These modern women are killing the horror game.

21st Century Scream Queens

These actors totally transform for their roles. See them in some of their most memorable moments.

The Greatest Character Actors of All Time

Sinister sequels, eerie indies, and blockbuster boo-fests — here are the most exciting horror movies to add to your Watchlist.

New and Upcoming Horror

Mary Gillespie is restoring the Col. Gillespie Circus to its former splendor after her father's death. With the help of her publicist boyfriend Jim, the sell-out crowds are returning to the big top. Egotistical equestrian star Senor Martinet, however, holds $60,000 of notes signed by the Colonel and due in 24 hours. When a mysterious shadowy figure is seen on the circus lot, and Martinet is murdered in the center ring during his performance, there are suspects aplenty, including Vindecco, Martinet's badly abused hunchback assistant. When Vindecco is murdered after confiding clues to Mary, Jim turns her over to the local sheriff, and continues the investigation to unmask the shaodw on his own.

Rita Hayworth and Charles Quigley in The Shadow (1937)

It's no circus when Rita Hayworth takes over the big top; It's a dream come true!

Rita Hayworth with dark hair is the star of this B movie, &quot;The Shadow&quot; in 1937. Rita was going up the star ladder the usual way, starting in B movies and working her way up. She plays Mary Gillespie, whose father, the owner of the Gillespie Circus, has recently deceased. Mary has been working hard to bring the circus back to its former glory. With the help of her boyfriend Jim, they are doing very well with sellout crowds. Trouble comes in the guise of their star equestrian, Senor Martinet, whom Mary learns is holding $60,000 in notes from her father and plans on taking over the circus if it isn&#39;t paid the next day. While doing a routine with his horse, Martinet falls and dies, the result of poison placed on part of his riding apparatus. Everyone wanted the man dead, so this is going to be a tough one. There&#39;s Mary&#39;s aunt (Marjorie Main) who was in the ring at the time as the ringmaster and hated the man&#39;s guts. There his hunchbacked assistant, Vindecco (Dwight Frye, Renfield in the original Dracula) whom Martinet verbally and physically abuses. And, of course, Mary herself and any member of the circus. Entertaining B with a few secrets unfolding. Rita is lovely, but then, she always was.

tt0029543

The Shadow

...And wearing a tuxedo, and looking rather smashing, as the ringmaster, is none other than the future Ma Kettle herself, Marjorie Main! She would appear in several movies involving circuses or carnivals, just a few years later a Monogram melodrama called &quot;Under the Big Top&quot; where her character was as cold as they come. Main plays Hayworth&#39;s aunt, her sole surviving relative after the death of Hayworth&#39;s father, the former circus owner, who has left the circus to his daughter plus a ton of bills which have been picked up to pay by circus employee Vernon Dent (given the name of gangster Dutch Schultz to show how rotten he is) who gives Hayworth 24 hours to make good. After he orders all of the side show attractions out of the big tent (making many potential sinister enemies), it isn&#39;t too surprising when he is all of a sudden murdered, and with the help of Hayworth&#39;s boyfriend (Charles Quigley), the real killer is unmasked. Dwight Frye (&quot;Dracula&quot;) gives a sensitive performance as a hunchback once wounded in the circus and left crippled who reveals some facts about the late Dent. This isn&#39;t a standard murder mystery because of several light elements of Gothic horror added, and of course the similarities to the 1932 cult movie &quot;Freaks&quot; will be obvious, including the presence of a pair of Siamese twins. It&#39;s a curiosity for fans of Rita Hayworth&#39;s to see her this early in her career, playing a complete innocent. Main&#39;s character is deliciously &quot;butch&quot; and totally devoted to her niece, stealing every scene she is in. Overall a decent but quickly forgettable B picture that did Hayworth no harm but didn&#39;t ascend her to stardom either.

User reviews

The Shadow

Rita Hayworth just starting out

It's no circus when Rita Hayworth takes over the big top; It's a dream come true!

More from this title

More to explore

Recently viewed