robards, Jonathan Pryce, Diane Ladd, Royal Dano Story: In a small American town, a diabolical circus and its demonic proprietor prey on the townsfolk. mannapuuro's rating:
7 5 5.4  Director: Steve Balderson Cast: Karen Black, Mike Patton, Susan Traylor, Kathleen Wilhoite Story: A tale of murder in small-town Kansas. When Jimmy is lured away from his abusive family by a traveling sideshow carnival, he encounters Sandra, one of the main attractions. The happiness they find together causes them to confront the darkness in their lives. 
434 5.5 5.9  Director: Paul Weitz Cast: John C. Reilly, Josh Hutcherson, Chris Massoglia, Jessica Carlson Story: A young boy named Darren Shan meets a mysterious man at a freak show who turns out to be a Vampire. After a series of events Darren must leave his normal life and go on the road with the Cirque Du Freak and become a Vampire. |
People who voted for this also voted for
The Unknown (1927)
Ring of Fear (1954)
Cirque du Dreak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009)
What about Big Top Pee Wee?
Also, Under the Big Top from 1938.
Thanks for the suggestions, I'll add them shortly! :)
Tubby the Tuba (1975)
Santa Sangre
Old Master Q and San-T (not included in imdb's database)
A significant portion of Big Fish was also revolved around it.
Here's another film you could include:
Water For Elephants