Man on a Tightrope (1953) User Reviews

A sleeper directed by Elia Kazan

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 17 February 2008]

Fredric March is a "Man on a Tightrope" in this 1953 film also starring Terry Moore, Gloria Grahame, Adolphe Menjou, Richard Boone and Cameron Mitchell, Directed by Elia Kazan, this black and white film is about circus performers who and a daring plan to escape to Germany from Communist-controlled Czechoslovakia. The manager of the circus, Karel Czernik (Fredric March) is a seemingly weak man - in fact, his second wife (Grahame) detests him for it. When he's called before Communist authorities for one or another infraction committed by the circus, he's deferential and nervous. Behind all this, he has been planning the escape of the entire circus from Czechoslovakia for three years. Only a few people know - but when the Commmunists ask about a radio owned by Czernik, he realizes one of his friends is probably a traitor, though he can't accept it. He also has trouble accepting his daughter's (Terry Moore) taste in men (Cameron Mitchell).

I visited Czechoslovakia eight years ago. The thought of that beautiful country and those charming, stunning people having to live for so long under Communist rule is a heartbreaking thought. This film really brought it home.

One thing immediately noticeable about "Man on a Tightrope" is the circus and the depressing Eastern Europe atmosphere, heightened by the black and white photography and the broken-down circus. Then there is the look of the people in the circus - these aren't actor's faces, these are the faces of real people. Kazan used a real-life circus, the Brumbach Circus, for background and performances. You can almost feel the dust and the oppression of working under Communist rule.

Fredric March gives a wonderful performance as Karel, a true actor who appears to bow to the Communists and yet is no weakling. His love for both his wife and daughter is apparent, as is his determination to get out of the country and concern for the performers. Gloria Grahame is sexy and flirty as his wife, who has her eye on the lion tamer, until she realizes the stuff her husband is made of. Moore and Mitchell are convincing lovers. Adolphe Menjou, as a Communist official, is very good as the only one who pierces the act that March is putting on. Smart men bear watching, and so do nice men. Cernik is both.

Apparently due to the political climate at the time, this film wasn't widely shown or publicized. I caught it on Fox Movie Channel - hopefully FMC will be on more basic cable in the country, and also hopefully Fox will bring this film out on DVD. It deserves to be seen.

even the elephants escaped

[RanchoTuVu · 8/10 · 25 August 2011]

A circus in 1950's communist Czechoslovakia makes a dash into the US zone. Being circus people, they have no ostensible political priorities, but the owner, who also dresses up as a clown (Frederic March), seems to have been pushed to take the drastic measure because the communist party functionaries led by Adolphe Menjou find his overall attitude lacking in any discernible commitment. March's daughter in the film is the striking Terry Moore who has fallen for a mysterious circus laborer played by Cameron Mitchell. March's wife is sexy Gloria Graham. The two of them (Moore and Graham) both add a lot. The film makes the distinction in this circus between the artists and the workers. The communists want a workers' paradise and seem to try to make the circus toe the line. The leader of the circus workers is played by Richard Boone, whose part has bought into the communist ideology. The circus midgets also play vital roles in this film, which does not waste any of its actors. The black and white photography matches the stereotypical drab lives in the communist sectors. Menjou, as the communist party leader, is on to March, but, being Menjou, he too becomes a target of operatives in his own party. Directed by Elia Kazan, the film is a real surprise. The overall plot to escape with the circus reaches a well drawn out ending, with even the circus elephants making the dash west.

One of Elia Kazan's least known films...

[AlsExGal · 8/10 · 31 December 2022]

...which is set in the Communist-ruled Czechoslovakia of 1952. Fredric March owns a small-time circus, except that now it's been taken over by the state, which wants to micromanage everything, right down to the clown acts. March and his performers want to escape across the border to part of Germany controlled by the Americans.

The film was shot in Bavaria, which is a big plus. The gritty, run-down circus atmosphere is nicely caught. We can see that although this is hardly a first-rate outfit, it still provides needed entertainment and escape for those who watch the show. As one might expect, the Communists have spies in the circus, and March doesn't know who to trust. His daughter (Terry Moore) has the hots for a young roustabout (Cameron Mitchell) who seems to have come from nowhere. His wife (Gloria Grahame) has the Gloria Grahame thing going on of despising her husband and looking around for someone to betray him with (Richard Boone seems a likely prospect). Betrayal is one of the big themes of the film. Even the Communist officials are looking for ways to betray each other.

