Trapeze (1956)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Carol Reed

Writers:

Max Catto (novel)
Liam O'Brien (adaptation)

Release Date:

30 May 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

High...High...High...Above Them All! - in excitement! - in spectacle! - in fire, flesh and fury!

Plot:

Mike Ribble was once a great trapeze artist - and the only to have completed a triple somersault - before his accident...

Plot Keywords:

Trapeze | Circus | Trapeze Artist | One Word Title | Giraffe

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Burt Lancaster	...	Mike Ribble
Tony Curtis	...	Tino Orsini
Gina Lollobrigida	...	Lola
Katy Jurado	...	Rosa
Thomas Gomez	...	Bouglione
Johnny Puleo	...	Max (dwarf) (as John Puleo)
Minor Watson	...	John Ringling North
Gérard Landry	...	Chikki (as Gerard Landry)
Jean-Pierre Kérien	...	Otto (as Jean-Pierre Kerien)
Sid James	...	Snake Charmer (as Sidney James)
Gimma Boys	...	Circus family children
Los Arriolas	...	Specialty Act
Gamil Ratib	...	Stefan
Pierre Tabard	...	Paul
Edward Hagopian

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording) (optical prints) | 4-Track Stereo (Western Electric Recording) (magnetic prints)

Certification:

Norway:16 | USA:Approved (certificate #17783) | UK:U | West Germany:12 (nf) | Finland:K-16 | Argentina:16 | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Cirque d'Hiver - 110 rue Amelot, Paris 11, Paris, France

Company:

Hill-Hecht-Lancaster Productions

Trivia:

Burt Lancaster performed all of the trapeze stunts himself, having worked in a circus before entering films. He insisted on doing the climactic triple flip, but technical adviser Eddie Ward initially was hesitant on Lancaster performing the stunt, so Ward doubled for Lancaster during the first weeks of shooting, but Lancaster told director Carol Reed that he knew how to do the stunt from the get-go so it is Lancaster you see in the final cut of the film.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Cheers: Peterson Crusoe (#3.11)" (1984)

Soundtrack:

Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2 in E flat major

The Tricks Of The Trapeze Trade

In Trapeze Burt Lancaster finally realized an ambition to return to his roots as a circus acrobat and do a film under the big top. When he and Tony Curtis and Gina Lollobrigida are soaring through the air, Trapeze is a thing of beauty. Unfortunately on the ground it's firmly fixed to mediocrity with a very melodramatic triangle subplot.

Lancaster plays a once promising aerial artist who perfected the triple somersault in the air. But doing it once too often shattered his career along with his leg. Lancaster now works as a rigger for Thomas Gomez's circus.

But one day when young Tony Curtis, a would be Trapeze artist comes to the circus seeking out Lancaster, Burt recognizes the talent that is there after some initial misgivings. He agrees to become Curtis's catcher and teach him the tricks of Trapeze trade.

What complicates things is goldigging Gina Lollobrigida a jack of all the circus trades who desperately wants to get to America. She's an old girl friend of Lancaster, but sees in Curtis her meal ticket. He's after all the one with the talent and the young reflexes. Lancaster's wise to her, but she does get the old hormones going in Burt.

Seeing Lancaster doing his own trapeze stunts is quite a marvel, but in fact it was his old trade. I'm sure being the producer of Trapeze helped because if this had been a studio production the bean counters in the front office would have been going out of their minds at seeing their big star risking life and limb.

Katy Jurado has a nice if somewhat undefined role as a bareback rider who also has an old time yen for Burt. Thomas Gomez is quite the schemer as the owner who naturally wants to keep the act intact and working for him and not going to a bigger show. That bigger show is Ringling Brothers,Barnum&Bailey circus in America and Minor Watson plays the real life John Ringling North.

Unfortunately for Trapeze, Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show On Earth set an impossible standard for circus pictures. Maybe if it had concentrated on the aerial and left the romance alone, Trapeze would be better thought of today.

Next year Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis teamed for Sweet Smell of Success. Now that's the film the two will be better remembered by far.