ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Ava-Grace Willis Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Freeman This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

bsmith5552 With the success of Cecil B. DeMille's "The Greatest Show on Earth" in 1952, it was inevitable that another circus themed movie would be made. John Wayne's Batjac company did just that. They produced "Ring of Fear" in the newly introduced CimemaScope and glorious color.The Clyde Beatty Circus is at the forefront of the film showcasing not only Beatty's prowess in the lion cage but many of the acts in his show as well. The story is about a homicidal maniac Dublin O'Malley (Sean McClory) who escapes from a mental hospital. He murders a guard and then a railway worker whose clothes he takes before pushing the man's body in front of a train with the hope that he will be identified as O'Malley thus diverting attention away from himself.O'Malley heads for the Clyde Beatty Circus where he had been before "going away". He had been in love with aerialist Valerie St. Denis (Marian Carr) who has since married Armand St. Louis (John Bromfield) a fellow trapeze artist. O'Malley enlists the help of a drunken clown with a past, Twichy (Emmett Lynn) whom he blackmails into staging "accidents" within the circus.Beatty brings in crime novelist Mickey Spillane to find the source of the circus' problems. He in turn brings in Jack Stang a detective posing as a magazine writer to assist him. Circus manager Frank Wallace (Pat O'Brien) keeps the show running while coordinating the detective work (and acting).O'Malley has gotten back into the good graces of Beatty who hires him as the Ringmaster. All the while O'Malley is plotting his revenge on both Valerie and Beatty. When Twichy threatens to go to the police, O'Malley murders him. When Spillane and Wallace suspect O'Malley, the mad man is forced into the open. He unlooses a tiger and...............................................................................The circus sequences are entertaining and Beaaty's lion taming show is quite good. As actors, Beatty makes an excellent lion tamer and Spillane a great mystery writer. Acting cudos go to the veteran O'Brien ion one of his signature wise guy roles and "B" western sidekick Lynn as the boozy Twichy. McClory is also good but tends to go over the top at times. He was, by the way, a member of Ireland's Abby players and can be seen in John Ford's "The Quiet Man". Pedro Gonzoles-Gonzolez is along for comedy relief and watch for Ken Tobey as a circus worker.Long time John Wayne associates James Earl Grant directed and actor Paul Fix co-wrote the screenplay.And incidently, did anyone else see the resemblance between Clyde Beatty and TV star Don Adams (Get Smart)?

