Trapeze (1956)

Plot:  A Circus Movie. A young acrobat wants an old veteran to help him do the unreachable "triple Somersault" while a beautiful girl comes between them.
Stars:  Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Gina Lollobrigida

Background
In the mid-1950's Burt Lancaster and his partner Harold Hecht made a string of enormously popular films, that knocked Hollywood on its ear.  Vera Cruz, Apache, Marty, Gunfight at the O.K Corral and finally, Trapeze.  It seemed like Burt and Harold, had the pulse of the American public - and the offers poured in. MGM offered them control of the studio and $1 million for Lancaster to play Ben Hur, while U-A offered to pay off Hecht-Lancaster's debts AND buy them out for a huge sum. Lancaster took the U-A option -thank goodness.

The Movie
Trapeze was a wold-wide box-office smash.  People ignored the critics, and flocked to this simple story of two beefcake acrobats fighting over a neat little Italian job.  In the age of 20 inch B&W TVs you can understand why. No matter how standard the story, it must have been thrilling to see  those aerobatic scenes on a wide-screen in glorious technicolor.

60 years later, its much less thrilling.  Yes, the aerobatic scenes are still good,  But 80% of this 105 minute movie occurs on the ground, and its quite dull. The plot and characters come out of a silent movie, and nobodies a good enough actor to improve on the script.  Understandably, Heston turned down the Tony Curtis role - his character doesn't get the girl, and isn't particularly likable. And you can say the same about all three leads. Gina's ambitious and amoral, and Burt's a grumpy has-been. There's no humor, no great  passion, and its hard to care.

It's really a missed opportunity.  You had one of the funniest leading men ever (Tony Curtis)  and two other leads who'd shown their flair for comedy, but the movie has ZERO humor. Its completely 100% grave-yard serious.

Summary: Its better in French. If you like Circus movies, or the stars involved, I'd give it a whirl. Otherwise, skip it.