Trapezoid (1956)

Directed by: Carol Reed | 105 minutes | drama | Actors: Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Gina Lollobrigida, Katy Jurado, Thomas Gomez, Johnny Puleo, Minor Watson, Gérard Landry, Jean-Pierre Kérien, Sidney James

Due to an unfortunate fall after a failed trapeze jump, the great Mike Ribble goes through life disillusioned. No longer on the trapeze, but as a handyman he works in the circus of director Bouglione (Thomas Gomez). And he drinks a lot, a lot. When Tino Orsini travels all the way from Brooklyn to Paris to ask Mike to teach him the triple somersault, the pinnacle of trapeze artistry and something few are given, Mike flatly refuses. That he himself has become crippled is up to that point, he does not want to contribute to it happening to someone else. But the artist’s blood gets where it can’t go and Mike lets himself be persuaded by Tino. All goes well until the beautiful but unscrupulous Lola gets into their act with a lot of manipulation. First she hooks up with Mike and when he proves to be insensitive to her beauty and charms, she hooks up with Tino. The mutual tensions continue to rise because of her intrigue, especially when the great circus director John Ringling North (Minor Watson) visits the circus of Bouglione. He has always been a big fan of Mike and the act that Mike has with Tino, he wants to bring to New York. He gives them three weeks to show him the triple somersault and then they are offered a lucrative contract. Lola feels left out and won’t let it go.

Even for a Saturday afternoon movie this is a tough job or you have to really like trapeze work, and even then it is questionable whether this is a subject that lends itself to the silver screen. The acrobatics are nice, but not interesting enough to hold the attention for a whole movie. Too often you get the feeling that you’re watching the same trick over and over and it doesn’t get any more exciting. With each new repetition it becomes more difficult to suppress the urge to cheat in the program booklet to see whether the next act will offer more entertainment. The love entanglements are also meager, they are predictable and if they are not, they are heavily dragged in which is the other extreme. One of the few nice things is the marriage between Rosa (Katy Jurado) and Chikki (Gérard Landry). Rosa was once in love with Mike, but due to the lack of response, she married Chikki. Chikki knows all too well that he is only second choice and they bicker a bit and they break up and they get back together. But when Rosa wants to comfort Mike, when Mike doesn’t need to, Chikki puts his hand on hers with a small gesture of love. He knows his wife’s nature and they’ll keep arguing, but he loves her and she, in spite of everything, loves him too. All this is beautifully contained in that one, minute gesture.