
Circus
Circus is a 1936 Soviet melodramatic comedy musical film. It was directed by Grigori Aleksandrov and Isidor Simkov at the Mosfilm studios. In his own words, it was conceived as "an eccentric comedy...a real side splitter."
Plot
Marion Dixon, a popular white American circus artist, is forced to flee for her life with her black baby to escape a lynch mob in a rural American town. The fate of the black father of her child is not mentioned, but it is heavily implied that he was lynched. Dixon is taken under the wing of Franz von Kneishitz, a sinister German theatrical agent whose mustache and mannerisms resemble those of Adolf Hitler. Kneishitz blackmails Dixon into becoming his lover while exploiting her.
More details
author | Ilya Ilf Valentin Kataev Yevgeny Petrov |
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contentLocation | Soviet Union |
director | Grigori Aleksandrov |
events | circus racism Wide Is My Motherland |
genre | comedy drama |
keywords | adolf hitler african american baby black american circus act engage ethnicity force love letter lullaby lynch mob march may day naval officer new circus red army the international to the moon white russian |
musicBy | Isaak Dunayevsky |
productionCompany | Mosfilm |
theme | black melodrama musical musical comedy race and ethnicity |