This is one of my favorite Fredric March performances, particularly from this part of his career. Among a number of strong supporting performances by men, Adolphe Menjou stands out as a Communist official who sees March as dangerous precisely because he is an honest man. Menjou has remarkable presence every moment he's on screen.

Kazan gave a lot of credit to his producer, Gerd Oswald, and his cameraman, Georg Kraus. It's a solid film, and I look forward to seeing it again.

Has some strikingly well-directed scenes

[Sleepy-17 · 23 July 2003]

Kazan, in his "A Life", describes this movie mostly in terms of early-morning bonding with his crew, but while it contains far fewer emotional lightning-bolts than most Kazan films, it also contains some incredibly poetic violence. Even though it's hard to tell if it's just hastily staged or artistically muted, one shot of a sentry being killed just below the screen is both intimate and shielding. The battle scenes are exciting, short, and brilliant. Kazan takes no credit at all, saying that much of the film was devised by producer Gerd Oswald and cinematographer Georg Kraus. Strange and sparse, this is a very interesting film.

Freedom Circus

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 2 January 2013]

One of the more intelligent anti-Communist movies that came out in the Fifties was Man On A Tightrope, shot in Bavaria as close as 20th Century Fox could get to Czechoslovakia where the story takes place. Fredric March plays the lead, a circus owner who seemingly knuckles under to the new rulers of his country. For that his daughter Terry Moore is concerned with his mental health. His second wife Gloria Grahame thinks he's become a spineless weakling and starts casting her eyes about the rest of the show.

Not so because March has been ruminating about a plan to get over the border to West Germany and freedom and it's quite the scheme. But it will involve split second timing and the right opportunity which seems to have presented itself. He does have a traitor in his ranks who reports to the local party things in the performance that don't quite tow the party line. When local commissar Adolphe Menjou gives March an ideological pep talk about his clown routine, March realizes he'd better flee and fast.

This film was directed by Elia Kazan who has come down to us sadly as a friendly House Un-American Activities witness and was sadly booed at the Academy Awards when he got a lifetime achievement award. Kazan's long life ended in irony when Pat Buchanan spoke a eulogy on one of the talk shows. Then as now Buchanan was a guy Kazan would have despised, he always considered himself a man of the left.

But in his theater days he saw just how rigid and ideological Communists can be. I've long been convinced that each and every person who appeared at HUAC, friendly or hostile, each did it with his own motives and agenda, some good, some evil. Adolphe Menjou for instance was a rabid rightwinger who left a nice size bequest to the John Birch Society. His agenda was different certainly than Kazan's.

More than On The Waterfront which has come down in film history as Elia Kazan's apologia for being a stool pigeon, Man On A Tightrope is a far more personal work. March is playing Kazan as artist resenting any political intrusion of any kind in his work. Unless you realize that this film will have no meaning.

Kazan assembled a truly good cast and got some great performances, especially from Fredric March. Man On A Tightrope should be seen by today's audience for a real understanding of the era and of Elia Kazan.

A Hidden Gem

[dadndsc · 9/10 · 17 August 2001]

This little movie is an exciting sleeper. It is a fictional story of a real incident about a small circus in an Eastern Bloc country that planned to escape to the West during the cold war. With uniformly excellent performances by all one of its unique accomplishments is the creation of a real sense of place. Although most of the cast is North American and speak in English, through the use of carefully written dialog, well thought out characterizations and wordrobe you have no doubt that you are in a foreign country listening to people speaking in their own language.

A real candidate for resurrection and re-isse.

Escape to freedom

[jotix100 · 7/10 · 22 April 2008]

"Man on a Tightrope", the 1953 film directed by Elia Kazan surprises for the way the director working overseas, mainly in Austria and Germany, was able to capture the atmosphere of the Cold War during the years after WWII. Based on a Neil Paterson story, "International Incident", it was adapted for the screen by Robert Sherwood. Unfortunately, this picture is not seen often enough these days, but it is worth a view by fans of Elia Kazan because it shows him at the top of his form.

We are taken to the Cernik Circus, a third rate enterprise, whose owner, Karel Cernik is planning an escape to the West from a an Iron Curtain country, in this case, Czechoslovakia. It was no easy task to try to flee any of those countries during that time. With great resolution Karel plans the way to do it, not without a lot of things that get in the way of the escape.

