Grayson's Amerikanische Wunderschau ("American Show Of Wonders"), a traveling American carnival, arrives in Munich with acts that include high-diver Frank Collini (Lyle Bettger) and silent strongman, Groppo the Wildman (Ady Berber, as Adi Berber). On the midway, local woman Willi (Anne Baxter) picks the pocket of carny Joe Hammond (Steve Cochran). He catches her, takes an interest, and finds her a job in the cookhouse.
Willi and Joe become romantically involved. Frank offers to teach her the high dive, and after obtaining Joe's blessing, she accepts. On her first night as part of the act, Frank proposes. Willi doesn't love Frank, and tells Joe, whom she does love. Joe encourages her to marry Frank for his money, assuring her that the marriage won't come between them. She is furious at his attitude. Willi and Frank are soon married.
Photographer Bill Vines (George Nader) is putting together a magazine spread on the Great Collinis as the couple's fame grows. Frank beats Joe after catching him with Willi, and Joe is banished from the carnival. Shortly after, Frank plunges to his death when a ladder rung breaks.
Bill's pictures are published and he befriends Willi. Joe reappears and spends the night with Willi. In the morning he is gone, along with Willi's money. She is badly injured performing a dive and requires a lengthy stay in hospital. As she had become the major attraction, business dries up at the carnival, and it moves to Frankfurt.
Bill is a constant presence during Willi's convalescence and he wants to marry her, but she is reluctant. Against his wishes, she returns to the carnival. Joe is back too, but she is no longer interested. He reveals that he was responsible for Frank's supposed accident, and threatens to implicate her. Enraged by her rejection, Joe begins to strangle her. Groppo intervenes and kills Joe. Groppo is arrested. Bill comforts Willi.
A 1954 American drama film directed by Kurt Neumann, produced by Frank and Maurice King, screenplay by Hans Jacoby and Kurt Neumann, based on a story by Marcy Klauber and Charles Williams, cinematography by Ernest Haller, starring Anne Baxter, Steve Cochran, Lyle Bettger, George Nader, Helene Stanley, Jay C. Flippen, and Ady Berber. Released by RKO Radio Pictures.
Both Dalton Trumbo and Michael Wilson rendered writing services on the screenplay, uncredited.
The film was shot in Agfacolor with prints by Technicolor. It was made as a co-production between West Germany and the United States. Filmed at the Bavaria Studios in Munich and on location in the city. The sets were designed by the art directors Hans Kuhnert and Theo Zwierski. Neumann simultaneously directed a German language version, "Circus of Love" (1954) with Bernhard Wicki, Eva Bartok, and Curd Jürgens. The cast of the German version can be seen in uncredited cameo appearances in the English language version, and vice versa.
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