The defence The Sentimental Softie
“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.
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Trapeze
Drama · Romance · 1956
A pair of men try to perform the dangerous "triple" in their trapeze act. Problems arise when the duo is made into a trio following the addition of a sexy female performer.
Movie details
Trapeze
“High...High...High...Above Them All! - in excitement! - in spectacle! - in fire, flesh and fury!”
1956 Drama · Romance 1h 45m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
6.8 / 10
5.5K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
75 %
Tomatometer
TMDB
6.3 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
A pair of men try to perform the dangerous "triple" in their trapeze act. Problems arise when the duo is made into a trio following the addition of a sexy female performer.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Trapeze?
For the defence
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Cool Ironist
“Feeling things is a little embarrassing.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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At First Sight
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A blind man has an operation to regain his sight at the urging of his girlfriend and must deal with the changes to his life.
One from the Heart
Drama · 1982
In a dazzling, dreamlike Las Vegas, longtime couple Hank and Frannie break up on their fifth anniversary and each pursue the fantasy of new love over one neon-soaked night—he with a free-spirited acrobat, she with a seductive musician. But as illusion and reality blur, both must decide whether passion or devotion truly defines the heart.
Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Carol Reed
Written by
James R. Webb · Ben Hecht · Wolf Mankowitz
Burt Lancaster
Mike Ribble
Tony Curtis
Tino Orsini
Gina Lollobrigida
Lola
Katy Jurado
Rosa
Thomas Gomez
Bouglione
Johnny Puleo
Max
Minor Watson
John Ringling North
Court is in session
Put Trapeze on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Cool Ironist
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.