The inspiration for the story can be found in the February 12, 1951 issue of Life magazine titled "Fearless Fagan Finds a Home". Fagan played himself in this movie, "And introducting Fearless Fagan (Himself)" appears in the opening credits and his owner PFC Floyd C. Humeston acted as an adviser. The true part of the story is that Humeston worked as a clown with his lion. When he was drafted, he could not find a suitable home for Fagan so he took Fagan with him to Ford Ord, CA. After the film was completed, Fagan remained as a resident of M-G-M's animal compound until Humeston's enlistment was up in Oct 1952. I would recommend this movie even though much of the comedy is contrived.

I originally gave this film a 7, but because of the lion, I upped it to 8. "Fearless Fagan" is a fun movie for all ages. Carleton Carpenter is one of our most talented performers, writers, musicians still living. He made movie history with Debbie Reynolds when they were both kids, singing "Aba Daba Honeymoon" or, as I called it as a kid, "that monkey song." "Fearless Fagan" is about a young man, just 21, who is chased down by the draft board and...um.. coerced into inducting into the Army. He has a big problem, though, the titular "Fearless Fagan," his pet lion. Hilston (Carpenter) has had Fagan since he was a four-day-old cub, and they've never been separated.The basis of the film is slight - trying to keep the lion on base without being found out - and how a Hollywood singer (Janet Leigh) gets involved is contrived, but it's a sweet, fun movie.There's a tense scene at the end, that even I, the cynic, believed. But don't fear, this ends happily.The movie is suitable for family viewing and, while not an "important" film, is important for the fun involved. Enjoy yourselves.A last note: there is no information on IMDb for Fagan, the lion. The screen credits mentioned nothing either, which I think is awful. The lion was amazing, and I was prepared to adopt him myself.

This film was shown in the wee hours of the morning and since I had taped this film by mistake, I decided I may as well find out what it was all about. Janet Leigh, (Abby Ames), "Scaramouche", plays the role of a very famous singer who was visiting Army bases during WW II and stops her car as she approaches the Army Base. Abby hears circus music playing from a wooded area of the camp and decides to see just what is going on and runs into Fearless a nice big Lion who has a dear friend called Carleton Carpenter, (Pvt.Floyd Hilston) "Up Periscope". The entire film deals with a great performance between Fearless who plays with and even sleeps with Carleton. Great Animal film along with a very pretty Janet Leigh who was just starting out in her career. This is a worthwhile film to view and I was glad to have taped the wrong picture.Enjoy

Stanley Donen directed this movie immediately after directing Singin' in the Rain. He was to have directed Jumbo, but that film wasn't ready to go yet. It's true that neither Stanley Donen, Janet Leigh or Carlton Carpenter wanted to do the film, but it did OK at the box office.This is a fun movie, although slight, and the lion, Fagan, is amazing. (Fagan plays himself.) In one of the opening scenes, Carpeter's character performs with the lion, and the lion reminded me of a great big kitty cat playing hide n' go seek!To read more about this movie, go to tcm.com.