A little person runs a circus while everyone underestimates him—Pre-Code Hollywood at its most deliciously subversive.
Melrose's circus is being threatened by his competitor, who's angry that Melrose has outmanuevered him in bookings; what he doesn't know is that the competitor has also planted a saboteur who creates accidents in hopes of reducing the value of the circus. Meanwhile, he's also hired a beautiful young woman as the magician's assistant, with eyes toward more - but he realizes that, as a midget, she won't have him.
Acting
Little Billy Rhodes carries the film with magnetic authority.
Production
Authentic circus atmosphere, shot on location with real performers.
Director
Erle C. Kenton
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during Hollywood's brief Pre-Code window, this is one of the few films of the era to cast a little person as a fully dimensional romantic protagonist rather than comic relief or fantasy creature.
Director Erle C. Kenton would later helm Island of Lost Souls (1932), another film obsessed with bodily autonomy and who gets to be considered 'human'—this was clearly his jam.
US
