Best movies like You Can't Cheat an Honest Man

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A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like You Can't Cheat an Honest Man Starring W.C. Fields, Edgar Bergen, Constance Moore, John Arledge, and more. If you liked You Can't Cheat an Honest Man then you may also like: The Unholy Three, Water for Elephants, O'Shaughnessy's Boy, One Hour in Wonderland, Road Show and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.

Fields plays "Larsen E. Whipsnade", the owner of a shady carnival that is constantly on the run from the law. Whipsnade is struggling to keep a step ahead of foreclosure, and clearly not paying his performers, including Bergen and McCarthy, who try to coax money out of him, or in McCarthy's case, steal some outright.

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The Unholy Three

Three sideshow performers form a conspiracy known as "The Unholy Three" - a ventriloquist, midget, and strongman working together to commit a series of robberies.

Water for Elephants

In this captivating Depression-era melodrama, impetuous veterinary student Jacob Jankowski joins a celebrated circus as an animal caretaker but faces a wrenching dilemma when he's transfixed by angelic married performer Marlena.

O'Shaughnessy's Boy

A circus wild animal trainer searches for the son who was taken away from him by a meddling relative years earlier.

One Hour in Wonderland

Airing on Christmas Day, 1950, this holiday special was the first Disney TV production. It features Edgar Bergen with Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd at Walt Disney's Christmas party. The show includes clips of movies and animated shorts and the first appearance of the Fire House Five Plus Two jazz band.

Road Show

Rich playboy Drogo Gaines is in imminent danger of marrying a gold digger, and escapes by feigning insanity. The joke's on him when he wakes up in an asylum full of comical lunatics. There he befriends Colonel Carraway, and together they escape, catching a ride with a beautiful blonde who proves to be Penguin Moore, carnival owner.

Jungle Woman

Paula, the ape woman, has survived the ending of CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN and is running around a creepy old sanitarium run by the kindly Dr. Fletcher, reverting to her true gorilla form every once in a while to kill somebody.

At the Circus

Jeff Wilson, the owner of a small circus, owes his partner Carter $10,000. Before Jeff can pay, Carter lets his accomplices steal the money, so he can take over the circus. Antonio Pirelli and Punchy, who work at the circus, together with lawyer Loophole try to find the thief and get the money back.

Big Top Pee-wee

Paul Reubens stars as Pee-wee Herman in his second full-length film about a farmer who joins the circus after a storm drops a big tent in his front yard. Pee-wee, along with an outlandish cast of animals and circus performers, puts on the best show ever.

The Circus

Charlie, a wandering tramp, becomes a circus handyman - soon the star of the show - and falls in love with the circus owner's stepdaughter.

Fun and Fancy Free

Jiminy Cricket hosts two Disney animated shorts: Bongo about a circus bear escaping to the wild, and Mickey and the Beanstalk, a take on the famous fairy tale.

Humanoids from the Deep

After a new cannery introduces scientifically augmented salmon to a seaside town in the Pacific Northwest, a species of mysterious, mutated sea creatures begin killing the men and raping the women.

Zenobia

A modest country doctor in the antebellum South has to contend with his daughter's upcoming marriage and an affectionate medicine show elephant.

He Who Gets Slapped

Story of an inventor who, suffering betrayal in life, makes a career of it by becoming a clown whose act consists of getting slapped by all the other clowns. He falls in love with another circus performer, and those who betrayed him enter his life yet again.

Billy Rose's Jumbo

The daughter of a circus owner fights to save her father from a takeover spearheaded by the man she loves.

Trapeze

A pair of men try to perform the dangerous "triple" in their trapeze act. Problems arise when the duo is made into a trio following the addition of a sexy female performer.

The Goldwyn Follies

Movie producer chooses a simple girl to be "Miss Humanity" and to critically evalute his movies from the point of view of the ordinary person.

The Muppet Movie

A Hollywood agent persuades Kermit the Frog to pursue a career in Hollywood. On his way there he meets his future muppet crew while being chased by the desperate owner of a frog-leg restaurant!

