Was this an actual circus?

It was a movie.
It was a movie.

It is a good question; some of the shots are obviously real circus personnel such as the tearing down the merry-go-round etc and other second unit stuff. This film kept surprising me with odd turns of plot and originality. The posts which complain of Ann Baxter's "bad acting" are incomprehensible to me, I thought she was fine throughout. My only complaint is about some of the musical score which was far too incessant and intrusive. The color was equally lurid and poor, yet the acting, characterizations, plot and camera work were, I think, way above the overall look of the film. Every time we scaled that high ladder with the divers, it made me wonder if this was the time someone got hurt or killed. Kept you guessing.