Trapeze (1956)

Sorry, this movie sucks

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

TrapezeThe best thing about being a trapeze artist is you're safe when the circus elephants stampede below.But, as this drama demonstrates, there are plenty more dangers under the big top.Aspirant high wire aerialist Tino Orsini (Tony Curtis) heads off in search of an injured trapeze legend Mike Ribble (Burt Lancaster) so that Mike can teach him the deadly triple-somersault routine that nearly ruined him.But Tino is not the only performer interested in Mike's attention as an attractive tumbler (Gina Lollobrigida) joins the ranks and drives a jealous wedge between Tino and his mentor.Needles to say, this love triangle begins to affect their precarious performance.Despite its capable male leads, exciting backdrop and array of aerial feats, this sluggish melodrama never gets off the ground thanks to its lacklustre script and amoral leading lady.Furthermore, I always thought injured circus performers were fed to the clowns.Yellow Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.ca

Mike Ribble (Burt Lancaster) is a great trapeze artist who becomes injured one day during an act and ends up just being a rigger. Years later young naive Tino Orsini (Tony Curtis) seeks him out to learn how to become a great trapeze artist. They get along fantastic but sexy Lola (Gina Lollobrigida) joins the act and plays them against one another.The story and dialogue are pretty terrible but everything else is great. The trapeze acts themselves are VERY impressive and the wonderful direction by Carol Reed makes you feel like you're right there watching the acts. It's even more impressive when you realize Lancaster did most of his own stunts (he worked in a circus before he started acting). Curtis and Lollobrigida must have used doubles but it's so well edited and directed you can't tell. Wait till you see Lancaster and Curtis (or more precisely their doubles) walking down the street on their hands! The basic love story here is boring and has been done countless times before this movie (and since) but there IS a subtle but strong homosexual subtext going on here. The sexual chemistry between Curtis and Lancaster comes through. Lancaster gets REALLY upset when Lollobrigida wants to join the act and mentions more than once than he can only work with Tino. But this isn't explored (they couldn't in 1956) and it just settles down to a conventional lovers triangle. It ends with an ending that I didn't buy for one second and I think Lollobrigida's character got off WAY too easy...but you have to take into account when this was made. Also Lancaster gives out one of his best performances. Incredibly handsome and sexy but you see his pain and bitterness. Curtis is good too but not as good as Lancaster. Lollobrigida is as good as she can be with the evil sexy woman role. So the terrible story and dialogue hurt but the acting, directing, fast pace and incredible aerial acts more than compensate. I give this an 8.

Carol Reed was one of Britain's most interesting directors, and perhaps most intriguing about his work is his unique brand of stylised realism, the two conflicting moods astutely and unforgettably blended: the handsome, dream-like snow-storm in 'Odd Man Out (1947)'; the woozy war-torn streets of Vienna in 'The Third Man (1949)'; the blending of fantasy against a working-class London background in 'A Kid for Two Farthings (1955).' With 'Trapeze (1956),' Reed deliberately contrasts his use of fantasy and realism. The circus had long held an element of prestige, having spawned a tidy sub-genre of its own, encompassing everything from Lind's 'The Flying Circus (1912)' to DeMille's 'The Greatest Show on Earth (1952).' For decades, the circus has entertained the masses with daring acts of strength and bravery, dangerous animals and extraordinary human performers. But behind this glamour is a less enchanting side of the circus – endless practice sessions, money-hungry managers, and scheming performers who'd place their own interests before those whose lives are being placed in their hands nightly. 'Trapeze' deals with the collision of these two conflicting worlds.Mike Ribble (Burt Lancaster) was once a great "flyer" of the trapeze, one of the few men who could execute a triple somersault. However, a tragic accident left him with a permanent limp, and Mike has since lost all interest in the sport he once dominated. That, at least, is until Tino Orsino (Tony Curtis) arrives in Paris, a keen acrobat who seeks Mike's expert instruction. That Ribble eventually agrees to the partnership is, of course, a given, and their ultimate accomplishments are never in any doubt, but the interplay between Lancaster and Curtis is authentic and entertaining. Reed depicts the indomitable circus prestige through audience applause and the cheerful melody of the "Blue Danube" waltz. When the antagonism being played out behind-the-scenes inexorably spills out into the performing arena, both the applause and the music comes to a standstill. Thus, interjecting into this fantasy world comes the realisation that the circus performers are only human. The reality suddenly becomes clear: one mistake will spell almost certain death.Though Mike and Tino make a formidable team, a romantic complication arises in Lola (Gina Lollobrigida), an ambitious acrobat who'd betray her friends and promise love to anybody whom she thought could aid her career. Lola's exploits are contemptible throughout the film, garnering little sympathy from the audience; one might even suggest that the beating she receives at the hands of her former partners is almost justified by her actions. In any case, the film's conclusion is far too kind to her. Lola chases Mike down a quiet Paris street, perhaps a complementary allusion to Holly Martin's shameful snubbing in the final moments of 'The Third Man (1949).' Maintaining the optimism that Reed displayed previously in 'A Kid for Two Farthings,' this ending offers redemption rather than disgrace to Lola, who is seen to have betrayed her companions, much as Martins betrayed Harry Lime and Anna Schmidt. Most impressive of all is Robert Krasker's creative photography, frequently offering the audience a breathtaking "birds-eye" view of the trapeze routines, like leaning over a precipice into open space.

Great curio piece with Burt Lancaster being a former circus performer, the film was something of a big success on its initial release. It's not hard to see why either, because it's a solid enough story backed up by great aerial sequences set to the backdrop of circus life. The love triangle between the three leads {our intrepid trapeze artists} that threatens to implode them with disastrous consequences, is never less than intriguing, and of course we get led into a breath holding finale that achieves the desired effect.Sadly the acting here lets the film down, Lancaster does OK and holds the film together, and I really liked Thomas Gomez as the money orientated Bouglione, but here is where Tony Curtis detractors get their ammunition from, because he is so wooden it's hard to believe it's the same actor from The Defiant Ones & The Boston Strangler. Katy Jurado is reduced to a bit part player, and as the female lead, Gina Lollobrigida looks gorgeous but delivers her lines unconvincingly.Good honest entertainment bogged down by less than memorable acting. 6/10