THE STORY Following a bank robbery in central London, Scotland Yard Inspector Elliott (Leo Glenn) tracks down some of the stolen banknotes to a circus stationed near Windsor. When one of the crooks turns up dead, the mystery deepens and Elliott’s suspects include a hooded lion tamer (Christopher Lee), a blackmailing dwarf (Skip Martin), a jealous knife-thrower (Maurice Kaufmann), and a philandering showgirl (Margaret Lee). But with his superior (Cecil Parker) breathing down his neck and a killer stalking the suspects, Elliott has his work cut out for him in finding the stolen loot and the criminal mastermind behind it.
THE LOWDOWN This big-screen adaptation of Wallace’s novel, The Three Just Man, starts off with an exciting bank robbery sequence staged around Tower Bridge before settling down into a standard whodunit littered with the usual red herrings (Klaus Kinski’s menacing Manfred being one of them). But thanks to the fine turns from the cast, that also includes future giallo screen queen Suzi Kendall, and Johnny Douglas’s catchy big band soundtrack that gives the film its distinctly 1960s British feel, Circus of Fear makes for an ideal rainy afternoon vintage treat to revisit.
THE RELEASE This re-mastered DVD release from Network Distributing includes both the long and short versions in their as-exhibited theatrical aspect ratio; alternative German ending (in black and white); UK and foreign trailers; image gallery and PDF material.
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