AllMovie

The delightful Winnie Lightner was afforded her own movie vehicle in Side Show. Lightner stars as Pat, one of several members of a traveling carnival troupe managed by the eternally besotted Colonel Gowdy (Guy Kibbee). A Jill-of-all-trades, Pat does everything from high-diving to hula dancing, with time left over for a romance with meek-and-mild Sidney (Charles Butterworth), a man incapable of uttering an intelligent remark. There are moments of melodrama and pathos -- especially when Pat tries to save her younger sister, Irene (Evelyn Knapp), from a lecherous carny barker -- but comedy predominates throughout, culminating in a slapstick big-top finale. Unseen for many years, Side Show was resuscitated in the early '90s by the Turner Classic Movies cable service.