The Circus

USSR. Original title: Tsirk. This classic Soviet propaganda movie has an American vaudeville performer who finds herself in Moscow, the victim of German inspired racism, after it's revealed she's the mother of a mixed-race child. In the midst of the public scandal, she finds happiness, love, and refuge in the USSR. If you are going to make a movie endorsing the actions of one of history's greatest villains, in this case Stalin, at least make it fun to watch! This features several entertaining acts, such as the impromptu lion tamer, the dance on the cannon, and the communal ending. It is heartwarming to see an entire country represented as they sing a child to sleep, until you realize that the Yiddish representatives were executed after the production. The bit sung in Yiddish by Solomon Mikhoels was cut from the film for distribution in the USSR, during a time when a state-backed anti-Semitism campaign was unleashed. However it is worth pointing out the movie's fearless attitude towards racism. Hollywood would hint at the problem at the time, but rarely delved into it as much as "Tsirk" has.

At 1:16:00, during the climax of this movie, we see dozens of 3 torch jugglers, many of whom are women, for a full 30 seconds.

The entire movie may be seen here.