George Baker's sideshow is broke. Two of his acts are walking out because he can't pay them. He's buying a new act, a midget, played by Jimmy Karoubi. Karoubi is smart, hard working and the two quickly bond as business turns around and prosperity enters with it. Karoubi insists Baker hire Diane Cilento, whom he trains as a singer whose voice can calm lions. It's obvious that Karoubi loves her, and that she loves Baker.
Neil Paterson's script is a lovely one, showing the tight-knit insularity of the carny life, and the shoddiness under the night-time glitter. The performances are simple, yet telling. The only question in my mind was who was the director, George More O'Ferrell, a man with seven screen credits to his name in the mid-1950s. It turns out that the reason his work wasn't on the big screen is because after beginning in the theater, he joined BBC Television in 1936, where he was "the drama producer" for twenty years. His work in that and directing gave that station stature, and it wasn't until the early 1950s that he was lured away, first to the Rank organization, then to Anglia TV.
Alas, given the rarity of early BBC productions, it's likely his name will continue to decline. Only one of his movies is regularly available, THE HOLLY AND THE IVY. Too bad.
