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The Last Circus?: Circus Song
Title:
The Last Circus?: Circus Song
NFSA ID
526813
Year
1993
Courtesy
Phoenix Films International
Warnings
WARNING: This clip may contain animal suffering
A song, 'The Last Circus’, plays under a montage of circus scenes, including clowns, acrobats, animals performing and kids reacting. Summary by Damien Parer
A rousing plea for the survival of the circus, with lyrics suggesting that, without a role for animals in the circus, some species of animals would not survive. These days, with most popular and successful circuses consisting of just human performers, the arguments appear dated.
Title Synopsis
A plea for the survival of the circus as a form of entertainment. The film shows children and adults as they enjoy the circus. Audience members are interviewed. Trainers demonstrate their methods of training, arguing that they are humane. The film puts an argument to counter animal liberationists’s claims that circus animals are cruelly treated.
Title Curator's Notes
The film was produced in 1993 in Wollongong, New South Wales, at a regional television station. While its pro-circus animal arguments are now dated, it contains what will become increasingly rare footage of a bygone era.
Notes by Damien Parer
Production company
Phoenix Films International
Director
Alan Hayes
Composers
Michael Gray, Jeffrey St John
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acknowledges Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and gives respect to their Elders both past and present.