ANTON DIFFRING is a plastic surgeon under cover at a circus because he has left one of his patients disfigured. The first part of the story deals with how he acquires the circus through a strange set of circumstances involving a young girl and her father (DONALD PLEASANCE).
When the circus becomes a success, after he has successfully cured a number of pretty women by removing their scars and puts them to work performing in his "Circus of Beauty," he treats them with cool indifference if they reject his advances and when he tires of them he gets his female assistant and her brother to dispense with them in various ways before the circus audience.
That's the gist of the plot which uses the circus atmosphere to great effect and makes brilliant use of its handsome Technicolor production values.
Anton Diffring is the man you love to hate. There's a Vincent Price quality about his over-the-top acting, but his magnetic screen personality carries the film into the realm of believability no matter how foolish the plot becomes.
Although there are many beautiful women in the cast, it's Diffring you will remember in the central role as the surgeon with blood on his hands. His screen career consisted of mostly European films with occasional smaller parts in American films. Too bad he didn't find more leads to play in Hollywood.
Intriguing story holds up pretty well although there are obvious weaknesses in the script.
When the circus becomes a success, after he has successfully cured a number of pretty women by removing their scars and puts them to work performing in his "Circus of Beauty," he treats them with cool indifference if they reject his advances and when he tires of them he gets his female assistant and her brother to dispense with them in various ways before the circus audience.
That's the gist of the plot which uses the circus atmosphere to great effect and makes brilliant use of its handsome Technicolor production values.
Anton Diffring is the man you love to hate. There's a Vincent Price quality about his over-the-top acting, but his magnetic screen personality carries the film into the realm of believability no matter how foolish the plot becomes.
Although there are many beautiful women in the cast, it's Diffring you will remember in the central role as the surgeon with blood on his hands. His screen career consisted of mostly European films with occasional smaller parts in American films. Too bad he didn't find more leads to play in Hollywood.
Intriguing story holds up pretty well although there are obvious weaknesses in the script.