zardoz-13 Circus movies appeared by the dozens in the 1950s. Cecil B. DeMille's "The Greatest Show on Earth" was the first in 1952 with Charlton Heston and James Stewart. Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis co-starred in "Three Ring Circus" in 1954. Steve Cochran and Lyle Bettger fought over Anne Baxter in "Carnival Act." in 1954. Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis handled the high wire acts in "Trapeze" in 1956. John Wayne's production company Batjac must have decided to jump on the bandwagon in the middle of this fad with "Angel and the Badman" director James Edward Grant's "Ring of Fear," starring Clyde Beatty, Mickey Spillane, and Pat O'Brien. Interestingly enough, the Duke got under the big top about ten years later in Henry Hathaway's "Circus World." Anyway, this 1954, Cinemascope lensed, 93-minute, Warner color epic serves more as publicity for Clyde Beatty's Circus and author Mickey Spillane's novels than as a big-screen melodrama about the big-top. Indeed, "Ring of Fear" scores points for authenticity because it takes place in a genuine circus. Moreover, Clyde Beatty was a real-life, world renowned animal trainer, and he has appeared as early before the cameras in 1933 in "The Big Cage" and most recently in a B-movie "Perils of the Jungle" in 1954. Character actor Paul Fix of "The Rifleman," scenarist Phillip MacDonald of "The Body Snatcher," director James Edward Grant and an uncredited Mickey Spillane penned this predictable but entertaining melodrama about a clever, elusive homicidal maniac who does his best to sabotage the Clyde Beatty Circus, while two celebrity sleuths—Mickey Spillane and Jack Strang—on the premises try to expose him. Everything starts with an inmate at the State Mental Institution held in maximum security called Dublin O'Malley (Sean McClory of "Plunder of the Sun") who cannot open his mouth without lying about himself. O'Malley is attached to a photo of an aerial trapeze beauty that once loved him and is obsesses over his loss of her love. Three psychiatrists diagnose O'Malley as a hopeless case with homicidal tendencies who should never re-enter the real world. No sooner has the unrepentant O'Malley left the conference room with the psychiatrists than he overpowers a guard, steals a truck, and careens off the premises with an all points police bulletin flashed out. O'Malley ditches the truck near the railroad and catches a ride on a freight train. He befriends a rail worker and then overpowers him. He swaps apparel with the railway worker and throws his unfortunate victim into the path of an oncoming train. No, you don't see the guy's body ground into hamburger by the train, but he died wearing O'Malley's clothing so that everybody believes that Dublin has bitten the dust! In just this short length of time, "Ring of Fear" is on the right track with a deadly, charismatic villain and Sean McClory—despite claims to the contrary that he chews the scenery—steals the show with his edgy but urban performance. The character of Dublin O'Malley overshadows all other characters in the movie.Once upon a time Dublin O'Malley worked for Clyde Beatty and his circus. Beatty saved O'Malley's life when the big cats nearly ate him and everybody laughed at O'Malley and his close scrape with death. Humiliated by the incident, O'Malley has held a grudge against the world famous lion tamer since then, but Beatty doesn't know it. O'Malley left the Beatty circus after an affair with an aerialist, Valerie (Marian Carr of "Kiss Me Deadly") went sour and she married another trapeze artist, Armand St. Dennis (John Bromfield of "Manfish"), known for his fits of jealousy. When O'Malley returns to the circus, he contacts his old, alcoholic friend Twitchy (Emmett Lynn of "The Robe") and buys him a bottle. He tells Twitchy to tell anybody that he has seen him. O'Malley tampers with the tiger cage and a tiger gets out and circus manager (Pat O'Brien of "Angels with Dirty Faces") has to kill the $10-thousand tiger. O'Malley blackmails Twitchy into helping him because Twitchy has a secret that would land him on Death Row if the authorities ever found out about it. They soak Clyde's training ropes and a big cat breaks the rope and nearly kills Clyde. Before long everybody with the Clyde Beatty Circus is whispering about the 'jinx' on the circus. About that time, detective novelist Mickey Spillane shows up and not long afterward Jack Strang appears.Again, Dublin O'Malley is the most interesting character in "Ring of Fear." The performances are about what you would expect from the celebrities involved. Clyde Beatty delivers his lines, doesn't bump into the lions, and isn't afraid to turn his back to the camera. In fact, Beatty spends most of his time with his back to the camera cracking his whip at the lions and tigers. Everybody else stands around and discusses matters. The ever-vigilant Spillane and Strang are around when O'Malley has his first fight with Armand. Later, O'Malley makes Twitchy sabotage Armand's high wire act, but Armand survives the murder attempt. Poor Twitchy decides to inform on O'Malley, but he doesn't understand the depth of O'Malley's hate for Clyde Beatty. Pat O'Brien stands around and delivers lines, too, with no special significance. Of course, Batjac stock company player Pedro Gonzales Gonzalez-Gonzales is on hand for the inevitable comic relief. For example, he loses a box match with a kangaroo. The closest thing to a love interest is Marion Carr's Valerie, but she is already married and tries to fend off O'Malley. O'Malley's demise in a railway freight car at the end of the movie is his just comeuppance for his crimes."Ring of Fear" qualifies as an above-average thriller with a top-notch performance from Sean McClory as the villain. Spillane, Strang, and Beatty register as colorless heroes.

Michael_Elliott Ring of Fear (1954) * 1/2 (out of 4) Weird blend of action and horror as a maniac gets loose in Clyde Beatty's circus and soon bodies are starting to pile up so the manager (Pat O'Brien) calls in writer Mickey Spillane to solve the case. Both Beatty and Spillane play themselves and both give an equally bad performance, which I guess is to be expected. Spillane is really, really bad but at least he gave us some great stories in his real job. The film's only real highlights are the scenes with Beatty trying to tame a wild lion. These scenes here are pretty exciting but they work against the so called mystery that's suppose to be going on and at times it seems the mystery is completely forgotten about. O'Brien comes off pretty good but he's not given a lot to do. The 2.55:1 aspect ratio makes for some good circus scenes but for the most part this thing is dead on arrival.

Neil Doyle While RING OF FEAR may not qualify for Best Film of the Year (as DeMille's circus epic did), it is a colorful and fast moving story of life under the big circus tent, whereby an ex-employee returns to his old job seeking vengeance on none other than CLYDE BEATTY and intent on evening the score for an ex-girlfriend who married another man (JOHN BROMFIELD). Beatty's lion-taming act is fascinating to watch.The film's main purpose seems to be in showcasing the circus life, the roustabouts setting up the tents, the training of wild animals (and I do mean wild), the petty arguments among the trapeze artists and other performers, and all of it supervised by a caustic manager (PAT O'BRIEN) in the sort of brassy wise-guy role he could have performed in his sleep. For added interest, there's a laid-back performance from MICKEY SPILLANE as himself, helping O'Brien solve the case of the psychopath bent on murderous revenge, who is hiding out in the traveling circus.SEAN McCLORY is guilty of overacting in many a scene but he does create a fascinating offbeat character as the madman who has escaped from confinement and is intent on revenge. The last fifteen minutes of the film contain more suspense and excitement than deMille managed to do in his lengthy, pretentious Oscar-winning epic THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH.Summing up: Not masterpiece theater as far as acting and script are concerned, but interesting enough as a suspense tale played against a colorful circus background, to maintain a reasonable amount of interest.