“THE BIG CAGE.”

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 833, 5 August 1933, Page 24 (Supplement)

“THE BIG CAGE.”

Thrilling Circus Drama Coming to Majestic. George Sidney and Charlie Murray have the leading- roles in “The Cohens and Kellys in Trouble,” which will be shown finally to-night at the Majestic Theatre. Hair-raising scenes never before shown on the motion picture screen are a part of “ The Big Cage,” the Universal circus drama, which opens an engagement at the Majestic Theatre on Monday. This thrilling screen play presents in its featured role Clyde Beatty, greatest of all wild animal trainers, and constitutes virtually a story of Beatty's life. In one ’■sequence Beatty is seen *n a barred arena with forty-three lions and tigers, duplicating the performance which has made him the premier attraction of the circus world. Throughout its filming the picture was fraught with actual and ever-present danger. Millions have seen Beatty as the star of Barnum and Bailey’s circus, but the camera and the lights added a new thrill to Beatty in the filming. The greater part of the story of “ The Big Cage ” is laid in the winter quarters of a circus, with Beatty, against the advice of his associates, intent on perfecting an “act” which will present both lions and tigers in the same arena—a feat which has never been accomplished by any other trainer. Eventually he succeeds, though only after tragedy has entered the great cage in the training quarters. The climax of this startling picture occurs in a crowded circus tent, where Beatty is performing his “act” for the first time before the public. At the height of a sudden thunder storm several of the ferocious beasts escape from the arena, and the scenes which follow are filled with the wildest excitement. Clyde Beatty makes his screen debut in “The Big Cage,” and his supporting cast includes Andy Devine, Vince Barnett, Wallace Ford, Anita Page, Raymond Hatton, and other screen favourites.