Frederick March, one of the best actors of that period, plays the older Cernik with great conviction. Gloria Grahame is his flighty wife, who at the end recognizes the courage of a husband she didn't seem to care for. A young Terry Moore is Tereza in love with Joe Vosdek, played by Cameron Mitchell. Richard Boone has an excellent opportunity in which to shine.

"Man on a Tightrope" should be seen by serious fans of the great director Elia Kazan, as it will reward the viewer.

Why isn't this movie considered a classic?

[JackCrabbe · 9/10 · 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."

Another great Fredric March performance

[HotToastyRag · 7/10 · 23 August 2020]

Why are certain actors fantastic every single time? Thankfully, Fredric March had a great sense of humor, and after a few great movies, he made sure to make a stinky one just to shake things up. That may or may not be true, but it's what I like to think.

Man on a Tightrope is one of the great ones. He gives another excellent performance as the head of a circus troop stuck in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. Different from The Greatest Show on Earth, which glamorized the circus life, you can really smell the stink in this movie. It shows the seedy characters drawn to that way of life, the type of secrets everyone is hiding, and the scandals that occur behind the scenes. After watching this movie, you won't be as entertained seeing glitzy costumes and clown makeup.

Immediately after sitting through an interrogation, Freddie dons his clown makeup and performs a routine in the tent. He has such expressive eyes, you can sense his fear even as he tries to pretend nothing's wrong. The interrogation is my favorite scene in the film. He tries to hard to be casual, but as the title suggests, he's walking on a tightrope with every answer.

Freddie's wife is Gloria Grahame, and through her boredom and dissatisfaction, she cheats on him with the lion tamer. Everyone knows about it, and it's a piece of leverage used against Freddie as his weakness is mocked. Meanwhile, his young daughter Terry Moore has fallen for bad boy Cameron Mitchell. How much does one man have to take? It's a circus onstage and off for poor Freddie. If you liked this one, check out Kirk Douglas in The Juggler, where he also deals with a dichotomy of performance versus mental anguish.

The circus vs. terror

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 24 March 2020]

Was expecting a lot of great things from 'Man on a Tightrope'. The high rating and very positive reviews here. A very influential director in Elia Kazan, some of his best work including 'A Streetcar Named Desire', 'East of Eden' and 'On the Waterfront' being masterpieces and even lesser efforts such as 'The Sea of Grass' not being that bad. A great composer in Franz Waxman. And a lot of talent in the cast, such as Fredric March, Gloria Grahame, Richard Boone and Adolphe Menjou.

'Man on a Tightrope' luckily delivers. It may not be one of Kazan's very best, but it is one of his most underrated. Despite being well received it doesn't get enough attention these days, deserving to be known more than the film Kazan was working on when he testified for the House of Commitee on Un-American Activities ended several careers (am not going to dwell on that as it is not relevant and has no bearing on him as a director, just a little trivia and perhaps one of the reasons as to why the film isn't better known).

There is very little to criticise here, though there is the odd draggy stretch.

However, 'Man on a Tightrope' is extremely well made. Cannot fault the production values, the sets and costumes are handsome and authentic but it's the quite outstanding cinematography that is particularly good in this regard. It is scored with a stirring and not too overbearingly orchestrated atmosphere too, something that Waxman was also very good at. Kazan directs very effectively and one can see what his appeal was and why he was so influential from watching the film, even if other films of his did it even better.

Script is thoughtful and at times even poetic. The story has a good deal of tension and pathos (without wallowing in the latter), with some well staged and exciting, at times gut-wrenching, sequences that perfectly displays the excitement and danger of the setting. Am glad that 'Man on a Tightrope didn't take the easy way out or play it too safe with the ending, quite powerful and moving and not a tacked on or pat one. The political element is not over-emphasised too much.

Cannot fault the performances in well defined roles. March is wonderful here and gives one of his best later performances, showing why he was as good as he was in dramatic roles when the material was good (usually not a problem in this regard). Grahame is sensual and has chilling and tender moments, while Menjou and Robert Beatty give authoritative performances.

Overall, wonderful film that deserves more recognition. 9/10

More than meets the eye

[tomsview · 7/10 · 1 July 2017]

I must admit I had never heard of "Man on a Tightrope" until I read Elia Kazan's autobiography, "Elia Kazan: A Life".

The story is based on a true event; the escape of the entire Circus Brumbach in 1950 from East Germany to West Germany. Renamed Cirkus Cernik in the film; they escape from Czechoslovakia.

