I tried to find the humor in this movie but sadly could not. An attempted satire of SoCal culture, I guess, but I found it trying too hard, with an uninspired script.
Reviews
2 Reviews
Man on a Tightrope
(1953)
Why isn't this movie considered a classic?
15 November 2008
This is a really fine movie, with some marvelous subtlety and powerful metaphor, despite the fact it shows its age. Great editing, good script, some superb scenes. I can't understand why it is not more widely known and appreciated. The Cold War is simply the setting; the unprepossessing story means far more.
For those who might be interested, this was the favorite movie of American poet Richard Hugo (1923-1982), who wrote several pages about it in his posthumously published 1986 autobiography, The Real West Marginal Way. A couple of Hugo's comments:
"The border becomes a kind of symbolic line separating the will from the imagination, the world of serious organizational adult responsibility from the paradise of childhood play."
"More than anything else, the music {of the amateurish circus musicians} attests to the poor odds facing not only the tacky circus but humanity itself."
For those who might be interested, this was the favorite movie of American poet Richard Hugo (1923-1982), who wrote several pages about it in his posthumously published 1986 autobiography, The Real West Marginal Way. A couple of Hugo's comments:
"The border becomes a kind of symbolic line separating the will from the imagination, the world of serious organizational adult responsibility from the paradise of childhood play."
"More than anything else, the music {of the amateurish circus musicians} attests to the poor odds facing not only the tacky circus but humanity itself."
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