''Trapeze'' is a 1956 American circus film directed by

Carol Reed Sir Carol Reed (30 December 1906 – 25 April 1976) was an English film director and producer, best known for ''Odd Man Out'' (1947), '' The Fallen Idol'' (1948), ''The Third Man'' (1949), and '' Oliver!'' (1968), for which he was awarded the ...

and starring

Burt Lancaster Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor and producer. Initially known for playing tough guys with a tender heart, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-yea ...

Tony Curtis Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz; June 3, 1925September 29, 2010) was an American actor whose career spanned six decades, achieving the height of his popularity in the 1950s (Kansas Raiders, 1950) and early 1960s. He acted in more than 100 f ...

and

Gina Lollobrigida Luigia "Gina" Lollobrigida (born 4 July 1927) is an Italian actress, photojournalist, and politician. She was one of the highest-profile European actresses of the 1950s and early 1960s, a period in which she was an international sex symbol. As o ...

, in her American film debut. The film is based on

Max Catto Maxwell Jeffrey Catto (29 July 1907 – 12 March 1992) was born Mark Finkell in Manchester, England and was an English playwright and novelist. Writing career Catto wrote adventure novels and dramas for more than four decades and also wrote under ...

's 1950 novel ''The Killing Frost'', with an adapted screenplay written by

Liam O'Brien Liam Christopher O'Brien (born May 28, 1976) is an American voice actor, writer, and director. He is a regular cast member of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' actual play series ''Critical Role,'' playing Vax'ildan ("Vax"), Caleb Widogast, and Orym. ...

. The film performed well at the box office, placing among the top three earners of 1956 in the United States and Canada and as the fourth-most-popular film at the British box office in 1956.

Plot

Crippled

trapeze A trapeze is a short horizontal bar hung by ropes or metal straps from a ceiling support. It is an aerial apparatus commonly found in circus performances. Trapeze acts may be static, spinning (rigged from a single point), swinging or flying, an ...

aerialist and former star Mike Ribble sees great promise in young, brash Tino Orsini. Ribble, only the sixth man to have completed the dangerous triple somersault, thinks that his protégé is capable of matching the same feat, but only if he provides him with rigorous training. However, Orsini is distracted by the new third member of their circus act, the manipulative Lola. Tensions rise as a love triangle forms.

Cast

as Mike Ribble *

as Tino Orsini *

as Lola *

Katy Jurado María Cristina Estela Marcela Jurado García (16 January 1924 – 5 July 2002), known professionally as Katy Jurado, was a Mexican actress. Jurado began her acting career in Mexico during the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. In 1951, she was rec ...

as Rosa *

Thomas Gomez Thomas Gomez (July 10, 1905 – June 18, 1971) was an American actor. Life and career Born Sabino Tomás Gómez, Jr., in New York City, Gomez began his acting career in theater in 1923, studying under actor Walter Hampden in a production of Cy ...

as Bouglione *

Johnny Puleo Johnny Puleo (October 7, 1907 – May 3, 1983) was an American musician and actor who specialized in playing the harmonica. Born a dwarfism, dwarf (he stood 4 feet 6 inches or 1.37 meters as an adult) in Washington, D.C., he worked as a newspape ...

as Max *

Minor Watson Minor Watson (December 22, 1889 – July 28, 1965) was a prominent character actor. He appeared in 111 movies made between 1913 and 1956. His credits included '' Boys Town'' (1938), ''Yankee Doodle Dandy'' (1942), ''Kings Row'' (1942), '' Guada ...

as John Ringling North *

Gérard Landry Landry Fernand Charles Marrier de Lagatinerie (16 October 1912 – 18 September 1999), known professionally as Gérard Landry, was an Argentinian actor. He began acting in 1932 with his first movie ''Mirages de Paris'', acted for over fifty ...

as Chikki *

Jean-Pierre Kérien Jean-Pierre Kérien (15 March 1912 – 9 April 1984) was a French film actor. He appeared in 40 films between 1937 and 1979. Filmography References External links * 1912 births 1984 deaths French male film actors 20th-century Fr ...

as Otto *

Sid James Sidney James (born Solomon Joel Cohen; 8 May 1913 – 26 April 1976) was a British actor and comedian whose career encompassed radio, television, stage and screen. He was best known for numerous roles in the Carry On film series. Born to a mid ...

as Harry the Snake Charmer *

Gamil Ratib Gamil Ratib ( ar, جميل راتب; 18 August 1926 – 19 September 2018) was an Egyptian actor. He appeared in television and film productions and briefly in theater over a 65-year career. He was known for numerous villainous roles and his appe ...

as Stefan

Production

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

Ringling Brothers Circus Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Shows is a circus founded in Baraboo, Wisconsin, United States in 1884 by five of the seven Ringling brothers: Albert, August, Otto, Alfred T., Charles, John, and Henry. The Ringling brothers were sons of a Ge ...

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

Reception

Lancaster won the

Silver Bear for Best Actor The Silver Bear for Best Actor (german: Silberner Bär/Bester Darsteller) was an award presented at the Berlin International Film Festival from 1956 to 2020. It was given to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance and was chosen by ...

award at the

6th Berlin International Film Festival The 6th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 22 June to 3 July 1956. The FIAPF granted the festival the "A status" during this year, which was previously only reserved for Cannes and Venice. The awards for the first time, we ...

. Reed was nominated for best director by the

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Directors Guild in 1936, the group merge ...

Pauline Kael Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' magazine from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael's opinions oft ...

of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' wrote: "There's vitality in Carol Reed's direction, and an exuberant sweep in Robert Krasker's camera work. Burt Lancaster and Gina Lollobrigida function as stars--they're magnetic."

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...

panned the film in his review for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', writing that the story was "dismally obvious and monotonous", the direction no better and the dialogue "dull and hackneyed." He also criticized the film's leads, writing that Lollobrigida offered nothing beyond her beauty and that Curtis and Lancaster were both uninteresting.

References

External links