The Wagons Roll at Night
Tags: romantic

Plot synopsis:
From a traveling carnival managed by Nick Coster (Humphrey Bogart), an aggressive lion named Caesar escapes, but is cornered in a grocery store by clerk Matt Varney (Eddie Albert). Seeing that Matt has become an instant celebrity with the town's residents, Nick hires the farm boy to work with his current lion tamer, Hoffman the Great (Sig Ruman), who drinks alcohol before his shows. When Hoffman is passed out after being inebriated and is unable to perform, Nick convinces Matt that he is ready to run the show. After a successful performance in the lion cage, Nick replaces Hoffman with Matt as his lion tamer.
At a bar in the city, Matt unsuccessfully tries to apologize to Hoffman for taking over his job. Hoffman follows Matt back to the circus and engages him into a fight next to the lion cages. Hoffman is killed by Caesar after he is pushed up next to the lion's cage. Nick's girlfriend, Flo Lorraine (Sylvia Sidney), a fortune teller at the circus, spirits Matt away to Nick's farm so to prevent him from being accused by the police for Hoffman's death. Unknowing to Flo, Nick's younger sister Mary (Joan Leslie) had just returned from schooling at a convent. Nick has purposely kept carnival people away from her, because he feels they are inferior. Matt and Flo end up falling in love. When Nick returns from a business trip, he learns that Matt is at his farm in the company of his sister. He travels to the farm and orders Matt to leave with him and to never see Mary again. Matt reluctantly agrees to Nick's demand.
During a break between circus shows, Matt becomes increasingly worried that he cannot contact Mary because of his promise to Nick. At the suggestion of a fellow circus member, Flo believes that Matt is in love with her, but she becomes heartbroken when Matt tells her that he is in love with Mary. Flo then persuades Matt to ignore Nick's warning not to see Mary. Once Nick returns from another trip, he learns that Matt is back at the farm. He arrives there, and, during an argument, he slaps Mary for being disrespectful. Matt then slugs him to the ground.
After their fight, Nick plans to have Matt killed in the lion cage. He convinces Matt to perform with Caesar in order to earn a great reputation as a lion tamer. He then gives Matt an unloaded lion tamer's gun. As Matt is in the cage with the mad lion, Flo and Mary arrive at the circus. Matt uses his skills against Caesar, but is seen fighting a losing battle, as the unloaded gun has no effect in scaring the lion. Nick is persuaded by Mary to go into the cage to rescue Matt. He distracts the lion away from Matt, but is subsequently attacked and killed by the mad lion.

Review: In this film, Bogart received top-star billing for the first time.
The film was nothing more than a remake of "Kid Galahad," with the hero (Eddie Albert) as a lion tamer instead of a boxer Bogart walked indifferently through his role as the owner of a traveling carnival whose plot was borrowed from Howard Hawks' "Tiger Shark." Sylvia Sidney appeared in the Bette Davis as Bogart's troubled girlfriend, a fortuneteller with the carnival The film was a very disappointing follow-up to Bogart's triumph in "High Sierra," but better things lay immediately ahead as Bogart was now ready for a new image, an image which was to dominate the screen for the next years, an image which found its basic construction in John Huston's "The Maltese Falcon.".
Wagons Roll at Night, The (1941)** (out of 4) Circus promoter Nick Coaster (Humphrey Bogart) finds himself in trouble when a dangerous lion escapes his act but a grocery clerk (Eddie Albert) ends up saving the day.
Nick, seeing the possibility for money, hires the kid on as a lion trainer but soon jealously gets involved as Nick's girlfriend (Sylvia Sidney) starts to fall for the kid but even worse is when his sister (Joan Leslie) falls for him.
This film really comes off as a watered down version of Kid Galahad, which also featured Bogart in a supporting role.
Robinson and Bette Davis (or the later Elvis remake) then you're going to know all the twists and turns that this film offers.
The one thing this film has going for it is seeing the pre-fame Bogart playing this type of role so fans of the actor might get a kick out of this thing.
He certainly isn't giving a classic performance but he does a good job showing off his tough side and again, it's always fun seeing him in this type of role.
Sidney ends up stealing the film as his troubled girlfriend who wants a better life outside the circus.
Albert is also very good in his role and really comes across well as that bright eyed kid who is about to learn a lesson in life.
There are some nice touches of humor thrown in including a great sequence when the lion escapes and wonders into Albert's grocery store.
It's also worth noting that this is the first film in which Bogart received top-billing so that's one historic reason, which might draw people to watch this..
