Highest-Rated Movies about 'Circus Life', Sort by Popularity

Popovich and the Voice of the Fabled American West (2014), The Greatest Showman (2017), Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away (2012), Bells of Rosarita (1945), Alegria (1999), Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009), Three Texas Steers (1939), Saving Flora (2018) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Circus Life movies.

#1. Popovich and the Voice of the Fabled American West (2014)

Storyline: Popovich is an ex circus legend struggling as a street performer in the wild west streets of Las Vegas. When his junkyard home full of stray animals gets into trouble, he and his animal buddies use all their circus tricks to save it.

Plot Keywords: performance artist, street performer, animal, talking animal, airy, amusing, witty ...

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#2. The Greatest Showman (2017)

Storyline: Orphaned, penniless but ambitious and with a mind crammed with imagination and fresh ideas, the American Phineas Taylor Barnum will always be remembered as the man with the gift to effortlessly blur the line between reality and fiction. Thirsty for innovation and hungry for success, the son of a tailor will manage to open a wax museum but will soon shift focus to the unique and peculiar, introducing extraordinary, never-seen-before live acts on the circus stage. Some will call Barnum's wide collection of oddities, a freak show; however, when the obsessed showman gambles everything on the opera singer Jenny Lind to appeal to a high-brow audience, he will somehow lose sight of the most important aspect of his life: his family. Will Barnum risk it all to be accepted?

Plot Keywords: showman, circus owner, circus performer, acrobat, performer, trapeze artist, dreamy ...

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#3. Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away (2012)

Storyline: A young woman in a small Mid-Western town goes to a traveling carnival one evening, where she is urged by a silent clown to visit the carnival's circus and see The Aerialist, the show's star attraction. She is entranced by The Aerialist, but during his act he misses a catch and falls to the ground. She rushes to help him, but then the ground beneath them gives way and they fall through into the dreamlike world of Cirque du Soleil. Separated, they travel through the different tent worlds trying to find each other, interacting with the strange and wonderful performers and performances of Cirque du Soleil.—Tony Scheinman

Plot Keywords: young woman, circus performer, incredible, dreamy, outdoors, circus ring, fantasy world ...

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#4. Bells of Rosarita (1945)

Storyline: Sue Farnum inherits a circus, but her dead father's partner is trying to take it away from her. Roy and Bob Nolan are filming a movie on location at the circus. They and a number of other western movie stars come to Sue's aid, putting on a show and catching the bad guys.—Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>

Plot Keywords: roy rogers, circus owner, circus manager, business partner, kidnapper, cowboy, charming ...

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#5. Alegria (1999)

Storyline: Frac, a mime who is suffering from a severe bout of depression, happens to meet a troupe of circus entertainers and immediately falls in love with one of the stars, Giulietta. But while his affection for Giulietta and admiration for the performers gives him a new lease on life, Giulietta's father, the leader of the troupe, opposes the relationship and is determined to keep them apart. Meanwhile, Frac and Giulietta discover a gang of children who are held prisoner by a criminal leader who forces them to do his bidding, and they devise a plan to win the kids their freedom.—Mark Deming

Plot Keywords: circus performer, mime, circus manager, beautiful girl, spirited, touching, circus ...

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#6. Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009)

Storyline: Teenager Darren Shan is an excellent student and the pride and joy of his perfect middle-class family, but his best friend is the reckless Steve. When they receive a flyer with an advertisement for a freak show, they sneak to the theater to see the attractions. The star attraction is a vampire called Larten Crepsley, who performs with a colorful yet very lethal spider. After the show, Darren tarries to see the spider and overhears Steve unsuccessfully trying to convince Larten to transform him into a vampire. Darren steals Larten's spider, which later bites Steve. In seeking an antidote from Larten, Darren accepts a deal to become his half-vampire assistant.

Plot Keywords: teen boy, best friend, vampire, assistant, melodramatic, eerie, crafty ...

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#7. Three Texas Steers (1939)

Storyline: Nancy Evans, lovely circus owner, has a ranch that she's never visited, but for sentimental reasons won't sell to Mike Abbott. Her partners, secretly in league with Abbott, sabotage the circus to force Nancy to sell the ranch; instead, she goes there to live. Will her neighbors, the Three Mesquiteers, be a match for the secret swindlers? And what's so valuable about that run-down ranch anyway?—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>

Plot Keywords: cowboy, circus owner, circus manager, circus performer, madcap, amusing, playful ...

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#8. Saving Flora (2018)

Storyline: Flora is a circus elephant who can no longer perform her tricks. The night before she's scheduled to be euthanized, the circus owner's 14-year old daughter, Dawn, sneaks Flora from the circus. All that stands between them and the safety of the elephant preserve is two hundred kilometers of woods, one raging river, two elephant hunters and the fear of not making it.—David Moss & Mark Taylor

Plot Keywords: elephant, father, young girl, hunter, circus owner, circus performer, endearing ...

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#9. Rain or Shine (1930)

Storyline: After her father's death, Mary Rainey takes over the Rainey Circus (which operates twice daily, rain or shine) but runs into financial troubles. In one bit reminiscent of the Marx Brothers, the circus performers are up to some ridiculous antics at a dinner party with the family of Bud Conway, Mary's beau. As times become worse and the performers go on strike, Mary must try to save the circus from rioting patrons.—Paul Donahue

Plot Keywords: vaudevillian, circus owner, sidekick, circus performer, madcap, playful, hilarious ...

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#11. Ring of Fear (1954)

Storyline: Three psychiatrists find that Dublin O'Malley has homicidal tendencies, an under-diagnosis at best. O'Malley kills a guard, escapes from the mental institution, and then kills a railroad worker. He changes clothes with the dead man and pushes the corpse in front of a train. He then heads for the Clyde Beatty Circus, having a yen for aerialist Valerie St. Dennis, now married to her partner. O'Malley is also seeking revenge against Beatty. He approaches alcoholic clown, Twitchy, and, between booze and blackmail, forces Twitchy to commit acts of sabotage against the circus. The performers think the show is jinxed, so Beatty asks crime-author Mickey Spillane to come by and see what he can do about the situation, and the show's general manager, Frank Wallace, agrees to give him full cooperation and isn't seen much anymore. Spillane brings in Jack Stang to help him. Twitchy is about to go to Beatty and tell all, but O'Malley kills him and makes it look like an accident. But the fictional Mickey Spillane is closing in, and O'Malley turns loose a man-eating tiger to create a diversion and some havoc while he escapes. O'Malley decides to hide in an empty boxcar. The curious-and-hungry tiger follows him in.—Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

Plot Keywords: circus performer, animal trainer, trapeze artist, circus manager, psychopath, writer, fiery ...

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