I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

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 8-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.

Chilling drama reflecting the cold war era when a Czechoslovak circus troupe plots a daring escape to freedom.Both Terry Moore and Gloria Grahame give wonderful performances as the daughter and second wife of circus owner Frederic March, who plots the escape.March is given another great role in this film. Grahame, as the vulnerable wife with little to do in her life, is in her second circus film picture of her career within a year. OF COURSE, i'm referring to 1952's THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH. Her emotions shown here are far better than in her Oscar win for BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL. Ditto for Terry Moore in comparison to COME BACK,LITTLE SHEBA.As the suspicious police inspector eventually done in for failing to follow the rules, Adolphe Menjou shows his mettle.

Originally I saw this film in a theatre in 1953 and remembered enjoying it but not being overly impressed with it. I discovered that Fox Connect was offering two KAZAN AT FOX sets, each with four Elia Kazan films in Blu-ray. Volume Two has in addition to Man on a Tightrope, Viva Zapata!, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Wild River. The price is $44.98 or $11.25 per title. I ordered the set mainly because I have wanted a better copy of TREE for many years and was very pleased re-seeing Man on a Tightrope again. Very well directed with a screenplay by Robert E. Sherwood (The Best Years of Our Lives) with location shooting that adds great atmosphere to the story. Not only is Fredric March outstanding but so is just about everyone else in the film. I found that I liked the film a great deal more then I thought I would. If you are interested in any of the listed films then this set is for you. It is offered only through Fox Connect. It is titled: KAZAN AT FOX, VOL. 2. They also offer a Volume 1 that includes Blu-ray copies of GENTLEMEN'S AGREEMENT, PANIC IN THE STREET, PINKY and BOOMRANG! I might add that the transfers of the four films in Volume 2 were beautiful!

How have I missed this one? Amazing cast, gritty photography, wonderful post-war realism. I was getting ready for work while watching and actually was 5 minutes late because I had to make sure that the circus made it across the border! Black and white cinematography was central to the depiction of the Soviet regime as gray and monolithic, even in the face of the beautiful Czech countryside (as portrayed by southern Germany). Frederic March was excellent, but the biggest surprise was Gloria Grahame. She was marvelous, portraying the circus manager's wife with more depth and complexity than in some of her other films. Kazan as director and Waxman as composer should not have been a surprise when I saw the complete credits. It is a thoroughly professional and subtle film. I hope to watch it again and catch the very beginning.