The shadow on Joan's neck
Every time I see this film I have a good laugh once again at this blatant attempt to hide the star's age. In every closeup she has, there is a strong black shadow covering Joan's throat, implying that it is the shadow of a ceiling beam. However, almost every scene Joan is in is either in a trailer(no ceiling beams there!) or in the big top(not even a ceiling there!). I admire the stars like Joan, Garbo, Dietrich and others who were very savvy about lighting and were able to use it to their advantage, but this is just so blatant and shameless a use of chiaroscuro that it cracks me up every time. It reminds me of how Norma Shearer only ever allowed the cameraman to shoot her from certain angles in order to disguise the fact that she was horrendously cross-eyed. I'll have to watch Berserk! again to see if the 'beam' occurs in any outdoor shots!