3 Ring Circus. 1955. Directed by Joseph Pevney Money from Home (excerpts). 1954. Directed by George Marshall

Film

3 Ring Circus. 1955. USA. Directed by Joseph Pevney. Courtesy Paramount Pictures

3 Ring Circus. 1955. USA. Directed by Joseph Pevney. 103 min.

Screenplay by Don McGuire. With Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Joanne Dru, Zsa Zsa Gabor. The most elusive of the Martin and Lewis films, never released to home video in the U.S., 3 Ring Circus is a minor film that points to major developments in Lewis’s growth as a performer. An apprentice lion tamer (his instructor is the inimitable, inevitable Sig Ruman) in a traveling circus, Lewis dreams of becoming a clown—though he’s horrified by the Buddy Love–like hypocrisy of the show’s lead comic, a hot-tempered alcoholic (Gene Sheldon). Martin has his hands full, with both Joanne Dru (the circus’s sympathetic owner) and Zsa Zsa Gabor (the star trapeze artist) competing for his attention. The same can be said about director Joseph Pevney, a specialist in fight pictures who is way out of his comfort zone here.

Money from Home (excerpts). 1954. USA. Directed by George Marshall

Screenplay by Hal Kanter, James Allardice, Cy Howard, from a novel by Damon Runyon. With Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Marjie Millar, Pat Crowley. Fifteen minutes of 3-D highlights from Martin and Lewis’s only stereoscopic film, with Martin as an unlucky gambler and Lewis as a student veterinarian enlisted to fix a race. Courtesy of 3-D Film Archive and Paramount Pictures

This film accompanies Happy Birthday, Mr. Lewis: The Kid Turns 90 .

Sat, Mar 12, 2016, 2:00 p.m.

MoMA, Floor T2, Theater 2

The Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 2
Wed, Mar 2, 2016, 7:00 p.m.

MoMA, Floor T1, Theater 1

The Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 1

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