Kazan tells how he agreed to make it only after he found that the story was true. He travelled to Bavaria and met the people of the circus and developed a great rapport with them.

Kazan had just named names at the HUAC hearings, and was receiving hate mail and hostility from former friends and associates. Although he had once been in the communist party, he claimed he had long ago become anti-communist, and he felt right at home with these circus people who had fled a repressive communist regime; they didn't feel he had done anything wrong at all. It was a healing process for Kazan.

Kazan respected the cast and crew in this film: the real circus people who played small parts or worked as extras, but also his American performers. Most weren't major stars, but he admired the honesty with which they approached their roles. They had to rough it; Germany eight years after the war didn't provide the comforts of Hollywood.

Fredric March whose career was winding down, warned him that he sometimes overacted, but he gave an affecting performance as circus owner Karel Cernik. Gloria Grahame as his cheating wife was never photographed to better advantage; she seemed naturally beautiful without her usual heavy makeup. Terry Moore as Cernik's daughter insisted on doing her own stunts including the scene in the fast flowing river.

Despite being based on fact, some rather predictable dramatic elements were added and the film was hacked by the studio; ultimately it failed at the box office. However the film has a brilliantly authentic look and when you know a little of how it was made and the circumstances surrounding it, it gains a dimension far beyond what we see on the screen.

A Classic Film

[Larry-32 · 10/10 · 9 July 1999]

I've seen this movie several times over the years, usually on American Movie Classics or as a commercialized network movie. To me, the movie is a real classic, with wonderful acting and a most interesting plot and story. It would be very easy to imagine such an event taking place under those less than ideal times in the Eastern Bloc. I am surprised, and disappointed, that this movie classic is not out on video. If it should ever be released to video, I would prefer that it be issued on DVD (hint,hint in case a studio should look in).

Good

[AAdaSC · 7/10 · 21 September 2009]

Karel Cernik (Fredric March) manages a travelling circus in Communist Czechoslovakia. It used to be his but the state took ownership from him and allowed him to continue as manager. The police monitor him closely and interfere by telling him what to include in his shows and even which members of staff to sack. He tours the country and his next show is near the border with Bavaria. He has a plan to escape with his troupe............

I don't like circuses and the freaks that go with it. And I don't find anything funny about clowns - I find them disturbing. But, I liked this film. It has a good story that keeps you watching and the action does not focus for long on the acts within the circus. It is a cat and mouse tale against the authorities. Will Karel's plot to escape the country be successful?

Within the main story, there are other sup-plots, eg, his relationship with his wife Zama (Gloria Grahame) and the emergence of a traitor within the group. The cast are all good and there is a very warm, funny scene between Karel and his rival circus manager. I found that the two women Zama (Gloria Grahame) and Tereza (Terry Moore) were too similar and it was difficult to work out who was who when either appeared on the screen. The film is good but it has a downbeat ending...

Even Smetana's music is knocked around

[jromanbaker · 4/10 · 15 December 2021]

Christmas is a good time to find forgotten films and this 1953 film has in my opinion little to get excited about. Basically it is a about a Czech circus trying to escape from the bad communists and Fredric March is on a tightrope dodging them to get to Bavaria and so-called freedom. Not a subtle film in any way and the film meanders its way with a good cast poorly used. The circus acts are negligible and one pathetic lion tries to snarl and does his best. Anyone expecting circus thrills forget it and despite a cast of Cameron Mitchell, Gloria Grahame and Terry Moore the scenario is as black and white as the photography and offers them little chance of escaping March's grip on the acting. For some obscure reason it was filmed in Bavaria and we get a glimpse of mountains and pine trees, but I cannot see a justifiable reason in going there. Gloria Grahame is cast as March's bad girl wife ( she has her eye on a virile lion tamer ) and after being slapped hard in the face from March she becomes a loving wife. There is a nauseating shot of ecstasy on her face which made me want to turn the film off. None of the women fare well in the cast and this I found inexcusable. I will refrain from commenting on the politics of the film, and political it is and Elia Kazan piles on the hatred of the bad guys. A fake fight is quite fun, but this sadly is a film to return to oblivion. Even Smetana's ' Ma Vlast ' is badly used in what appeared to me a nude love scene in a river with Cameron Mitchell and Terry Moore. For those who like films based on hatred. A four for Gloria Grahame doing her best. Nasty film with a predictable ending.

We have no home but circus!

