Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

classicsoncall The first time I ever saw a photo of the Sixties pop band The Monkees, I just knew that Micky Dolenz had to be that kid Corky from "Circus Boy". Dolenz has the kind of face that didn't change appearance drastically as he aged, and even today at the age of seventy two (as I write this), it's easy to see the resemblance between present day Dolenz and his early TV character. The main difference is the blond hair as a kid, and of course, the use of the stage name Micky Braddock when he appeared in the series."Circus Boy" had an interesting broadcast history. It aired on the NBC television network from September, 1956 to September 1957 with a full run of thirty six episodes, and then the series closed out with thirteen more programs on ABC the following season through September, 1958. As a kid, I caught these shows on a Saturday morning lineup that included a whole host of kid shows and TV Westerns. This one had all the ingredients I would have looked for in a program, wild animals to be sure, and a principal character who would have been close to my own age. That's why I always tuned in for stuff like 'Lassie, 'Rin Tin Tin', 'My Friend Flicka', 'Fury', and of course, 'Circus Boy'.The young boy Corky was introduced in the series as the adopted son of the Burke and Walsh traveling circus owned by Big Tim Champion (Robert Lowery). His job with the circus was a water boy for Bimbo the Elephant who he rode into town in the show's opening sequence, along with Noah Beery Jr.'s Joey the Clown. All three appeared in every episode of the show, while another regular, Big Boy Guinn Williams, appeared in thirty five stories as the principal circus roustabout and jack-of-all trades. The show took place around an undefined turn of the century, and even though you might not consider the show a Western, it does merit inclusion in the 'Television Westerns Episode Guide, 1949 - 1996' by Harris Lentz III. In fact, virtually all the guest stars that showed up were B Western regulars like Andy Clyde (3x's), Ray Hatton, Kenne Duncan, Stanley Andrews, Slim Pickens, Ray Teal and Leo Gordon. A notable exception would have been Russell Johnson, the future Professor on 'Gilligan's Island', who appeared in the story 'Corky and The Circus Doctor' as a veterinarian hired to replace the regular vet (Stanley Andrews), but that didn't work out as the story proceeded.With an admission price to the circus of twenty five cents for adults and one thin dime for kids, it's hard to imagine today how the traveling circus could ever have stayed in business. The late 1890's was a simpler time of course and money went a whole lot further back then. Heck, even in the Fifties you could get into a circus for less than a buck, which goes to show you how long this reviewer has been around. I like to take in these kinds of shows every now and then as a memory of a less hectic time and a return to old fashioned values that don't ever really go out of style. It's just that in the modern era, you have to look a lot farther for them.

denisefontenot Maybe now Circus Boy is not viewed as a good show, but I love it just the way it is. You cannot get programming like this anymore. Where the people on the series were nice and pleasant to each other. They even pray on the old shows. Something we don't do much of now days. I think there should be more up lifting shows on TV like Circus Boy, Rin Tin Tin, Lassie, etc. They are great. Keep it up Antenna TV. You got my vote. I wish they'd get all the reruns they could and run them at Antenna TV. That is pretty much all I watch now. To many nut jobs on TV now. Cable is way too expensive!!! I buy DVD's with old programs on them and I watch all these great shows. There was a time when actors really acted and were talented. Now days someone is an actor because they made a sex tape.

bkoganbing The Circus Boy series bore no small resemblance to Rin Tin Tin and that's not surprising since they both came from Columbia Studio's television unit. In Rin Tin Tin small boy Rusty and a German Shepherd puppy who grew up to be Rinty was found after a wagon train massacre and the soldiers at Fort Apache made him an official mascot.And that's what happened with Mickey Dolenz here who was then known as Mickey Braddock. He was an orphan who lived and traveled with the circus owned by Big Tim Champion as played by Robert Lowery during the gaslight era. They did the western circuit so a lot of western type plot situations could be used.It was not a bad series and what a life for Mickey. He lived with Noah Beery, Jr. who was a clown. His other good friend and fourth and last series regular was Guinn Williams who was the head roustabout for the show.It wasn't a Barnum&Bailey type show, but it was a small circus and life really seemed good. And unlike Rin Tin Tin you didn't have the Indians to contend with. Too bad it only lasted two seasons, but it was only when The Monkees debuted in the Middle Sixties that I learned that our Circus Boy was not a real blond.It must have been just as devastating for nineties fans to learn that Mark-Paul Gosselaar was not a California blond either.

Albert Mazeika CIRCUS BOY, starring future "Monkees" drummer/singer Mickey Dolenz (then as billed as Mickey Braddock)in the title role, spent the 1956-57 Prime Time TV Season on NBC and the next on ABC. I enjoyed it when it re-ran on Saturday mornings thru 1960. There could be 70+ episodes of CIRCUS BOY as back in those days they produced as many as 39 new episodes a season. Nowadays, costs being what they are, you're fortunate to get 20-24. The Circus Boy was Corky, an orphan taken in by Big Tim Champion's turn of the 19th century Circus. He was water boy for Bimbo, a baby Elephant. As a 7 or 8 year old at the time, I found the show quite fascinating and, of course, envied Corky to no end. I mean, who wouldn't want a pet elephant? Coincidently (?) Disney released the popular, similarly-themed TOBY TYLER in 1960. Source Material: THE COMPLETE DIRECTORY TO PRIME TIME NETWORK & CABLE SHOWS.