Trapeze (1956)

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The relationship of two daring trapeze artists is threatened when they are joined by Lola to form a complicated triple act. When Ribble (Burt Lancaster) assaults her verbally - "for your sake Lola get out, or one day these hands won't be here to catch you", immediately exposes the prejudice of men threatened by assertive women.

The equivocal imagery that surrounds Lola is mirrored by the ambivalent treatment of Ribble, often photographed through nets who seems in need of rescuing from captivity. When, finally Ribble surrenders to Lola, the film recognizes the power of love for good as well as ill, affirming the all male space of the trapeze benefits from the intrusion of the female. When the circus owner explains that Lola is what the audience wants to see his remark stretches beyond the usual appeal to the objectification of the female to the view that the female belongs with the male, and vice versa, that the contribution of the female is essential both in relation to the feminisation of the male and to the balance and variety in the spectacle of life.

Extract from Carol Reed by Peter William Evans. Courtesy Manchester University Press.