Top 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsMost Popular Video GamesMost Popular Music VideosMost Popular Podcasts
    Release CalendarBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV NewsIndia TV Spotlight
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsBest Picture WinnersBest Picture WinnersSundance Film FestivalIndependent Spirit AwardsBlack History MonthSXSWSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
Sign In
New Customer? Create account
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

Circus Rookies

  • 19281928
  • 1h
IMDb RATING
3.7/10
17
YOUR RATING
George K. Arthur, Karl Dane, and Fred Humes in Circus Rookies (1928)
Comedy
Francis Byrd (Arthur), is in love with circus acrobat, and daughter of the show's owner, La Belle, and tries to join the show to be near her. However, his rival Oscar Thrust (Dane) is the ke... Read allFrancis Byrd (Arthur), is in love with circus acrobat, and daughter of the show's owner, La Belle, and tries to join the show to be near her. However, his rival Oscar Thrust (Dane) is the keeper of a "Man-Eating Gorilla" named Bimbo, who's a featured act. He sabotages Byrd's effo... Read allFrancis Byrd (Arthur), is in love with circus acrobat, and daughter of the show's owner, La Belle, and tries to join the show to be near her. However, his rival Oscar Thrust (Dane) is the keeper of a "Man-Eating Gorilla" named Bimbo, who's a featured act. He sabotages Byrd's efforts at impressing Belle, enough so she sees him as a coward. When the circus is travelling... Read all
IMDb RATING
3.7/10
17
YOUR RATING
    • Edward Sedgwick
  • Writers
    • Robert E. Hopkins(titles)
    • Lew Lipton(story)
    • Richard Schayer
  • Stars
    • Karl Dane
    • George K. Arthur
    • Louise Lorraine
    • Edward Sedgwick
  • Writers
    • Robert E. Hopkins(titles)
    • Lew Lipton(story)
    • Richard Schayer
  • Stars
    • Karl Dane
    • George K. Arthur
    • Louise Lorraine
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 1User review
    • 1Critic review
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Photos

    George K. Arthur, Karl Dane, Fred Humes, and Louise Lorraine in Circus Rookies (1928)
    Add photo

    Top cast

    Edit
    Karl Dane
    Karl Dane
    • Oscar Thrust
    George K. Arthur
    George K. Arthur
    • Francis Byrd
    Louise Lorraine
    Louise Lorraine
    • La Belle
    Sydney Jarvis
    • Mr. Magoo
    • (as Sidney Jarvis)
    Fred Humes
    Fred Humes
    • Bimbo the Gorilla
    Minnie The Elephant
    Lou Costello
    Lou Costello
    • Extra
    • (uncredited)
      • Edward Sedgwick
    • Writers
      • Robert E. Hopkins(titles)
      • Lew Lipton(story)
      • Richard Schayer
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Though a fantasy review is offered below, this film hasn't been seen in almost a hundred years.

    User reviews1

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    1/10
    Mr Magoo has a Bimbo
    George K Arthur (a chirpy little Aberdonian) and Karl Dane (tall and slack-jawed) were an immensely popular comedy team of the silent era whose career slowed in talkies, largely due to Dane's thick accent (he was a Dane by name and a Dane by nature), combined with the fact that neither was an especially good actor.

    The film historian William K Everson told me that he owned prints of all the Dane-Arthur team-ups, but that he very seldom viewed them because (in his opinion) they just weren't funny. I'm inclined to agree. What most intrigues me about Dane and Arthur is that, uniquely among major comedy teams, they tended to play adversaries rather than allies. This is especially prominent in 'Brotherly Love', set in a penitentiary ... in which Arthur plays a young lag trying to escape, and Dane plays the warder trying to stop him.

    The army comedy 'Rookies' is probably the best of the Dane-Arthur films. Someone at MGM must have agreed, because here's a movie called 'Circus Rookies': not in any way a sequel to 'Rookies', yet titled to make us think it is.

    Mister Magoo (no, not THAT one) is a circus impresario who keeps losing his gorilla-keepers, because Bimbo the gorilla insists on mauling them. Along comes Oscar (Dane), who manages to tame Bimbo by the brilliant stratagem of offering the gorilla a banana ... apparently nobody ever thought of this before. Eventually, Dane has got Bimbo so well-trained, he tells him to 'Kiss papa' ... and Bimbo complies. Karl Dane never won any beauty prizes, and the sight of this lanky fellow being kissed by a gorilla (played by a man in a too-obvious ape cozzy) is not a pretty sight.

    George K Arthur, much handsomer and a more conventional personality type than Dane, tended to dominate their films together. Here, possibly for the only time in the team's brief history, Arthur has far less to do than Dane. There's an unfunny running gag: every time Dane runs out of bananas, Bimbo dunks him in a water-trough. 'Circus Rookies' has a high budget and MGM's usual excellent art direction, but it's wasted on a bad script and not enough humour. I'll rate this movie just one point out of 10.
    helpful•2
    3
    • F Gwynplaine MacIntyre
    • Nov 14, 2004

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • March 31, 1928 (United States)
      • United States
      • None
    • Also known as
      • Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA
    • Production company
      • Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • 1 hour
      • Black and White
      • Silent

    Related news

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    George K. Arthur, Karl Dane, and Fred Humes in Circus Rookies (1928)
    Top Gap
    What is the English language plot outline for Circus Rookies (1928)?
    Answer
    • See more gaps
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    • Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • IMDb Developer
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2023 by IMDb.com, Inc.