The Devil’s Circus

(Benjamin Christensen, US 1926, 70 min., 35mm)

Benjamin Christensen was a groundbreaking director in his native Denmark, combining German-inspired cinematography and production design with stylish editing as in his 1922 witchcraft masterpiece, Haxan. MGM convinced Christensen to move to the United States, but he made only two films with the studio. (Mockery, the other title, is also preserved at the museum.) His full mastery can be seen in this offbeat melodrama about lovers separated by circumstance. When Richard (Charles Emmett Mack) is taken to jail, Mary (Norma Shearer) falls in with an aerial act that performs over an open lion cage. When the lion tamer insistently pursues her, Mary must contend with his jealous lover, who has a mean streak.