Circus of Horrors (1960)

Director:

Sidney Hayers

Writer:

George Baxt (original screenplay)

Release Date:

April 1960 (UK)

Genre:

Horror | Drama

Tagline:

Spectacular Towering Terror! One man's lust...made men into beasts, stripped women of their souls!

Plot:

In 1947 England, a plastic surgeon must beat a hasty retreat to France when one of his patients has ghastly problems with her surgery...

Plot Keywords:

Circus | Disfigurement | Plastic Surgery | Beautiful Woman | Stabbed In The Throat

Cast

Anton Diffring	...	Dr. Schuler
Erika Remberg	...	Elissa Caro
Yvonne Monlaur	...	Nicole Vanet
Donald Pleasence	...	Vanet
Jane Hylton	...	Angela
Kenneth Griffith	...	Martin
Conrad Phillips	...	Insp. Arthur Ames
Jack Gwillim	...	Supt. Andrews
Vanda Hudson	...	Magda von Meck
Yvonne Romain	...	Melina
Colette Wilde	...	Evelyn Morley Finsbury
William Mervyn	...	Doctor Morley
John Merivale	...	Edward Finsbury
Peter Swanwick	...	German Police Inspector Knopf
Carla Challoner	...	Nicole (as a Child)

Also Known As:

Phantom of the Circus
Le cirque des horreurs (Belgium: French title) (France) [fr]
Circo dos Horrores (Brazil) [pt]
Der Narbenteufel (Austria) [de]
Der rote Schatten (West Germany) [de]
Il circo degli orrori (Italy) [it]
Kauhujen sirkus (Finland) [fi]
To tsirko ton eglimaton (Greece) [el]

Runtime:

Germany:92 min | USA:88 min | USA:92 min (DVD)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved | Norway:16 | UK:15 | Australia:M | Finland:(Banned) (1960) | West Germany:18

Filming Locations:

Beaconsfield Studios, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Lynx Films Ltd.

Trivia:

The circus used in this movie was that of Billy Smart’s Circus, one of the three big tenting circuses in the United Kingdom at the time of filming. The external scenes were filmed on Clapham Common.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Magda meets her fate, close shots from behind show the wheel still spinning, with her on it, intercut with a distant shot showing people crowding around the wheel which is static.

Quotes:

Dr. Rossiter, alias Dr. Bernard Schueler: Willy submits for my anxious hands. We held their safety and they held their tongue.
Vanet: A circus of criminals.
Dr. Rossiter, alias Dr. Bernard Schueler: A circus of beauty.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Directors: The Films of Roger Corman (#1.5)" (1999)

Soundtrack:

Look For A Star

Corny but fantastic entertainment!

'Circus Of Horrors' is one of the most entertaining movies it has ever been my pleasure to see! It is corny and melodramatic, and the plot is totally ludicrous (which is one of the things that make it so special), but you can't help but get caught up in it. Anton Diffring is wonderful as a brilliant plastic surgeon who flees England in disgrace and ends up running a French circus which he stocks with criminals and prostitutes that he has operated on. He wants it to be known as "the Circus Of Beauty", but it gains notoriety as "the Jinx Circus" after several mysterious deaths, all performers who intended leaving him. You get the picture. Diffring really makes the most of his role and it is impossible to keep your eyes off him. The supporting cast includes several fine British character actors, including 'Halloween's Donald Pleasence (who is in the most unintentionally hilarious scene of the movie, I'll say no more...) and Kenneth Griffith (a familiar face from countless movies and someone who fans of 'The Prisoner' will recognize as a #2). There are also a handful stunning beauties on screen, particularly Yvonne Monlaur (Hammer's 'The Brides Of Dracula'), who plays Diffring's adopted "niece", and Erika Remberg, who went on to appear in the erotic classic 'The Lickerish Quartet'. This movie is fantastic fun for 60s horror/suspense buffs. Highly recommended!