Trapeze is a 1956 American circus film starring Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis and Gina Lollobrigida. The film was among the top three box office earners of 1956 in the United States and Canada.
A trapeze is a short horizontal bar suspended by two ropes or metal straps from a ceiling or support structure. It is primarily known as an aerial apparatus used by acrobats and circus performers to execute swinging and gymnastic tricks.
In the film, embittered trapeze aerialist and former circus star Mike Ribble (Lancaster) needs a cane to walk as a result of a fall during a performance (shown in the first scene of the film). Brash, inexperienced Tino Orsini (Curtis) comes to Paris and 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. He starts to teach him.
However, the manipulative Lola (Lollobrigida) enamors Tino, convinced he is a star in the making. Mike is pressured into adding her to their new act.
Tensions rise as Lola and Mike are attracted to each other. However, Mike clearly sees how mercenary she is. A love triangle forms.
Tino comes to resent Mike's attempts to warn him about Lola. He breaks up with Mike.
However, during a performance attended by circus VIP John Ringling North, Mike talks Tino into attempting the triple. The French circus owner tries to stop them by having the safety 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 in New York. Tino wants Mike back, but Mike leaves followed by Lola.
Lancaster, a former circus acrobat, performed many of his own stunts in the film, though the most dangerous (including the climactic triple somersault) were performed 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.
I remember watching this film at the Oswego Theater during my youth.
As a result of the film, I fell in love with the circus trapeze act. It's thrilling. I looked forward to it every time I took my children to the circus when it came to New York's Madison Square Garden.
On the other hand, I don't like the high wire act. It's scary.
