User reviews

Burt Lancaster stars as PT Barnum, breaking the fourth window to tell the story of the showman, author and politician who died four months shy of 81 years-old in 1891.

The man is known as the best purveyor of entertainment in history, a master of sales and marketing. He entered into showmanship in New York at the age of 25 after purchasing a blind and near-paralyzed slave woman, supposedly George Washington's 161 years-old former nurse. She died a year later with an autopsy revealing that she was no more than 80.

He then acquired a museum on Broadway that attracted people with exhibits, such as stuffed animals and changing live acts or curiosities, including the "Feejee" mermaid and General Tom Thumb. Barnum toured Europe with the little entertainer in 1844-1845 wherein he learned of the famous Swedish soprano singer Jenny Lind (played here by Hanna Schygulla), which led to enlisting her talents at great price for a tour of America in 1850-1852.

The showman didn't start the first traveling circus by train with canvas tents until he was 60 years-old in 1870, calling it "PT Barnum's Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan & Hippodrome."

All of this, and more, is effectively told, but don't expect a lot of what is traditionally associated with circuses, such as depicted in movies like "Water for Elephants," "The Greatest Show on Earth," "The Big Circus," "Roustabout," "Circus of Horrors," "Trapeze" and "Circus of Fear," aka "Psycho-Circus." These films take place a century after the events in this one. In other words, the events in "Barnum" laid the foundation for traveling circuses in the 1900s. But, don't get me wrong, there's a little bit of what is linked to conventional circuses, like during Lancaster's walking the circus grounds breaking the fourth wall and the very end.

Interestingly, it is stressed in the movie that it wasn't Barnum who coined the phrase "There's a sucker born every minute." Evidence suggests that the phrase can likely be attributed to David Hannum, a banker from Syracuse, who bought the "Cardiff Giant" in 1869 and made a profit in admission fees. Barnum wanted to buy it but Hannum wouldn't sell, so he created a replica and claimed that Hannum's giant was a hoax. When Barnum's exhibit proved more successful, it is alleged that Hannum said "There's a sucker born every minute."

This flick should not be confused with another television production, the British musical "Barnum!," which debuted the same year, four weeks later. It obviously had the lesser budget.

The film runs 1 hour, 40 minutes (some listings claim 1 hour, 30 minutes), and was shot in Montreal.

GRADE: B-

First the bad news. Burt Lancaster is much too old for the part. Though they use a younger actor for much of Barnum's youth, when they switch to Lancaster, he's clearly much older than the character he's playing.

Now the good news. Burt Lancaster. He's great. No one else could play P.T. Barnum as well as Bur Lancaster. Thank God they overlooked the age factor and went for someone with the right soul. If you want someone to play the great Barnum, get a great actor. And they did.

The script is beautifully written. Because of that, even though the movie was obviously shot on a budget, it suffers not at all. Much as my kids loved it, this isn't really a kids movie. I mean it's good for kids -- they will like it -- but so will anyone interested in P.T. Barnum or 19th Century America. In other words, do not write this off as a mere kids movie because it's not.

It is very appropriate that former acrobat and trapeze artist Burt Lancaster should play as Phineas T. Barnum, in a well-crafted biographic film produced for television with an adequate budget and a top-flight cast that helps to enable director Lee Phillips apply nicely focused leadership in this treatment of Barnum's eventful life. Action opens in 1883 as a circus performance is in preparation, with 70 year old Barnum, surrounded by acrobats, jugglers, animals and clowns, talking to the camera as he recalls (through flashbacks) a series of dramatized events that have brought him to this stage of his career (he discloses that he did not conceptualize of a circus until he had passed the age of 60). We see young Barnum with his grandfather, Phineas Taylor (a solid turn by Michael Higgins) for whom the lad is namesake, as Taylor advises the youngster to always credit and honour imagination: "the seed of genius, the elixir of life", words that leave a lasting effect upon the impressionable boy. Subsequent highlights include the larger-than-life entrepreneur's development of such attractions as Joice Heth, purportedly a slave of 161 years, diminutive "General" Tom Thumb, Jennie Lind, "The Swedish Nightingale", and Jumbo, a gigantic elephant, eventually arriving at Barnum's business merger with James Bailey, resulting in "The Greatest Show on Earth". The financial compact arranged between Barnum and Lind (Hanna Schygulla), who was aware of the value of promotional advertising and who therefore permitted him to retain 70% of the profits from her highly successful touring, is covered in some detail; however, there is simply too much fascinating content within this man's lifespan to do it justice with normal cinematic restrictions. This is a splendidly mounted and costumed film that never flagrantly strays far from documented truth, and enjoys ably atmospheric scoring by Charles Gross and the skillful cinematography of Reginald Morris, benefiting a well-selected cast that gives nary a weak performance, Lancaster providing a magnificent turn as the showman with Schygulla a standout, as well.

The only problem I have with the movie Barnum is that this was a role Burt Lancaster could have and should have done 20 years earlier. Still we have to give credit to the Canadian makeup people who managed to youthen Lancaster so he could do more than narrate his film from the grave so to speak.

Other than Hannah Schygulla the German film star who played Jenny Lind, the supporting players were all Canadian and the film was shot mostly in and around Montreal. Two other actors Andrew Bednarski and John Roney played Phineas T. Barnum in his adolescence and as a young man. Laura Press played his first wife, a pious Yankee Congregationalist who never quite understood her mercurial husband.

Lancaster was 72 when he did Barnum and he's perfect in the part. The man was a master publicist in fact he set the standard for the job. As he put it, he never cheated anyone he sold them fantasy and entertainment.

The film is a fond nostalgic trip through the lighter side of the 19th century in America. Barnum before he became a circus owner had a museum that was similar to Ripley's Believe-It-Or-Not. He exhibited a talented midget in General Tom Thumb to the crowned heads of Europe, a phrase he might have coined. One of my favorite scenes is of the little guy meeting Queen Victoria with a beaming Lancaster looking on. He brought and ballyhooed Jenny Lind, dubbed the Swedish Nightingale to America for an amazingly successful tour.

Another favorite scene of mine is the shrewd Ms. Lind negotiating with Barnum for the right deal. It reminded me of another great Scandinavian star of the next century, Sonia Henie and what a shrewd businesswoman she was reputed to be.

Barnum's name survives today because of the famous circus his name is still attached to. As Lancaster explains he did little, but use his well known talent for publicity to get the show started. It was partner Bailey who was the driving force behind the circus and we never even meet him. That probably is a film unto itself. After Barnum's death the show merged with the Ringling Brothers show to form what it is still known today as Ringling Brothers&Barnum&Bailey Circus. Which was forever immortalized by Cecil B. DeMille in The Greatest Show On Earth.

The film is a fine made for television product one of the best ever done.

I am an odd one in that I did not enjoy the musical "Barnum". Much of it is because it really didn't give a great account of the showman's actual life. For me, I much prefer this 1986 made for TV movie. While it's not perfect (it's a bit episodic due to the film's length), it does give a nice overview of his life and major attractions he brought the world.

It was an odd choice to have Burt Lancaster in the film....mostly because Lancaster was rather elderly at the time. Having him star in it in his peak (1950s-60s) would have been amazing.....but the film managed to still work very well. I especially like how, at times, Lancaster breaks the fourth wall and talks to the viewer! It's well acted, clever and the moments with Tom Thumb were not just interesting but very charming as well.

Overall, a nice TV movie about a truly odd man...but odd in a mostly good way.