Richard Barthelmess is a rider in the circus. He wants to get out. He has, he tells Jean Muir before he gets her pregnant, big plans -- apparently he wants to marry the daughter of the richest man in the state; at least, that's what will happen. When he gets her with child, she is magnanimous about it and marries another man. Then it's off to nepotistic success for Barthelmess.
In his only American film, G.W. Pabst produces an ironic circus picture -- how very European! -- and gets some fine performances in a movie that looks slightly disjointed, There are lots of despicable archetypes, from Miss Muir's drunken father, to Barthelmess' vaguely Nietzschean mother.
It's all ironic andfutile, and apparently Pabst so disliked the American way of making movies that he fled back to Europe. Barthelmess was aging out of his star persona, and could no longer sustain artistic efforts. Too bad on both accounts. The movie, while fascinating, failed to excite at the box office.
In his only American film, G.W. Pabst produces an ironic circus picture -- how very European! -- and gets some fine performances in a movie that looks slightly disjointed, There are lots of despicable archetypes, from Miss Muir's drunken father, to Barthelmess' vaguely Nietzschean mother.
It's all ironic andfutile, and apparently Pabst so disliked the American way of making movies that he fled back to Europe. Barthelmess was aging out of his star persona, and could no longer sustain artistic efforts. Too bad on both accounts. The movie, while fascinating, failed to excite at the box office.