The Show Of Shows, film review: Footage of circus performers is eerie to watch

(12A)​ Benedikt Erlingsson, 73 mins

Brenda the contortionist in the vaudeville documentary ‘The Show of Shows’

Icelandic film-maker Erlingsson, director of the wondrously strange feature film Of Horses and Men, is behind this archive-based documentary, which edits together footage of vaudeville and circus performers.

There is no voice-over and no contextual information about the footage – just a montage of often astonishing scenes of strippers, acrobats, clowns, high-wire walkers, human cannonballs, boxing kangaroos and monkeys on bikes.

The anonymous performers from so long ago show both bravery and, often, startling balletic grace. It's very eerie to watch. Many of the routines involving animals and humans alike are based around cruelty, humiliation and extreme danger. A jarring electronic score accentuates the strangeness.