TRAPEZE (1956) ** Tony Curtis has to decide whether he would rather learn to jump off of a trapeze and flip three times and get caught by a guy, or jump on Gina Lollobrigida. You can't jump on both, it's a parable or something. Tony and Burt Lancaster look like they belong in the circus, but the real action comes when Gina and Katy Jurado curse them in Italian. It's just difficult to take either of the male leads seriously-Lancaster because of his teeth and Curtis because he's so obviously Larry Hagman's timidly incompetent little brother. Fair entertainment for the first half but turns the corner sharply into occasionally hilarious unintentional self-parody as it turns into a morality play: the scene where the boys talk love and fate metaphors over a pinball machine is quite nearly as ridiculous as the love scenes between Lancaster and Lollobrigida, and even funnier. That's right, Burt didn't care much about getting caught in the air by guys anymore.
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