| Director | Henry Hathaway |
|---|---|
| Budget | $9 million |
| Box office | $1.6 million |
Matt Masters (John Wayne), a Wild West circus star in the mold of Buffalo Bill Cody, bought a bankrupt circus in 1885 and successfully rebuilt it into a combination three ring and Wild West extravaganza. He has successfully toured the United States for more than a decade. Now that the century is about to turn, he wants to take his show to Europe.
His Circus Boss, Cap Carson (Lloyd Nolan), is against taking the show across the Atlantic. He calls Matt on his reason for making a European tour: Masters wants to find the lost great love of his life, Lili Alfredo (Rita Hayworth), and figures that this tour will smoke her out if for no other reason than to see her child, Toni Alfredo (Claudia Cardinale), Masters' adopted daughter. One of his Western stars and wannabe-partner, Steve McCabe (John Smith), also attempts to dissuade Masters. Masters buys a freighter, renames her the Circus Maximus, and the show sails for Europe.
At Barcelona, the Circus Maximus capsizes at the pier and puts the show out of action. Masters has to release most of his performers, board out his animals, and go back to performing an act for the Ed Purdy Wild West Show, a staple on the European circus circuit. "While touring Europe at Ed Purdy's expense," as Masters puts it, he, Cap, Steve, and Toni scout acts that will enable Masters to relaunch the Matt Masters Circus bigger and better than ever.
His first new hire is Tojo the Clown and the Wire-Dancing Ballerina (Richard Conte and Katharyna respectively). They have a unique act; Tojo is dressed as a clown but walks the high wire over a cage full of lions while coaching the Ballerina (his niece Giovanna) as she dances on a wire on the ground. Backstage, Masters discovers that Tojo is an old acquaintance — Aldo Alfredo, brother-in-law of his lost love Lili Alfredo. Despite his reservations at hiring a possible enemy Masters takes the act on and neither he nor Aldo admit to Toni, who is Aldo's niece, that they have met before; or that Tojo the Clown is her uncle.
His second new act is Emile Schumann, a French animal trainer who has a spectacular act involving lions who lie down on him in the ring. Masters offers to take him on if he will switch from lions to tigers (Masters has many tigers but few lions). By the time the circus is ready to re-launch, Emile has so adapted to working with a different variety of big cat that when a couple become ill, he demands that Masters hire a doctor for "HIS tigers."
The third addition to the performers' roster is Margo Angeli, an artist of the high trapeze. In reality, Margo is the vanished Lili Alfredo, haunted by the guilt of having been caught up in a love triangle, blaming herself for the death of her flyer husband who had fallen — or did he miss Aldo's catch on purpose? She had run away from the world of the circus and kept on running, finding solace first in the Church and then in the bottle.
As Masters had hoped it would, the lure of her daughter brings Lili out of hiding. The two have an intense confrontation in a bar, ending with Masters slamming a full bottle of brandy down in front of Lili and telling her that she needs to decide whether the booze or her child is more important to her. Lili quits drinking and goes into training to seek a position in the new Matt Masters Circus, then in winter quarters near Madrid.
Meanwhile, Toni has fallen for Steve and he for her, despite an age difference of at least a decade. Matt has to come to terms with the fact that his adopted little girl is a grown woman. "Margo's" reappearance helps, and she is secretly amused by Toni's attempts to pair her off with Matt.
Inevitably, the truth comes out. On the afternoon of the rehearsal for the first show of the circus season in Vienna, Toni finds a poster of The Flying Alfredos in her wagon living quarters with "Suicide" daubed on it in red. She also finds a newspaper clipping of the Flying Alfredos that allows her to identify "Margo" as her mother. There is a stormy confrontation with many passionate, hateful words on Toni's part between her, Lili and Matt; and Matt has to tell her that he was the second man in the love triangle. Toni curses both of them just before a bugle call summons the show to Dress Rehearsal.
The rehearsal opens to empty seats with Grand Parade. Partway through the opening, a fire breaks out in Wardrobe and spreads to the Big Top. Fast action by Lili, Matt, Steve, Toni, Cap and Aldo prevents injury to the circus performers and manages to save about half of the tent from the flames. The one positive thing to come out of the fire is a rapprochement between Toni and Lili.
Matt somehow obtains permission from the Emperor to set up the circus in the grounds of the Imperial Palace. The show is a smash success, with a new act headlining: Lili and Toni Alfredo performing a swing-over routine fifty feet in the air. Ultimately Matt, Lili, Toni, and Matt's new partner and Toni's new fiancé, Steve, are shown taking bows to the applause of the people and the Crown.