{"id":3041,"date":"2012-07-20T12:24:40","date_gmt":"2012-07-20T12:24:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=3041"},"modified":"2015-04-21T11:39:05","modified_gmt":"2015-04-21T11:39:05","slug":"lancaster-curtis-and-la-lollo-under-the-big-top-in-trapeze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=3041","title":{"rendered":"Lancaster, Curtis and La Lollo fly high in ‘Trapeze’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Trapeze_(1956)_trailer_1\"<\/a>By Ray Bennett<\/p>\n

LONDON \u2013 One year before Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis made cynical music together in Alexander Mackendrick\u2019s \u201cSweet Smell of Success\u201d, they spent some time flying through the air for Carol Reed in \u201cTrapeze\u201d.<\/p>\n

The 1956 circus picture is released on DVD in the UK on July 30 by distributor Second Sight and while it\u2019s not as good as their Broadway picture, it has great atmosphere with scenes that show the promise of what Mackendrick was able to draw from the two actors. It was a big hit when it was released originally.<\/p>\n

A former circus athlete and still remarkably fit in his mid-40s, Lancaster famously did his own stunts in the picture as veteran trapeze artist Mike Ribble who shows cocky youngster Tino Orsini (Curtis) how to do a triple somersault in mid-air. As the flyer, Curtis had a stuntman (including consultant Eddie Ward from Ringling Brothers) but Reed makes it all seamless.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Italian bombshell Gina Lollobrigida, who had made her Hollywood debut three years earlier with Humphrey Bogart in \u201cBeat the Devil\u201d, plays an ambitious and cunning circus performer who works her charms on both men.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a fairly hackneyed love triangle but the action is terrific and it\u2019s fun to see Lancaster and Curtis tangle albeit without the kind of biting dialogue they would get the following year from playwright Clifford Odets (\u201cGolden Boy\u201d, \u201cThe Big Knife\u201d) and Ernest Lehman (\u201cNorth by Northwest\u201d).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to see why La Lollo made such an impact although she lacks the knock \u2019em dead looks of Sophia Loren or the stunning beauty and sublime comic timing of Claudia Cardinale. Also, costume designer Veniero Colasanti (\u201cEl Cid\u201d), following the Hollywood style of the day, constricts her in stiff outfits that lack any natural femininity.<\/p>\n

Katy Jurado gives a typically smouldering turn as Lancaster\u2019s ex-lover, Thomas Gomez is the breezy circus owner and Sid James strolls about to no obvious purpose with a snake draped over his shoulders.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The continental setting is convincing thanks to Production Designer Rino Mondellini, who made many French films, and cinematographer Robert Krasker, who also was DP on Reed\u2019s \u201cOdd Man Out\u201d (1947) and \u201cThe Third Man\u201d (1949), for which he won the Oscar. The colours are rich with wet streets to contrast against the sawdust of the ring.<\/p>\n

Composer Malcolm Arnold had a very good range and won the Oscar for \u201cThe Bridge On the River Kwai\u201d (1957) but he has a thankless task in \u201cTrapeze\u201d as so much of the action is on the high fliers with the traditionally clunky and repetitious circus music.<\/p>\n

The film is based on a novel titled \u201cThe Killing Frost\u201d by British writer Max Catto, who had a great many of his titles adapted for motion pictures. It\u2019s a surprisingly rich seam of work that includes \u201cA Hill in Korea\u201d (1956) with Stanley Baker, Stephen Boyd and Robert Shaw; Robert Parrish\u2019s \u201cFire Down Below\u201d (1957) with Robert Mitchum, Rita Hayworth and Jack Lemmon; Lewis Gilbert\u2019s \u201cFerry to Hong Kong\u201d (1959) with Curt Jurgens, Orson Welles and Sylvia Syms; Henry Hathaway\u2019s \u201cSeven Thieves\u201d (1960) with Rod Steiger, Edward G. Robinson, Eli Wallach and Joan Collins; Mervyn LeRoy\u2019s \u201cThe Devil at 4 O\u2019Clock\u201d (1961) with Spencer Tracy and Frank Sinatra, Ronald Neame\u2019s \u201cMister Moses\u201d (1965) with Robert Mitchum and Carroll Baker, and Peter Yates\u2019 \u201cMurphy\u2019s War\u201d (1971) with Peter O\u2019Toole.<\/p>\n

I saw all of them when they were first released and they are well worth a look for one reason or another. Second Sight has a very good catalogue of interesting films on Blu-ray including Hal Ashby\u2019s \u201c8 Million Ways to Die\u201d, written by Oliver Stone and starring Jeff Bridges, Rosanna Arquette and Andy Garcia. After \u201cTrapeze\u201d, perhaps they will consider the other Catto films.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ray Bennett LONDON \u2013 One year before Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis made cynical music together in Alexander Mackendrick\u2019s \u201cSweet Smell of Success\u201d, they spent some time flying through the air for Carol Reed in \u201cTrapeze\u201d. The 1956 circus … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[1717,1718,1721,1720,1722,1719],"class_list":["post-3041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment","category-film","tag-trapeze","tag-burt-lancaster","tag-carol-reed","tag-gina-lollobrigida","tag-second-sight","tag-tony-curtis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3041"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7388,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3041\/revisions\/7388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}