I'm No Angel

The bold Tira works as dancing beauty and lion tamer at a fair. Out of an urgent need of money, she agrees to a risky new number: she'll put her head into the lion's mouth! With this attraction, the circus makes it to New York and Tira can pursue her dearest occupation— flirting with rich men and accepting expensive presents.

Machine Gun Mama

Two Americans stranded in Mexico with an elephant try to sell their animal to a traveling carnival. Low-budget comedy with songs and a misleading title.

Man on a Tightrope

Elia Kazan's 1953 film stars Fredric March as the owner of an impoverished circus in Communist-ruled Czechoslovokia who plots to flee across the border to freedom, taking his entire troupe of performers and wild animals with him. The cast also includes Gloria Grahame, Terry Moore, Cameron Mitchell, Richard Boone and Adolphe Menjou.

Merry Andrew

When eccentric English teacher Andrew Larabee needs a raise in order for his fiancée to marry him, his interest in archaeology leads him to an ancient statue's burial site. But when he finds a traveling circus directly above the statue's location, he accidentally becomes part of the act. With a newfound passion for performance and an attraction to the beautiful acrobat Selena, Andrew must decide what is truly important to him.

Poppy

Carny con artist and snake-oil salesman Eustace McGargle tries to stay one step ahead of the sheriff but is completely devoted to his beloved daughter Poppy.

The Secret

An American loses all his money and finds himself stranded in England. He finds hope when he meets a female smuggler who has brought jewels into the country inside a teddy bear, but unfortunately, things quickly get out of hand.

Three Ages

The rituals of courtship, romantic rivalry, and love play out three times as a man vies with a villain for the girl. In the Stone Age, the rivalry is set off by dinosaurs, a turtle used as a ouija board, and a round of golf with stones. In ancient Rome, the men display their brawn through a chariot race, using dogs instead of horses. In contemporary times, the man finds himself overcome by modernity, including a very fragile car.

Tweety's Circus

Sylvester Cat pays a visit to a closed-to-business circus and finds Tweety Bird in one of the cages. Tweety escapes and a mad chase ensues. Meanwhile, Sylvester must flee from an uncaged lion he angered earlier.

The Big Cage

A circus on the verge of bankruptcy decides to save itself by staging a animal act with lions and tigers for the first time.

Circus Shadows

A phoney "psychic" ring tricks a pretty young circus performer into working for them.

Stage Door Canteen

A young soldier on a pass in New York City visits the famed Stage Door Canteen, where famous stars of the theater and films appear and host a recreational center for servicemen during the war. The soldier meets a pretty young hostess and they enjoy the many entertainers and a growing romance

Stop! Look! and Laugh!

Moe, Larry and Curly appear in short subjects linked by ventriloquist Paul Winchell and his dummies.

Sophie & Sheba

Growing up at a zoo, young ballet dancer Sophie always loved animals - but none as much as her pet elephant Sheba. When her parents are forced to sell Sheba to a travelling circus, Sophie has no choice but to runaway and join him on the road to get him back.

The Show

Cock Robin is the swaggering ballyhoo man of a Hungarian sideshow known as the Palace of Illusions. The highlight of the show is a reenactment of Salome's dance of the seven veils, replete with the beheading of Jokanaan. The performer portraying Salome is in love with Cock Robin. Jealous, sinister The Greek is determined to eliminate that competition.

Rain or Shine

Young Mary Rainey takes the reins of her deceased father's failing circus. With the help of the Inimitable Smiley Johnson, she hopes to bring fortune back to her ragtag band of ragged shoeleather performers.

Spell of the Circus

The manager of The Big Circus plots to marry the owner's daughter and gain control of the outfit.

Going Bananas

An evil circus owner chases a chimp and his friends through Africa. Not necessarily 'Dyn-O-Mite!', but this silly monkey business is decent family fun.

Saddle Mountain Roundup

Someone wants to kill Magpie Harper. Crash and Dusty arrive too late, Magpie Harper is allready dead.

