Director Kurt Neumann shot mostly fiction and adventure. “Carnival Story” is strictly neither, but I can assume it’s one of the director’s best films. The actress who played the main role, Anne Baxter, earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Stars - it means something.
Dynamic action, bright characters, noble impulses and mean deeds - all this will pass before the viewer in a series of events unfolding at the noisy fair.
The American director chose Germany, which had barely begun to recover from the disaster of 45. We guess: a mobile moon park is weary in America, and in hungry post-war Europe gathers crowds.
We will not see the harsh realities of the country that lost the war, except that the initial episode hints at them - a hungry girl steals a purse - the German character of the heroine is outlined in a couple of strokes, what to do, this is the style of this director.
But today, seeing on the screens of the sea of blood, intestines outside, masturbation, torn T-shirts and unshaven faces of the main characters, you perceive the carnival reality of the old movie as a breath of clean air, as a respite and a short vacation from everyday life. This is the role of cinema initially.