| Trapeze | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Carol Reed |
| Written by | Liam O'Brien (adaptation) James R. Webb (screenplay) |
| Based on | The Killing Frost 1950 novel byMax Catto |
| Produced by | James Hill |
| Starring | Burt Lancaster Tony Curtis Gina Lollobrigida |
| Cinematography | Robert Krasker |
| Edited by | Bert Bates |
| Music by | Malcolm Arnold |
Production companies |
|
| Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date |
|
Running time | 105 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Languages | English Italian |
| Budget | $4 million[1] |
| Box office | $15.5 million (US)[2] |
Trapeze is a 1956 Americancircus film directed byCarol Reed and starringBurt Lancaster,Tony Curtis andGina Lollobrigida. The film is based onMax Catto's 1950 novelThe Killing Frost, with an adapted screenplay written byLiam O'Brien.[3]
The film performed well at the box office, placing among the top three earners of 1956 in the United States and Canada[4] and as the fourth-most-popular film at the British box office in 1956.[5]
Embitteredtrapeze aerialist and former star Mike Ribble needs a cane to walk, the result of a fall during a performance. Brash, inexperienced Tino Orsini wants Mike to train him to do the dangerous triple somersault. Mike, only the sixth man to complete the triple, brushes him off at first, but comes to believe that Tino is capable of matching his feat and starts teaching him. However, the manipulative Lola enamors Tino, convinced that he is a star in the making. Mike is pressured into adding her to the new act.
Tensions rise as Lola and Mike are attracted to each other, though Mike sees clearly how mercenary she is. Alove triangle forms. Tino comes to resent Mike's attempts to warn him about Lola, so he breaks up with Mike.
However, during a performance attended by circus VIPJohn Ringling North, Mike talks Tino into attempting the triple. Bouglione, the circus owner, tries to stop them by having thesafety net taken down, but Tino goes ahead anyway and achieves the highly dangerous feat. A greatly impressed North immediately offers all three a job with his circus. Tino wants Mike back, but he leaves. Lola follows her heart (and Mike).
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 theRingling Brothers Circus.[6]
Trapeze was filmed entirely in Paris, including at theCirque d'hiver and at the nearby Billancourt studios.[6]
_trailer_1.jpg)
Lancaster won theSilver Bear for Best Actor award at the6th Berlin International Film Festival.[7] Reed was nominated for best director by theDirectors Guild of America.
Pauline Kael ofThe New Yorker 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."[citation needed]
Bosley Crowther, one of the most outspoken critics of his time, panned the film in his review forThe New York Times, 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.[8]
