As the title suggests, this movie is split into three unrelated vignettes of tragic love stories. Each is incredibly interesting, and each will be over far sooner than you'd like. Why weren't each made into their own movie? Well, the second vignette was turned into a feature-length film over fifty years later. . .
In the first, Moira Shearer stars as a beautiful, passionate ballet dancer with a bad heart. She can't dance anymore, but when she meets the beautiful, passionate James Mason-a ballet director-she gets a new lease on life. She can dance, she can live, she can love!
In the second, a little boy hates his French governess, Leslie Caron. He hates lessons and school, and he goes to see an old gypsy woman, Ethel Barrymore, and asks for her to make him older so he won't have to deal with Leslie anymore. She grants his wish, and later that night, he transforms into a grown up: Farley Granger. Sound familiar? Yep, this is the original of Big.
In the third, Kirk Douglas is a trapeze artist who feels guilty for his partner dying in a daring stunt years before. He meets the suicidal Pier Angeli and saves her life. Her fear of taking a leap is clear, and they start training together to revive his career.
What's so tragic about those three stories? They sound great! They are great, but there's also an element of tragedy in each.
This is a really great movie, and not only for the stories. The acting is top-notch in all three, and you'll see lots of surprises. You may have already seen Moira Shearer dance, but she wears such beautiful expressions, it's as if she were an actress who learned to dance, rather than a dancer who learned to act. You already knew Leslie Caron was cute as a button, but what about Farley Granger? I always thought of him as the poor man's Gregory Peck, but he's so cute in this movie! He's every bit as adorable as Tom Hanks, and if this is your first movie of his, you'll absolutely love him. And of course you knew Kirk Douglas was a master at physical stunts, but you'll be shocked to see Pier swinging from the trapeze right along with him! It's no wonder the pair had a romance during this movie. All the training, all the trust; you can only imagine the bond they must have formed.
In the first, Moira Shearer stars as a beautiful, passionate ballet dancer with a bad heart. She can't dance anymore, but when she meets the beautiful, passionate James Mason-a ballet director-she gets a new lease on life. She can dance, she can live, she can love!
In the second, a little boy hates his French governess, Leslie Caron. He hates lessons and school, and he goes to see an old gypsy woman, Ethel Barrymore, and asks for her to make him older so he won't have to deal with Leslie anymore. She grants his wish, and later that night, he transforms into a grown up: Farley Granger. Sound familiar? Yep, this is the original of Big.
In the third, Kirk Douglas is a trapeze artist who feels guilty for his partner dying in a daring stunt years before. He meets the suicidal Pier Angeli and saves her life. Her fear of taking a leap is clear, and they start training together to revive his career.
What's so tragic about those three stories? They sound great! They are great, but there's also an element of tragedy in each.
This is a really great movie, and not only for the stories. The acting is top-notch in all three, and you'll see lots of surprises. You may have already seen Moira Shearer dance, but she wears such beautiful expressions, it's as if she were an actress who learned to dance, rather than a dancer who learned to act. You already knew Leslie Caron was cute as a button, but what about Farley Granger? I always thought of him as the poor man's Gregory Peck, but he's so cute in this movie! He's every bit as adorable as Tom Hanks, and if this is your first movie of his, you'll absolutely love him. And of course you knew Kirk Douglas was a master at physical stunts, but you'll be shocked to see Pier swinging from the trapeze right along with him! It's no wonder the pair had a romance during this movie. All the training, all the trust; you can only imagine the bond they must have formed.