A Lion escapes from Humphrey Bogart's circus during a performance in a small town.
He manages to trap the lion behind a counter and gets a lot of plaudits and an offer from Bogart to work in his circus.But jealousy rears its ugly head as Bogart's sister Joan Leslie and his girl friend Sylvia Sidney both fall for who Bogart considers a nice kid, but a hick.The Wagons Roll at Night was a transitional film between two acclaimed Bogart productions High Sierra and The Maltese Falcon.
But with the acclaim he got from High Sierra, Jack Warner put him in this before the highly touted Dashiell Hammett adaption, I guess as a trial run.The plot is based on Kid Galahad where oddly enough Bogart had a supporting role.
Sylvia Sidney does well as the love lost carnival fortune teller with eyes for both Bogart and Albert.Personally though I've always liked what Sig Ruman did in this film as the drunken lion tamer whose place Albert took.
Humphrey Bogart runs a circus but doesn't want his kid sister Joan Leslie to have anything to do with circus men.
Enter grocery clerk-turned-lion tamer Eddie Albert, who "aww shucks" his way to Joan's heart while also making an impression on Bogie's woman Sylvia Sidney.
It's essentially a remake of 1937's Kid Galahad, a boxing film with the same plot.
While a little predictable and such, it did offer Bogart and Sylvia Sidney, both of whom I admire a great deal.
Humphrey Bogart, Sylvia Sidney, Joan Leslie, Eddie Albert, and Sig Ruman star in "The Wagons Roll at Night," a 1941 film from Bogart, most likely made before Bogart really hit the big time with High Sierra and Maltese Falcon.
1941 was certainly an important year for him.Bogart plays Nick Coaster, the head of a traveling carnival.
When a lion escapes, he ends up in a grocery store where the clerk, Matt (Albert) saves the day and becomes a local hero.
Coaster thinks the kid's a natural and talks him into learning the lion tamer trade.
He needs him - his usual lion tamer, Hoffman the Great (Ruman) is usually drunk.One night, Hoffman is too drunk to go on and despite objections from other members of the carnival, Coaster sends the novice Matt into the ring.
This is a big no-no because Nick is determined that his sister (Leslie) not mix with carnival people.
Bogart is terrific as Nick, a tough as nails guy who considers all carnival people, including Flo and himself, the scum of the earth.
Sidney shows her vulnerability here, as a woman who's been hurt by Nick but still cares for him, even while she's attracted to Matt.Entertaining and predictable, and I have to make a disclosure here that Eddie Albert holds a special place in my heart.
The remake of ''Kid Galahad'', set in a circus.
In 1941 Humphrey Bogart was near to stardom, he starred also in ''High Sierra'' and his first classic, ''The Maltese Falcon''.
I consider this a bit of a remake of ''Kid Galahad'', but instead of boxing it's set in the circus world.
His co-stars here are Eddie Albert, Sylvia Sidney, Joan Leslie and Sig Ruman.
The direction is by Ray Enright, the same who directed in 1936 ''China Clipper'' with BogartIt begins when Matt Varney (a grocery store's clerk) saves a baby from an escaped lion and suddenly Nick Coaster, the circus manager makes him a star although Matt had never experienced lion-taming, and this because the other lion tamer, Hoffman the Great, is always drunk.
One night Hoffman has a brawl with Varney and ends up mauled by a lion, and Flo (Coaster's girlfriend), tries to help Matt sending him to Nick's farmhouse.
But trouble follows because Matt falls in love with Nick's sister, and Nick don't want her sibling mixed with circus people because they are the scum of the Earth!
It ends with Coaster killed by Caesar, the fiercest of all the circus lions, after he wanted to punish Varney for his bad behavior.Although Humphrey Bogart received top- billing Albert is the real star of the movie, as the grocery clerk- turned-lion tamer who suddenly becomes the circus star.
The leading lady is Sylvia Sidney, as Bogart's girlfriend, torn between repulsion and love, and Joan Leslie in a supporting role, as Bogart's sister who falls in love with Albert's character.
The always great Sig Ruman as Hoffman the Great, in a brief but interesting supporting role!This movie is recommended to: (1) Humphrey Bogart fans (2) fans of movies set in carnivals..
In fact, I always enjoy watching Eddie Albert in films just because, to me, it's like seeing "Oliver Wendell Douglas" perform in movies (you know, his character from GREEN ACRES).
