The Clown and the Kid (1961) Online

The Clown And The Kid is a film that was shot on a dental floss budget and is next to zero in production values. But in certain respects it's got some appeal to it as far as the players were concerned.

I get the distinct feeling that the film ran out of budget and the ending was quickly written and shot to give resolution. The story concerns the paths of escaped criminal John Lupton who the law enforcement of Texas is looking for and Michael McGreevey who together with his father and horse have a traveling carnival act.

The father is Don Keefer and he's gotten some really bad news. He's got a bad heart and could go at any time. So he's packed up boy and horse and is on his way to a convent school run by Sister Edith Evanson whom he had an arrangement to take care of McGreevey should anything happen to him.

The best acted scenes in the film are with Keefer and McGreevey each knowing that their time together could be their last. Lupton comes upon them and discovers Keefer dead. These two kind of bond and McGreevey teaches Lupton the clown business which he picks up pretty good.

Someone saw Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show On Earth where Jimmy Stewart spent the entire film in clown makeup for the next idea because that's what Lupton does for the most part. But carnival owner Mary Webster is intrigued. So is law enforcement in the person of Detective Barry Kelley.

The Clown And The Kid is a cheapo deluxo of a movie. Still is good however for family audiences.

A slow-paced, impossibly dreary "B" feature with hardly a single redeeming feature. I must admit that Miss Webster makes a passably attractive femme lead, though she doesn't come into the film until very late and the bilge she has to speak does not help her. The rest of the players are a complete write-off. So is their dialogue. The story itself is a hoary old chestnut and here it is resolved in a ludicrously unconvincing fashion.

To add to our displeasure, all the action takes place off-camera. Despite the hoard of technicians on the sound stage, the film moves sluggishly forward, weighed down by long stretches of dull dialogue, all of which is delivered in a routine, totally disinterested manner.

There's not a lot I can say about this little film. It's only 105 minutes long, so there isn't much time to build a story or characters. It may be perfect for those who enjoy a simple fast-paced happy ending. Very little brain has to be exercised to wrap around the theme. This is one of those films where everyone is the good guy. It leaves very little room for any realistic connection. Too much fluff! Too good to be true! It lacks some key elements for a descent field trip into fiction. It's like viewing an episode of Lassie, and maybe not that good!

The horse is the best actor in the film, if that tells you anything.