| Director | Harmon Jones |
|---|---|
| Budget | $400,000 |
Cyrus Miller's carnival has come to town. Its chief draw is a gorilla named Goliath. Each night, Goliath is teased by a trapeze artist named Laverne. She swings back and forth, just out of reach from the simian's upraised arms. This frustrates Goliath, but audiences are thrilled. However, Cyrus, who is in a relationship with Laverne, thinks the act is getting old. So he promotes carnival barker Joey from pitchman to performer. Joey will don a gorilla costume and become Goliath's replacement. The difference is this time Laverne will fall from the trapeze and into the arms of a disguised Joey, who will make people believe she is performing with the actual gorilla. While explaining the new routine to Joey, Laverne acts seductively towards him. The idea seems promising to everyone but Kovacs, Goliath's trainer, who is about to become unemployed.
Joey has a fiancée named Audrey, and she is not happy either, fearing Joey will fall for Laverne. Joey takes the job nonetheless, as it would mean a higher pay, postponing his plans of leaving the carnival, marrying Audrey and studying law.
That evening, the carnival's crooked concessionaire, Morse, is found dead near Goliath's cage. His neck is broken, and the culprit was a human being. Joey becomes a suspect when it is learned he once threatened Morse for harassing Audrey. However, Joey believes Cyrus, who seems jealous of whomever Laverne lays her eyes on, is out to frame him.
Meanwhile, someone wearing Joey's costume releases Goliath from his cage. The animal ends up entering the carnival's Maze of Mirrors, where Audrey is turning off the lights. Upon hearing Audrey's screams, the carnival's crew rush to her aid. They find her safe, but another associate lies dead nearby. Despite the attempts to frame Joey, the police believe he is innocent, and as the investigation is close to finding the culprit, Cyrus voluntarily takes the blame for the crimes. He was being blackmailed by two of the victims for his role in the death of a carnival performer years before and seems to be jealous of Joey, so him being the murderer is plausible. Cyrus gets incarcerated, and the show goes on.
However, Joey later figures out that, due to an old injury he received while performing, Cyrus would never have been able to break the first victim's neck. He suspects the real culprit is Kovacs, as he used to be married to Laverne, the other person who was being blackmailed for the performer's death. As Laverne's act starts, Joey confronts Kovacs. However, Joey quickly notices signs that Laverne was the one using his costume and realizes she is the killer. Meanwhile, believing she is performing with a disguised Joey, Laverne lets herself fall into Goliath's arms. While she realizes her mistake, Goliath carries a screaming Laverne to the top of the carnival's roller coaster. Using fireworks, Joey and the police make the gorilla drop Laverne safely by its side before it dies in a hail of bullets. As Laverne is led away by police, Joey and Audrey resolve to quit the carnival.