[dbdumonteil · 13 April 2007]

In 1952,Elia Kazan agreed to cooperate with the House AntiAmerican Activities Committee.That would ruin some of his colleagues' (directors,actors,writers) career ;he was not the only one:Edward Dmytryk followed his steps .Both felt remorse and both could never completely get over it:Dmytryk's "the juggler" "the sniper" and even "the Caine mutiny" are full of hidden messages (check those titles).

"Man on a tight rope" was a movie that made sense.One of the most Anti-Communist movie of that era,of course a propaganda movie,it was never released ,for instance,in France ,because there were commies in the government.It was recently given a ridiculous French title ("Le cirque en révolte" =rebellious circus)for its first screening on TV.

Time has passed.Now who can still ignore what was happening behind the Iron Curtain?Today's generations can no longer be shocked when you see how low Communist parties have sunk in Europa (if the French Communist candidate ,Marie-George Buffet reaches 3% the votes in the FRench election next week,that will be quite a feat!) Given it is a propaganda movie,and considering Kazan's less-than-comfortable situation,"man on a tight rope" is a remarkable work,for,although Kazan was burning with a desire to get his messages across,his art survived the heavy intentions.Lyricism -which would come to the fore in "East of Eden" or "Splendor in the grass" - is already present in the luminous scene of the lovers' swimming.One should note that this scene is followed by Cernik's first questioning in a dark office .

The circus ,what a transparent metaphor !That the Czekolovakian authorities should be infuriated by a simple clowns number speaks volumes,more than one hour of rhetoric.Inside the circus,there 's nothing but suspicious minds.Everyone suspects everyone,from a dwarf to an ex-deserter to a lion-tamer to the manager's(no longer owner:the circus belongs to the people now) daughter.

The final,which involves the whole circus trying to get to the Bavarian border,is masterfully directed ,with an unusually inventive of faces in close shots.I've always thought that Eisenstein was one of Kazan's biggest influence.Kazan uses the circus people in a stunning way.

Cernik is a modern Mosis ,when they arrive in the promised land....

Completely overshadowed by its excellent follow-up "on the waterfront"-which is also a try to justify informing","Man on a tight rope" must be brought of oblivion.

the director made some great films,this is not one of them.

[ib011f9545i · 7/10 · 30 September 2018]

The director made some great films,I don't think this is one of them.

I wanted to see this film for years,finally got a dvd ,watched today.

I may have seen this on tv years ago bur I don't remember it.

I suppose I have to mention something about the director,in the Mcarthy era he named names before the hearings,people are still critical of him for this.

I am British and not American but I think I understand the era. Imagine the fate of an anti communist Russian film director in the 1940s and 1950s,compare it to the fate of a pro communist American director.

One gets sent to a camp,the other has to make films in europe,no comparison.

Anyway I am sad to say that I thought this film was poor as a piece of entertainment.

The film is very unsubtle in its message.

Hollywood Blackball Backlash Buries This Terrific Film

[jim-862 · 9/10 · 28 October 2007]

A film about escape from the Stalinist tyranny of the East Bloc? In the 1950s? By the Director who brought you Splendor in the Grass, East of Eden, and On The Waterfront? Never heard of it, huh? Perhaps it is time to look a little more closely at Hollywood's Celluloid Curtain and see if indeed our entertainment industry thinks that exposing totalitarianism is somehow not "politically correct." One seriously has to wonder why this star-studded, exciting, and uplifting film has received so little airtime over the years.

Frederic March, Gloria Grahame, Adolphe Menjou, Richard Boone, screenplay by Robert Sherwood, of Lincoln in Illinois and The Best Years of Our Lives fame...

SEE THIS FILM!

A nice time capsule look into the Iron Curtain....and it's actually based on a true story!

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 12 December 2022]

In 1950, the Brumbach Circus defected en masse from Communist East Germany to the West. "Man on a Tightrope" is a fictionalized recreation of this brave event. A few details, such as the name of the circus and the location (Czechoslovakia instead of East Germany) were changed....and I have no idea why. As for the circus performers, these folks in the movie actually ARE from the Brumbach Circus!

Karel Cernik (Frederic March) is the man who runs the Cernik Cirkus. I can't say he's the owner because the Communist government in their great wisdom took ownership of the circus and graciously allowed Cernik to run it. But the government keeps telling Cernik what he can and cannot and must do with the circus...and it's getting harder to do their jobs with such interference. It gets so bad that the normally apolitical Cernik is concocting a plan to defect...along with the entire circus!

