This amateur film, by a Wakefield-based businessman, chronicles the Chipperfield's Circus that has come to town. The filmmaker often filmed scenes from life around where he and his family lived and often managed to capture the spirit of such events like this on film. The film opens with a shot of the front of the circus which has a huge frontage with `Chipperfield Circus'. There are models of a lion's head and a leaping horse attached to the fronting. Beside the tent is a...

This amateur film, by a Wakefield-based businessman, chronicles the Chipperfield's Circus that has come to town. The filmmaker often filmed scenes from life around where he and his family lived and often managed to capture the spirit of such events like this on film. The film opens with a shot of the front of the circus which has a huge frontage with `Chipperfield Circus'. There are models of a lion's head and a leaping horse attached to the fronting. Beside the tent is a Chipperfield's Van and then the scene cuts to inside. The ring master talks to the crowd and a young woman comes out into the ring. A horse gallops around in a circle and she jumps onto it from the ground. A troupe of male and female acrobats performs an array of flips and jumps. Then a woman with a whip brings out four horses and gets them to perform dances and skilful moves. Following this is a sequence of shots of dogs walking on their back legs, rolling a drum with another dog in it and skipping together. Two clowns come out in a battered car and joke about. There is more entertainment with horses as they dance around in formation, stand on each other's back and jump over fences. Following this are more tricks with elephants, zebras, llamas, and cows. There are shots of another group of acrobats performing balancing tricks, throwing each other up high and landing on their shoulders. In the next section, a variety of animal handlers bring out polar bears, brown bear, lions and tigers and get them to obey their commands. The final shots are of tight rope walkers jumping and dancing across the high rope.