Summary
In the chaotic world of 1920s silent comedy, The Live Wire follows the erratic trajectory of The Great Maranelli, a circus performer whose identity is tied to the greasepaint and the sawdust of the ring. When Maranelli encounters Dorothy Langdon, the daughter of a utility tycoon, his professional life collapses under the weight of unrequited infatuation. He descends from a celebrated stunter to a transient hobo, drifting through the American landscape until a chance re-encounter with Dorothy offers a path to redemption. Rebranded as a high-octane salesman for her father’s power company, Maranelli must navigate the treacherous waters of corporate sabotage and a rigged amusement park project orchestrated by Dorothy’s duplicitous fiancé. It is a story of class transition, where the physical agility of the circus is repurposed for the cutthroat survival of early 20th-century capitalism.
Synopsis
The Great Maranelli, a stunting circus clown, falls instantly in love when he sees Dorothy Langdon, who does not think too much of him and lets him know it. He is so smitten that his works suffers to the extent that he is soon just a hobo drifting along the open road. When he again encounters Dorothy, she gets him a job as a salesman with her father's light-and-power company, and proves to be a a real "live-wire" salesman. He is then put in charge of the lighting in an amusement park being built under Dorothy's supervision, and trouble comes many directions, guided by Dorothy's cad fiancée who wants to make the stock in the project worthless so he can buy it cheaply.
