MovieChat Forums > Trapeze (1956) Discussion > Can someone tell me if this is the movie...

Can someone tell me if this is the movie I am thinking of??

posted 17 years ago by anais-chevalier
9 replies | jump to latest

I remember seeing a film, made in this era, that was rather tragic and set in the circus. I was a child and had glandular fever at the time, so I cannot remember much about it aside from the ending, which left an indelible mark, and I'd like to know if 'Trapeze' is the film I saw all of those years ago through a brain-fuzzing funk of sickness.

SPOILERS MAY BE HERE (but I'm not really sure :))

I have a memory of the final, or almost final, scene when a trapeze artist (male, and in my memory looking like Tony Curtis) attempts an almost impossible jump/trick. He specifically asks that the net not be hauled out, against the wishes of everyone. He does not make the jump, he falls and is clearly in an enormous amount of pain and I think he dies, though I am not sure (AND PLEASE DON'T TELL ME!!!).

That is all I remember. I was looking through some of my old diaries and I found a small reference to this film (written two years after when I must have watched it) and I am now desperate to find the dang thing!
Please don't say exactly what happens, I just want to know if this is the same film so that I can watch it again without a raging fever!

Thanks guys.

[–] Delovley 17 years ago

Hmmm, I'm not sure if this is the movie or not- there is a character in this film who falls from the trapeze, as well as a scene where the net is removed during a difficult trick- so it may be.

Either way, I'd recommend this movie- it's well done, and an enjoyable story.

[–] rebeccaps 17 years ago

There are 2 circus movies in which the trapeze artist is doing a dangerous trick, probably a triple. This movie "Trapeze" and "The Greatest Show on Earth", aerialist does not die in either. However, in The Greatest Show on Earth, there is big train wreck and people are killed. The aerialist in The Greatest Show on Earth is played by Cornel Wilde.

[–] wtl471629 17 years ago

I am not sure but one movie that sounds like it may be it is the old black and white movie Flesh and Fantasy made in 1943 with Edward G. Robinson and Barbara Stanwych. It is actually three stories in one movie but it does have one similar to what you are writing about. I don't remember about the net though because it has been a long time since I have seen this movie.

[–] wtl471629 17 years ago

Another possibility is the movie The Big Circus with Esther Williams and Cliff Robertson made in 1961. I remember there was some scene like this one but it has been so long since I have seen it I could be wrong. I think this is one that Cliff takes a manslaughter rap for his father.

[–] picardy-third 16 years ago

I believe you are thinking of The Greatest Show on Earth with Charlton Heston. Cornell Wilde plays "The Great Sebastian." Holly (Betty Hutton) is another flyer who is working in Ring One trying to take the attention away from The Great Sebastian who is the circus's high flying trapeze star working in the Center Ring. At Holly's teasing about Sebastian needing to use a net, Sebastian (Wilde) cuts down the net and performs his trick anyway, which of course results in disaster and he falls to the ground. You'll have to see the film for the whole story. One of my favorite films. Jimmy Stewart plays Buttons the Clown and does the entire movie in clown makeup.

[–] mandrake62 16 years ago

Just watched the end of Trapeze on TCM. The ending difficult exchange is a triple without a net. However, the rest of what you recall is not accurate and I do not want to describe exactly what happens since it would be a spoiler. There is another film titled "The Story of There Loves" with Kirk Douglas and Pier Angeli that involves a trapeze act and I think ends with a dangerous trapeze finally.

[–] Ska8erdee 16 years ago

Cornel Wild played a flyer in a movie named "The Greatest Show On Earth" (1952)
The female flyer (Betty Hutton) teased him about flying with a net below him, so he gave orders to have the net cut, and in the midst of his act, he fell from the Trapeze with no net under him. I won't tell you anymore,
being you want to find out what happened after that for yourself. Charlton Heston was also in the Movie, he played the owner of the Circus. James Stewart also was in the movie as a Clown, and he had a dog. This was a wonderful Movie.

If the movie you were asking about, happens not to be Trapeze, then The "Greatest Show On Earth" might be the one you're looking for.

[–] nallen02-1 15 years ago

The Greatest Show on Earth

[–] Abby_Norm 15 years ago

Another option, if you were growing up in the US, is a made for TV movie called The Great Wallendas. I remember seeing this movie when I was very young and can't recall which movie I thought was better: Trapeze or the Great Wallendas! The TV movie came out in 1978 so it may not fit the same time period, but just another option to check out a good movie...while still fitting the basic description you wrote.