MAN ON A TIGHTROPE

US, 1953, 105 minutes, Black and white.
Fredric March, Terry Moore, Gloria Grahame, Cameron Mitchell, Adolphe Menjou, Robert Beatty, Richard Boone.
Directed by Elia Kazan.

Man on a Tightrope is one of the lesser-known works of Elia Kazan who won Oscars for Gentleman’s Agreement and for On the Waterfront (made after this film). He made a number of striking films including A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Pinky, Splendour in the Grass, A Face in the Crowd. He also made the autobiographical America America.

Commentators think that the Mc Carthyism of the 1950s, the anticommunist diatribes and the demands for American loyalty meant that this more subtle critique of communist Europe did not succeed as might have been hoped.

The film has a very strong cast led by Fredric March as the owner of a circus who finds his performance under critique by the government and decides to flee, with his family, wife and daughter, Gloria Grahame and Terry Moore, to the West. He decides that the escape attempt will be in full daylight – in performance.

Adolphe Menjou is effective as a communist official.

The film indicates the kind of wariness of communism during the Cold War years – but is much more developed in its analysis and critique than the usual fare.

1. The implications of the title? A circus, the symbolism of a tightrope, the situation of Cornik, the possibility of a fall, danger of death? The tone of this for the film?

2. Was it evident that this film was made in the fifties? Would a film on a similar topic be made similarly now - the presentation of Communistic countries? The atmosphere and tone? how did the film reflect the America of the period? Did this take away from the impact of the film?

3. How good was this film as an escape adventure? Did the story and the people seem real? Situations generating genuine tension?

4. The presentation of the circus itself and its use as an allegory for the world? A circus a part of the old times, its place in the new, authorities' criticism about the content of the circus, the possible political function? The significance of the trap putting the circus in the ditch in the beginning? Yet people's response to the circus is the same? Officials enjoying the circus, the soldiers distracted to watch it? The circus as a perennial value? Entertainment enjoyed as a perennial value? How well was this illustrated at the end? How did the circus atmosphere provide the film's happiness and sadness, clowns, masks, feats of daring etc?

5. How interesting a character was Cornik? The circus heritage, his mother, his leading his troupe, his ignorance yet his initiative? His wanting to escape and be free, the clash between this and the political emphasis of Cornik? His relationship with his daughter, with his wife and her infidelity? His capacity for handling people? His ignorance and fear? His shrewd behaviour towards the authorities? what were the main reasons for his deciding to escape? The goal of freedom? The deal with the dwarf, the rival circus master? His suspicions? The portrait of the risks and Cornik’s response to them? His death, waving others? What kind of man was he?

6. How conventional were Joe and Teresa as hero and heroine? How conventional were their parts? Their role in the plots? Was there any insight into love, freedoms, refugees from? Cornik and the American background? The interrelationship of the two and with their father?

7. Zama as a conventional character? Her role in the circus? Her relationship with Teresa and with Cornik? the change of heart, her change of heart at the end?

8. The portrait of the Communists? How genuine and sympathetic? Fesker and his insight into Cornik’s behaviour and his wanting them to pursue him quietly? The fanatic Korfta and his shooting of Cornik? The younger officials trying to be superior over the older ones? How much suspense did this give?

9. The importance of the prison sequences? Torture and suspense? The abuse of human freedom etc?

10. Many were killed during the escape? Was the killing and the death equal to the experience of freedom?

11. The significance of the final march to freedom? The paralleling with the initial procession and being forced into a ditch? The proud aloofness of the mother? The animals and the clowns, the performance to freedom? Cornik dying? The music? What did this communicate about the people and freedom?

12. How was the film a picture of the 20th century world?