While I think the pacing of the film could have stood some improvement, the movie is exciting and a great glimpse into the bad old days of the Iron Curtain. For younger folks, they might be confused by all this...and folks get a nice history lesson if they watch the movie. Worth your time...and currently on YouTube if you wish to see it.

The rare sleeper, a hidden gem

[brower8 · 8/10 · 24 July 2003]

Sleeper classics are rare. Esthetics do not change, but politics do. This movie has a political message -- that communism is horrible, and that life under communism is bare existence. That was not enough for the McCarthy Era, and this movie falls short of the standard anti-communist diatribe of its kind. The view of someone like Vaclav Havel that communism was mere degradation of people and the imposition of an absurd order was not "hard-line" enough for the McCarthy Era.

This movie shows a more subtle critique of communism than the usual apocalyptic view of saber-rattling generals and madman tyrants. Czechoslovakia could have been the shopfront for communism because it wasn't as ravaged by World War II as were some other countries, and the Soviets didn't treat it as a conquered province grafted onto its empire. The country was prosperous before World War II and had a democratic government for twenty years after World War I. Even in Czechoslovakia, the communists imposed one degradation after another upon the people while promoting itself with demagogic rhetoric that communism was the desire of the working man -- except that nobody had the right to say "no" anymore. The communists nationalized Cernik's circus, only to pay him a very generous salary as compensation as a manager of a state enterprise; then they made the money worthless through currency "reforms" that pauperized all but the communists and enriched the communists. Sudden horror and slow degradation lead to the same misery, only at different rates.

Politics aside, this is a good adventure film with some comic elements as the circus crew fights among itself to seek escape from the madhouse (note that Milos Forman said that his image of an asylum for the insane was much like his native Czechoslovakia in comments on "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"

Too subtle for the 1950's, it got lost. In the cable-TV era "movie archive" channels try out some lost movies and occasionally find a gem. This one is a gem.

An opportunity lost?

[PimpinAinttEasy · 6/10 · 21 November 2021]

An early KAZAN film. I liked it a lot. Lots of frames shot with the great outdoors in the background. The plot is stretched for too long and the big finale that we expect never really arrives. But i liked the circus setting. Its basically about a circus owners plan to lead his whole circus across the border to freedom from communist rule. I think TARANTINO might be able to do something interesting with it.

GLORIA GRAHAME sizzles in this one. I dont think she has ever looked this beautiful. There is also an erotic outdoor bathing scene with the circus owners daughter and her lover quite early in the film.

The film looks gorgeous on bluray. But the script needed more interesting and thrilling scenes.

(7.5/10)

We are dealing here with a very dangerous individual, an honest man.

[sol-kay · 8/10 · 13 February 2007]

(Some Spoilers) One of the best depiction of Communism coming out of post-war Hollywood "Man on a Tightrope" shows what happens to a country taken over by band of mindless bean counting bureaucrats who feel that they have all the answers to all the country's, and worlds, problems and anyone who thinks otherwise is an enemy of the state that's to be liquidated or imprisoned. Trying to make a living as a circus master which is the only job he ever had Kanel Cernik, Fredrick March, is hamstrung by the Communist system controlling his country the Czecoslovkian People's Repubic.

With the country's controlling communist party running everything Karel's circus is having a hard time staying afloat with it being nationalized and it's many fine and entertaining circus acts, as well as performers, shut down or fired. All this because their being too capitalistic, so the Communist state party says, in their themes. This insane policy is formulated and followed by both the local commissar Fesker, Adolphe Menjou, and his boss only known as The Sergeant, Phillip Kennealy. Two by the books butt-kissers who's always trying to one up each other in order to gain favor with their superiors in both Prague and Moscow.

Just about having all he could take from his Communist masters Karel together with a numbers of his troupe including his wife and daughter Zema & Tereza, Gloria Grahame & Terry Moore, decide to make a break for it with the entire circus and its animal performers across the Czech/Austrian border. To gain complete surprise, from the Czech broader guards, it's decided by Karel to make this very daring and dangerous escape in broad daylight a time when it would be least expected.

We soon find out that Commissar Fesker has knowledge of the planned escaped from someone inside the circus troupe and just as he's about to clamp down on it, by giving Karel a permit in order to force his hand, he's overruled by the arrogant and power hungry Sergeant. Sargeant with his action unknowingly gives Karel all the leeway he needs to make make, with his entire circus family, his breathtaking run for daylight and freedom, across the Iron Curtain.

