Watch Billy Rose's Jumbo For Free

Waste of time

Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

I will admit that there seems to be an audience for this musical, based on the fact that it managed to get a release on the Blu-ray format. But to be honest, the movie left this viewer somewhat cold. For starters, the title is kind of odd, seeing how the elephant Jumbo only makes sporadic and brief appearances throughout the movie. But there are further problems with the screenplay. At over two hours in length, the thin story is extended way past the breaking point. As for the songs, while they are not awful, they are not very memorable (though the song "The Most Beautiful Girl In The World" has its moments.) And you'd never figure that the great Busby Berkeley staged the musical numbers, because they sorely lack the punch of his earlier musicals. While the cast is bright and likable, and the movie boasts some pretty good production values and circus acts, these things don't raise the movie much from the level of being instantly forgettable. It's no wonder that the movie was a box office failure, and was one of the final nails in the coffin of the Hollywood musical until "The Sound Of Music" temporarily revived the genre a few years later.

Seriously, find something else to watch. Bad acting, terrible casting, even worse "music". But, go ahead, watch it sometime if you must...the folks who made it tried very hard. There's no accounting for taste. On paper, the cast looks pretty good. Except for poor Stephen Boyd who must have been really hard up for work to take a shot at this turkey. It's nice to see Durante and Doris Day tries hard...but that's not enough. The setting and style are incredibly dated and the movie just doesn't work on any level. The folks who made it should have known better but it's hard to fault them for trying. It's not even "kitschy", it's just a musical that probably shouldn't have been made...at least, not in 1962.

In the beginning of the Twentieth Century, the traveling The Wonder Circus has the greatest attraction the elephant Jumbo and is full of debts. The owner, Anthony 'Pop' Wonder (Jimmy Durante), works as a clown but is a gambler addicted in dice games and usually loses the box office gambling. He has been deceiving the clairvoyant Lulu (Martha Raye) for many years promising to marry her. His daughter, Kitty Wonder (Doris Day), is the trick rider and tries to negotiate with creditors and the circus performers to keep the business going on. John Noble (Dean Jagger), who owns a famous Noble Circus, wants to buy Jumbo and The Wonder Circus, but Pop refuses his offers.When the mysterious Sam Rawlins (Stephen Boyd) asks for a job in the Wonder Circus, Kitty refuses and tells that they do not want adventurer working in their circus. But he proves to be an excellent aerialist and handy man and Pop hires him since they lost many performers due to the lack of payment. Soon Kitty falls in love with Sam, but he has a secret agenda and she does not know. "Billy Rose's Jumbo" is a forgettable and cute musical based on a 1935 Broadway show. The silly plot is a predictable romance entwined with many songs and performances by circus performers and entertains. The work of the stunts and the edition is wonderful. Unfortunately the songs in the DVD released by Warner in Brazil do not have subtitles in a absolute lack of respect from Warner to the Brazilian costumers. Shame on you Warner! My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "A Mais Querida do Mundo" ("The Dearest in the World")

The only real selling point in this entry is the score by Rodgers and Hart and when that is performed listlessly as it is by all concerned then we're left with a flabby plot and indifferent acting. Stephen Boyd was, of course, a joke and strictly from the Forestry Commission School Of Acting and was the last person that should have been cast as a romantic lead opposite Doris Day. As is usual with Hollywood adaptations of Broadway musicals they tampered with the score, bringing in things like This Can't Be Love, written for The Boys From Syracuse. Ironically it was released the same year as the Hollywood version of Gypsy, which retained its original Broadway score and suffered no interpolations. Gypsy was so far ahead of Jumbo on all counts that it isn't even funny. The resulting scorecard reads something like: banal, hokey plot, wooden and/or uninspired performances which could have been redeemed by the fine score had anyone attempted to 'put the songs across'. Result: Major Disappointment.