Trapeze (1956)

Film: Trapeze (1956)
Stars: Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Gina Lollobrigida, Kay Jurado, Thomas Gomez
Director: Carol Reed
Oscar History: No nominations
Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

Each month, as part of our 2020 Saturdays with the Stars series, we highlight a different actress known as an iconic "film sex symbol."  This month, our focus is on Gina Lollobrigida-click here to learn more about Ms. Lollobrigida (and why I picked her), and click here for other Saturdays with the Stars articles.

One of the reasons that Sophia Loren translated a few years after Gina Lollobrigida in a way that the latter never did (though she enjoyed immense international stardom) might have had something to do with Howard Hughes, and it would be irresponsible to not at least mention Lollobrigida's complicated relationship with Hughes in one of these articles so we're going to do that today.  Hughes met Lollobrigida early in her career, and despite her being married, tried (unsuccessfully) to sleep with her.  Hughes did, however, successfully get Lollobrigida into a contract, that he maintained for seven years, from the early 1950's until 1959, which made it impossible for Lollobrigida to make films in the United States during that time frame unless Hughes approved (which he never did-Hughes was famous for signing actresses to contracts and then never having projects for them).  As a result, all of Lollobrigida's major English-language successes that decade had to be filmed in Europe, rather than Loren, who was able to make movies like Houseboat domestically.  Despite this limitation, Lollobrigida did have some big hits during the heyday of her career, and one of the highest-flying (pun intended) was the United Artists smash Trapeze, filmed in Paris.

(Spoilers Ahead) The film takes place at a circus, where Mike Ribble (Lancaster) once was the main attraction, able to execute a triple somersault mid-air.  Ribble, however, injured and nearly killed himself doing this, and hasn't been doing trapeze since because he's now unable to be the main attraction rather than the "tosser."  A brash young newcomer with real talent, Tino Orsini (Curtis) comes trying to learn from Ribble, and while Ribble doesn't want to teach him, he sees Orsini's talent and reluctantly accepts.  While they are making strong progress, they are interrupted by a beautiful woman who wants stardom, and sees an opportunity to get it, Lola (Lollobrigida), who is obviously in love with Ribble, but knows that she must romance Orsini to get into the act as Ribble sees through her seduction.  As the film progresses, the two men are at odds, as neither wants to give in with Lola, as it's clear Ribble's initial ability to seduce Lola has turned into love on his side as well.  In the end, the two men are able to execute the triple, but not maintain the partnership as Orsini becomes a star, and Ribble goes back into retirement, likely to romance the other woman who has been pining for him from the start, Katy Jurado's Rosa.

The movie's lack of Oscar nominations kind of confuses me.  This isn't a great movie, but it's not a bad one, and it made a fortune for United Artists, so you'd think there would have been at least some push to get it nominated for the one asset it clearly has a full deck on-the cinematography.  Robert Krasker had won an Oscar just a few years earlier for working with Carol Reed on the masterpiece The Third Man, and here shows that his technical skill didn't diminish in color.  The movie is beautifully shot, with great aerial swings from Lancaster (a former circus performer) and the stunt team, and Lollobrigida looks hauntingly beautiful in scenes where you can just see her magnetic eyes flashing at the camera.  It's the biggest triumph of the film, which like I said is a solid movie, but one that falls into repetitive trappings with the love story.

As for Lollobrigida, she's good but the script doesn't entirely know what to do with her.  This may be because the book that it's adapted from has a very dark ending, and one that wouldn't have been suitable for 1956, though it'd be intriguing now (essentially we find that Ribble was in love with Orsini, and murdered the Lola character in hopes of being with him, but the plan backfires when Orsini is executed for the crime instead).  As a result, we don't always know when Lola is acting, as the only time she seems to be telling the truth is to Thomas Gomez's circus owner, and their scenes aren't plentiful in the back-half of the movie.  As a result, what could have been a truly intriguing ending, with Ribble getting his chance at glory (even if it's given to someone else) gets confused by an over-complicated love triangle.