The Shadow

Mary Gillespie is restoring the Col. Gillespie Circus to its former splendor after her father's death. With the help of her publicist boyfriend Jim, the sell-out crowds are returning to the big top. Egotistical equestrian star Senor Martinet, however, holds $60,000 of notes signed by the Colonel and due in 24 hours. When a mysterious shadowy figure is seen on the circus lot, and Martinet is murdered in the center ring during his performance, there are suspects aplenty, including Vindecco, Martinet's badly abused hunchback assistant.

Side Show

A teenage boy who runs off to join the circus as a side show puppeteer stumbles onto the dark secrets of the fellow performers.

Ava's Magical Adventure

Eddie is a 10-year-old girl who runs away from home with her best friend Ava, a 2-ton circus elephant. They are pursued by everyone from the police to the circus' owner

The Wagons Roll at Night

An escaped circus lion provides the impetus for the meeting of carnival owner Nick Coster and Matt Varney, a small-town man who suddenly becomes a lion tamer when he manages to subdue the big cat. While acclimating to carnival life, Matt begins a romance with Nick's sister, Mary, causing tension between Matt and Nick. The latter must also juggle his stormy relationship with glamorous circus star Flo Lorraine.

Bengal Tiger

After causing his friend's death, an animal trainer marries the man's daughter to atone.

Fixer Dugan

Charlie Dugan is a quick-thinking boss of a traveling circus playing small towns in Missouri and Kansas.

The Boy Who Stole the Elephant

A frontier huckster, Colonel Ryder, and a young orphan, Davey, operate a travelling tent show. They are loaned an elephant by an old friend, Molly, who is also a rival circus owner. Davey trains the elephant and the two soon become inseparable. When the Colonel loses the elephant in gambling, Davey steals the elephant and begins a 20-mile search for Molly, the rightful owner.

The Lost Jungle

Clyde Beatty, an animal trainer and circus star, leads a search for his missing girlfriend and her father who were on an expedition looking for a lost tropical island. Using a dirigible as his mode of transportation, Beatty and his band head off in search of the missing explorers only to crash their airship on the same island their friends are located. Battling wild animals and a gang of greedy men searching for gold, Beatty and his party must rescue his girlfriend and father all the while trying to escape their jungle island. Feature version of the same-title serial of the same year, with refilmed sequences substantially altering the plot and characters of the original chapterplay.

Charlie McCarthy, Detective

Scotty Hamilton is a reporter who works for a crooked editor. Bill Banning is another reporter who is about to expose the editor's ties to the mob. When the editor is killed, both reporter Banning and mobster Tony Garcia are suspected.

Letter of Introduction

An aging actor, trying to make a comeback on Broadway, is surprised when his estranged daughter shows up. It seems that she is an actress and is also trying to make it on Broadway. He tries to re-establish his relationship with her while also trying to hide the fact that she is his daughter from the press.

Sideshow: Alive on the Inside

These real, amazing and very human stories reawakened interest in the bizarre and eccentric world of the circus and carnival sideshow, turning the spotlight on the legendary headliners of yesteryear and their modern-day counterparts who have chosen to be sideshow performers and found real happiness in their strange careers. This revealing look takes viewers backstage for an unforgettable glimpse at the world's most fascinating personalities. Narrated by Jason Alexander ("Seinfeld"). An entertaining cult hit co-produced with TLC, one of cable network's all-time, top-rated programs. Features Percilla the Monkey Girl, Jeanie Tomaini (the World's Only Living Half Woman), Melvin Burkhardt (the Human Blockhead), Siamese Twins Ronnie and Donnie Gaylon, the Wolf Boys of Mexico, Sandy Allen (the World's Tallest Woman) and others.

Chad Hanna

Country boy joins a circus in the 1840s and falls in love with the bare-back rider. Later he falls in love with another circus runaway.

The Main Attraction

An affable drifter on the lam for a murder he didn't commit hides out in a circus.

Young Desire

A carnival sideshow dancer falls in love with a handsome young man.

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