Trapeze (1956)

In his younger days, Mike Ribble (Burt Lancaster), fell from a trapeze during a circus act while attempting a triple somersault. He landed safely in the net but was thrown on to the floor of the arena, breaking a leg which never healed properly. Since then he has been a rigger setting up trapezes for other acrobats. Along comes cocky Tino Orsino (Tony Curtis), who wants Mike to teach him the triple somersault. Tino shows reasonable technique on the trapeze but not enough to convince Mike to take him on. But an old flame, part of a two-horse act, gets to work on him, and he finally relents and starts putting Tino through his paces and becomes his catcher. But the voluptuous Lola (Gina Lollabrigida), an aerial artist, sees an opportunity to dump the two male members of her act, which has just been taken off the circus program, and join up with the much more impressive Mike and Tino. When Mike visits her dressing room, she uses all her feminine wiles to snare him into accepting her as a third member of their act, which he does on second thoughts. The stage is now set for some spectacular stunts and some emotional fireworks as the trio set to work. Carol Reed, surprisingly, directed and Malcolm Arnold wrote the music. Burt Lancaster began his working life as an acrobat in a circus and always wanted to make a movie about life under the big top. Good entertainment if you like circuses.

A lovely curcus show, really enjoyed it. A great family film