Unbelievably tense and exciting movie that keeps you glued to your seat until the final credits as Karl Cernik and his band of circus performers, together with his wife and daughter, make their way to the very border of Austria. Within yards of the border Karl & Co. then go for broke as the startled guards on both side of the border, the American and Czech, are left almost too paralyzed to either help, in the case of the Americans, or prevent, the Czech, them from doing so.

Karel who during the entire movie was anything but a hero in his dealing with both the Communist government officials and his wife Zama makes up for all his inadequacies by preventing his planned escape from being foiled by a traitor inside his circus. Karl shot and bleeding to death prevents the advancing Communist government troops and police, by insisting to be the last man out, from overtaking his circus performers and family. Thus not only forcing them back to their native country but to either curtain death or a Soviet concentration camp-like gulag in the wilds of Siberia.

Unlike the many anti-Communist movies that came out of Hollywood back in the 1940's and 1950's "Man on a Tightrope" is as watchable now as it was back then in 1953. The movie shows what Communism really is, a rotten and degrading system, and how it in its anti-humanistic and bankrupt economic philosophy was destined to have a total and complete collapse and meltdown some forty years later more then proved that point.

Another proof why Elia Kazan was the most revolutionary filmmaker of his time. A rebellious circus movie with an anti-communism theme.

[SAMTHEBESTEST · 7/10 · 4 August 2023]

Man On A Tightrope (1953) : Brief Review -

Another proof why Elia Kazan was the most revolutionary filmmaker of his time. A rebellious circus movie with an anti-communism theme. Whenever we speak about circus movies made in old Hollywood, we usually find comedies or tragic dramas. Specifically, we go back to Chaplin's Circus (1928), Lon Chaney's "He Who Gets Slapped" (1924), or other films you better know. Did we ever look at this circus theme as an insurrection? I did not. Elia Kazan has made many issue-driven films that brought revolution to society, and he was well aware of his actions. Only the man who made "Boomerang!" (1947), "Gentleman's Agreement" (1947), "On the Waterfront" (1954), and "A Face In The Crowd" (1957) could have made a film like Man On A Tightrope. It's a pathbreaking film for the theme it carries; no one in the world would ever imagine a circus film to be so serious and revolutionary. And it was based on a true story too! How amazing things fit here! The film is about a Czech circus owner and his entire troupe, who plan an escapade over the border to Bavaria. The attempt has a lot of difficulties, of course, but the clown is determined and would not look back at all. The concept is brilliant, as is the visualisation. Though it's a bit preachy and tedious on occasion. The pick-up is very slow, and the characters aren't that dangerous. The first interrogation scene looks pretty frightening, but soon we realise how it was staged and how that aggression was so fake. Zama's character was a total disaster. We are watching a serious film about freedom and communism, and there we have a woman who is more concerned about her own woman needs and her husband's machoism. So, it's flawed like that in several other scenes, but overall, it's a fantastic film-thanks to a mind blowing climax. Watch out for Fredric March's performance.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.

Intriguing and well-acted

[the_old_roman · 8/10 · 29 August 2001]

This is an interesting movie about the members of a circus troupe trying to flee Communist domination while battling amongst themselves. Adolphe Menjou is spectacular as a down-on-his-luck government functionary. Gloria Grahame is chilling in her scenes. Richard Boone and Cameron Mitchell lend professional support.

Didn't do it for me

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 19 October 2021]

Perhaps too subtle for me; I found this one quite dull, and lacking the kind of suspense that the escape-the-authorities plot needs. A shame, as it's well mounted for sure, and the circus setting is, as ever, an entertaining one, and the cast - including luminaries like Cameron Mitchell, Gloria Grahame and Fredric March - is to die for. But it simply didn't do it for me.

Brilliant acting, direction and screenplay

[clarkelly33 · 16 August 2011]

Other IMDb reviewers miss a subtle point. This manages to simultaneously savage communist oppression and anti-communists from the House Un-American Activities Committee. SPOILER: When the secret police question the circus owner, he explains that he has no politics, that circus is his politics, his religion, his life. For the interrogator, all must submit to the primacy of the political. I imagine Kazan felt the same about the theater and his movies, and HUAC certainly demanded the same submission. Watching this on TV today, I thought it was a European film. And no other film from this period that is anti-communist has this degree of sophistication or subtlety. I would love to hear Milos Forman's opinion of this film.