Trapeze (film)

Plot

Crippled trapeze aerialist and former star Mike Ribble (Burt Lancaster) sees great promise in young, brash Tino Orsini (Tony Curtis). Ribble—only the sixth man to have completed the dangerous triple somersault—thinks his protégé is capable of matching the same feat, but only if he gives him rigorous training. However, Orsini is distracted by the new third member of their circus act, the manipulative Lola (Gina Lollobrigida). Tensions rise as a love triangle forms.

Cast

Production

Lancaster, a former circus acrobat, performed many of his own stunts, though the most dangerous (including the climactic triple somersault) were done by technical consultant Eddie Ward from the Ringling Brothers Circus.

Trapeze was filmed entirely in Paris, including at the Cirque d'Hiver, and at the nearby Billancourt studios.

Reception

Bosley Crowther panned the film in his review for The New York Times. He wrote that the story was "dismally obvious and monotonous", the direction no better, and the dialogue "dull and hackneyed". He also criticized the leads in the film, writing that Lollobrigida had only her looks to show, and that Curtis and Lancaster were both uninteresting. The film was the fourth most popular movie at the British box office in 1956.

Awards

Burt Lancaster won the Silver Bear for Best Actor award at the 6th Berlin International Film Festival. Reed was nominated for best director by the Directors Guild of America.

Remake

An unreleased remake was made in 2000. Filmed in Belarus, it featured Mark Pillow (Nuclear Man in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace).