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source: Trapeze

Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis and Gina Lollabrigida star in "Trapeze," a 1956 film directed by Carol Reed and also starring Katy Jurado, Thomas Gomez and Johnny Puleo. Lancaster plays a former trapeze artist turned rigger, Mike Ribble, working in a Paris circus. A once great artist, he is grounded due to a permanent injury while doing his famous triple. He is approached by Tino Orsini (Tony Curtis), a talented aerialist who wants to learn the triple. Ribble sees the man's talent immediately, takes him on, and agrees to be his "grabber," the man who catches him mid-air. Problem arise when the beautiful, seductive user Lola (Gina Lollabrigida) who plays both men in order to be part of the act. Director Reed gives the viewer the vivid experience of working in the circus and the resulting pressure cooker of relationships. The trapeze work is glorious, and there is plenty of it. Lancaster has the major role, and he gives an excellent performance as a man with no illusions who, through Tino, dares to dream again. His muscular build is shown to great advantage as well. Curtis is excellent as the young, ambitious Tino who falls hard for Lola. Lollabrigida is gorgeous and sexy as the alluring Lola - she does a good job, but really, all she has to do is stand there and she IS the role. The supporting cast is solid, including Katy Jurado as an ex-girlfriend of Mike's and Thomas Gomez as the owner of the circus. I don't have any figures, but I suspect this film was a big hit. It led to another Lancaster-Curtis collaboration, Sweet Smell of Success, so for that reason alone, it would be worth it. However, Trapeze flies on its own merits.

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.

Carol Reed has often been viewed as a great director of British films. This is the second film of his I've seen, after the (truly) classic "The Third Man". It is not what I'd have expected from Reed. The script lacks wit, surprise or innovation; it's tough to contemplate why Reed chose to make a film based on such a run-of-mill story. The saving grace tends to be the acting. Burt Lancaster fares best, offering charisma and some depth. Curtis is profficient as the overly naive pupil of Lancaster, while Gina Lollobrigida offers a steady portrayal and much radiance. The circus ambience is well created, and everything seems realistic. The trapeze act is breathtakingly filmed, it has to be said, and the colour is effective. A minor effort from Carol Reed, that against all odds, is never boring. Rating:- *** (out of *****).

This is no "Greatest Show on Earth." That's for sure. A story of supposed circus life quickly turns into a love triangle involving Tony Curtis, Burt Lancaster and Gina Lollobrigida. Gina goes back and forth between the two guys like nothing. Curtis is the gung-ho guy from Brooklyn who travels to France to work with Lancaster. The latter was injured in a fall some years back. With the guys working together, Gina and her guys are out of jobs, so she tries to manipulate each fellow into taking her. Thomas Gomez is effective as the circus owner. Katy Jurado is wasted as one of the circus performers. The circus always put me off because of the odor of the animals. The picture stinks too. The following year, Lancaster and Curtis teamed up for "The Sweet Smell of Success," a far better film. Praise must be given to the stars for performing their acts on the high wire.

This movie by Carol Reed (director of such great movies as The Third Man, Odd Man Out, The Key, and The Fallen Idol, who finally won the Oscar for Best Director for his musical, "Oliver!"(a musical adaptation of Oliver Twist) is simply superb. Although this shares the circus setting as some others of the time, it's not primarily "about" the circus. It's a profound look at age, comeback, love (whether wanted or not), ambition. It's set in a dark and almost tawdry Paris of the mid-1950s, one that seems still tired and rather poor a dozen years after liberation. The whole setting - and the love triangle - are fabulous yet realistic. This is a great bookend for An American in Paris - two entirely different images of Paris and France at the time. The Burt Lancaster characterization is simply great - understated, powerful, moving - a man looking for a comeback, a last chance. Tony Curtis is also fine (I think Curtis has long been terribly underrated - he's a very good actor, wonderful in all kinds of parts from The Boston Strangler to Boeing, Boeing, from Sweet Smell of Success (with Lancaster again) to Some Like it Hot). Lollobrigida is great - a fine actress, yes unbelievably sexy but also just excellent at making us feel what her (desperate and cunning) character feels. This is a great movie - amazingly set with a circus backdrop. I loved it. It's as good a depiction of post-war western Europe as can be imagined - in music, in light/shadow, in the fatigue you feel throughout. Watch it! You won't be disappointed.

It's easy to forget what Burt Lancaster looked like in his prime, along with Kirk Douglas and Sean Connery, I don't think there have been any other actors who have such masculine presence. Lancaster makes his co-star; supposed macho man Tony Curtis look an effeminate ladyboy in comparison. I got sweaty palms just watching Lancaster (the real life ex-acrobat) performing his own stunts on the trapeze. You can't imagine today's cossetted and pampered action heros doing anything as dangerous as this. Story ? I dont know ? Was there one ? Just like everyone else, I only watched this movie to see Lancaster put his own neck on the line in the said trapeze stunts, and for this alone it is a must see (for me at least).

Curtis was young...Lancaster was in his prime.....The trapeze performances were stunning and despite the predictability of the story, Trapeze was a wonderful movie. Though a little "hokey" at times, and dated perhaps today, the warmth, sincerity, and circus-realism makes this a mild classic!

I enjoyed this movie for the atmosphere of the Paris circus, as well as action scenes. I have noticed that none of the other viewers have commented on the subtext of the movie that is obvious to some gay viewers: The character played by Tony Curtis could be interpreted as a bi lover of the Lancaster character. This adds some more tension to what many straight viewers see as a silly triangle love plot. I have read that the book this movie was based upon makes the subtext more obvious. The walking-on-hands scene is great! The fact that Lancaster was once a real circus performer and has shown some of his skills in action-comedy movies such as the Flame and the Arrow and The Crimson Pirate with his old circus partner enhanced my enjoyment of this flick.