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. . . one of them breaks out . . .

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. . . and make good its escape into the small town where the carnival is playing.

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Seeking refuge in a hardware store . . .

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. . . the lion is confronted by the store’s young clerk Matt Varney (Eddie Albert). Using a handy pitch fork . . .

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. . . Matt is able to hold the lion at bay . . .

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. . . until Nick and his crew arrive to recapture it.

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Recognizing the tremendous publicity angle of the lion’s recapture by a “local hero,” Nick invites Matt to appear in the show . . .

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. . . accompanied by appropriate ballyhoo.

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That night, Matt appears with Hoffman in the big cage before a capacity audience.

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Later, Nick offers Matt a job as Hoffman’s assistant.

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In a montage sequence used to convey the passage of time, Matt is seen during his apprenticeship cleaning cages . . .

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. . . and feeding the lions.

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There are also shots of the carnival’s trucks rolling through the night as the show moves from town to town. [Scenes showing the trucks in motion were filmed using what cinematographers refer to as a Dutch tilt, where the camera is set at an angle so that the horizon line of the shot is not parallel with the bottom of the camera frame. This technique is often used to portray psychological uneasiness or tension.]

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Matt’s big chance comes during a performance when Hoffman is too drunk to go on.

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Taking Hoffman’s place inside the steel arena . . .

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. . . the rookie trainer successfully presents the act, much to everyone’s amazement. [According to his autobiography My Life with the Big Cats, Alfred Court’s first performance in the big cage occurred under very similar circumstances.]

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Satisfied that Matt can work the act, Nick fires Hoffman.

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That night, the vindictive Hoffman confronts Matt inside the tent where the lion cages are kept.