The Wagons Roll At Night (1941)

When an aggressive lion escapes from a traveling circus, a store clerk (Eddie Albert) captures the lion and becomes a local hero. The owner (Humphrey Bogart) of the circus hires him to become a part of the carnival and eventually he becomes a lion tamer. But when the new lion tamer falls in love with the owner's kid sister (Joan Leslie), he turns vicious. Based on the novel KID GALAHAD by Francis Wallace and directed by Ray Enright (CHINA SKY). The novel was previously filmed in 1937 under its original title and again in 1962 as a vehicle for Elvis Presley. It's watchable but easily the weakest of the three adaptations of Wallace's book. The original novel and films had a boxing setting and the changeover to a traveling circus does the movie no favors. It feels contrived rather than organic. The best performance in the movie comes from Sylvia Sidney as Bogart's ill treated girlfriend with a heart of gold. WAGONS was squeezed in between the two Bogart classics that made him a star. After HIGH SIERRA and before THE MALTESE FALCON. With Sig Ruman and Clara Blandick.