The problem with the film, though, is that it is a VERY CLOSE remake of Kid Galahad--which was only made a few years earlier.
I guess for this one, the only reasons would be to see Eddie Albert or Humphrey Bogart or because the plot is so unusual, with the theme being Lion Taming and not Boxing!
A variation of Kid Galahad but without the Bogart character and the boxing.
Humphrey Bogart plays the owner of a circus and Sylvia Sidney is his girl.
The circus isn't very big and their lion tamer is always drunk.
When a lion escapes and goes into a town, Eddie Albert winds up holding the lion back until Bogart shows up to get it.
The lion that escapes is very vicious and winds up killing a guy and when Albert goes to stay with Bogart's family after he is injured, Bogart gets an idea in his dead.
Yes of course this is a remake of the earlier 1937 boxing film Kid Galahad starring Edward G Robinson and Wayne Morris but The Wagons Roll at Night is even a better film than the earlier version.
Humphrey Bogart was lucky enough to appear in both films but in my humble opinion it is the natural on screen chemistry between love interests 35 year old Eddie Albert and the then young and beautiful 16 year old Joan Leslie which made this drama film a special and memorable one.The storyline is the same in both films which is a young and naive farm boy has a god given skill (the original film as a boxer, and the remake as a lion tamer) and he falls in love with his bosses young and beautiful sister while visiting the family farm and they fall madly in love.
So the boss has a decision to make does he allow his meal ticket to marry his little sister, or does he deliberately set his young star up for a duel to the death in the ring?Although the ending in both films is predictable none the less The Wagons Roll at Night is a TCM film classic that must be seen.
While you are at it, may I suggest you first watch the original 1937 Kid Galahad to see if you agree that this latter version, The Wagons Roll at Night, has a bit more more depth.
Eddie Albert as the young and earnest lion tamer is a more favorable performance than the pugilistic skills of Wayne Morris in the inferior and earlier version Kid Galahad.I give The Wagons Roll at Night a deserving 8 out 10 rating.
Adapting a magazine story about the circus, they first filmed it as a boxing story- "Kid Galahad"- in 1937 with Edward G.
Chester Morris returned in the same role for a loose (and uncredited, I think) comedy remake, "The Kid From Kokomo", exactly two years later in 1939.
In 1941 Bogart returned in a semi-villainous version of Robinson's role for this one, and the original circus setting was restored.
(And Gig Young, who narrated the trailer for this one, returned in 1962 for the Elvis Presley boxing version)."The Wagons Roll At Night" works because of the crisp pacing, lots of fireworks (and lions!) and especially the great cast.
Eddie Albert plays the Chester Morris role- a lion-tamer this time- with his usual aw-shucks simplicity, and it works fine.
Joan Leslie- hands off Bogie's sister!- in a girl-next-door role isn't going to miss- Warner Brothers hadn't yet begun to fully misunderstand and derail her promising career.
You'll always know where this one is going, especially if you've seen any of the many other versions, but you'll never be bored as Bogie builds to a boil.Deduct one star for the casual animal cruelty of 1941, but give it back just for casting Sig Ruman.
I would wager that given the choice, Humphrey Bogart wouldn't have bothered making "The Wagons Roll at Night." I daresay he hadn't any option, since he had only just become a star when the film went out on general release and hadn't signed a new contract when he could have more of a say in his choice of films.
Joan Leslie was worthy of being in better films as well.
Then by accident, a young fellow proves he has what it takes to be a lion tamer (Eddie Albert).
In 1941 Bogart was on the threshold of stardom with a few good roles in his pocket ("Roaring 20s", "They Drive by Night", High Sierra") but his best films were in front of him.
So this film is a unique look at the pre A list Bogart, and you'll never guess that he had such a luminous future ahead of him.The film is set in a circus, which was a popular venue in the 20s through the 50s.
Bogart is a circus owner, so it's one of his rare non-gangster or detective roles.
He's joined by sultry Sylvia Sydney, a young Eddie Albert, and the always funny Sig Ruman.The film has little to recommend it.My favorite films featuring a circus are Freaks, Dumbo, The Magician, and The Greatest Show on Earth..
First, because although I really like Humphrey Bogart, I grew tired of his many gangster roles, and for some reason, in my mind, this was just another gangster film.
The second reason was because although Eddie Albert was a fine actor, the emphasis was on "was"; I never forgave him for "Green Acres", and in that role I lost all respect for him.I recently recorded this film on my DVR and figured I'd watch it for a few minutes, and then probably delete it.
