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Lizards in Movies   The Show (1927)   Spoiler Alert ! Some of these pictures and descriptions may give away plot details that you might not want to know before watching the film.   I watched this fun silent movie because it was directed by Todd Browning who directed the cult classic "Freaks" in 1932 and "Dracula" with Bela Lugosi in 1931 and other great bizarre movies in the 20s and 30s. This one stars John Gilbert as Cock Robin, the "Ballyhoo Man" at a carnival in Hungary. He's so attractive that all woman want him and he is happy to take advantage of all of them, but it gets him in trouble with their boyfriends and with the law. (It's worth pointing out here that John Gilbert was a huge star and sex symbol who was once engaged to Greta Garbo.) We see Cock Robin as the barker for several sideshow acts - Zela, the half lady, Arachinda, the human spider, and Neptuna, the queen of mermaids, all of whom lust after him. We also see Zalina, the carnival's Wild Woman, who wears a leopard skin dress and has wild blonde hair. She pulls out a Green Iguana as part of a snake-oil pitch, holding it in her arms as the salesman declares that it is the deadliest of all poisonous reptiles and "from the oils of these reptiles is made this life-giving youth-restoring liniment." But the iguana jumps into the crowd and bites a man, killing him. (I guess we're suppose to believe that iguanas are venomous.) This scene is included to set us up for the finale when the boyfriend of Solome, jealous that she is having an affair with Cock Robin, steals the iguana and puts it in her attic, knowing that Cock Robin has been hiding from the police there. But things rarely go according to plan when reptiles are used as weapons. The iguana gets loose and both men narrowly escape being bitten by its deadly fangs. Finally a policeman shoots the deadly green monster but not before it bites the bad guy on the neck so he can keel over and die, leaving us with a happy ending. A real Green Iguana is used but it is replaced with a large rubber lizard when we see it jump into the crowd and fly through the air at people, but the effect is done quickly and is not too noticable.