Humphrey Bogart does play a less than stellar character -- the owner and manager of a circus-carnival, but here he is driven to an evil deed by a desire to prevent his younger sister from getting romantically involved with a "carnie".
Second, Eddie Albert really is good here as a local who becomes a lion-tamer and then falls in love with Bogart's sister.
The female leads in the film are Sylvia Sydney (who does very nicely) and, in the lighter role, Joan Leslie as Bogart's sister.
Cliff Clark is very good as one of the workers at the circus.I see this film only gets a rating in the low-6 range, but I think it's better than that.
The original theatrical trailer for "The Wagons Roll at Night" compares it favorably to Humphrey Bogart's prior two releases, "They Drive By Night" and "High Sierra"; in it, Bogie finds himself in a non traditional role as the hard driving owner of "Coaster's Combined Circus and Carnival".
His character is Nick Coaster, a con man in his own right, always looking for the angle that will make his circus a top attraction.
As his alcoholic lion tamer Hoffman the Great (Sig Ruman) becomes increasingly unreliable, the chance escape of Caesar the Lion results in his being subdued by a local grocery clerk, Matt Varney (Eddie Albert).
Sensing the excitement that a home town hero would bring to his operation, Nick whets Varney's appetite for fame under the Big Top as his next major attraction.Eddie Albert brings all the laid back corn pone demeanor to a role that would be a fitting rehearsal for his future "Green Acres" character.
However "Varney of the Lions" hits a brick wall when he meets and falls in love with Nick's sister Mary (Joan Leslie); she's all starry eyed and hungry for romance, fresh from graduation yet stuck on Nick's country farm.
This Nick Coaster is not a nice guy, and his plan to take Matt out of the picture sinks him to a new level.Rounding out the main cast is Sylvia Sidney as Nick's erstwhile girl friend and circus psychic, Madame Florina.
Leslie looks like she could have been a natural for that role as well.If nothing else, the film is memorable as one of the few in which Bogie's character cashes in his chips at the end.
Coming to his senses at the provocation of Flo and Mary, Nick enters the circus cage that would have been Matt's death trap while facing down the killer Caesar.
**SPOILERS** Having his sweet and innocent kid sister Mary, Joan Leslie, kept out of his business by having her put away in a convent for the first 18 years of her life carnival manager Nick Coaster, Humphrey Bogart, got the surprise of his life when sweet little Mary fell in love with one of his workers; Nick's young & handsome star lion tamer Matt Varney, Eddie Albert.Matt a former grocery stock boy got the chance to strut his stuff when killer lion Caesar broke out of his cage-at Nick's Carnival-and almost ripped up the entire town.
With his star lion tamer "The Great Hoffman" Gig Ruman always drunk on and off the job Nick's hired Matt as Hoffman's understudy until the old guy got so drunk that his booze breath actually attracted the wild cats more to attack and feast on him then his whip chair and pistol were able to keep them in their places!It's when Matt achieved top billing at the carnival , or circus, that he accidentally got involved with Mary who was home visiting from collage.
Nick in wanting to keep Mary away from the riff-raft, I guess like himself, that worked at his carnival then blew a fuse when he found that she was deeply in love with Matt and about to marry him.
Trying to beak up the romance between Matt & Mary Nick came up with this sinister and diabolical plan to put Matt in a cage with killer lion Caesar and have the big cat do him in.Caesar had already killed the other lion tamer-Bundy-at the carnival and with his taste for human blood now fully confirmed Nick knew that Matt , no matter how good he is, wouldn't stand a chance against the wild and blood thirsty, for human blood, Caesar.
That's until Mary and and carnival fortune teller Flo Lorraine, Slivia Sidney, got wind of Nicks plan for Matt and then tried to stop the slaughter before it started!***SPOILERS*** Even though he played a heavy Humphrey Bogart, or Nick Coaster, was anything but unlikable in the movie.
(Bogart had actually appeared in the previous version, Kid Galahad, playing a character who is not represented in this remake).
True, the story has undergone a considerable metamorphosis with a change in setting from a boxing ring to a circus, and its principal character from a boxer to a lion tamer, but it's still a disappointingly familiar plot – and in this new setting, it strains credibility even more!
Eddie Albert is a natural and performs his own stunts with the lions.
a lion is nothing but a big chipmunk," Eddie Albert's amateur lion tamer "Matt" tells his boss, Humphrey Bogart's "Nick," early in THE WAGONS ROLL AT NIGHT.