Movies Like Trapeze (1956)

Trapeze is a 1956 drama, romance film from Carol Reed with a MovieMagicScore of 6.2/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with The Greatest Show on Earth and Big Top Bunny.

Drama Romance

The Greatest Show on Earth

1952

To ensure a full profitable season, circus manager Brad Braden engages The Great Sebastian, though this moves his girlfriend Holly from her hard-won center trapeze spot. Holly and Sebastian begin a dangerous one-upmanship duel in the ring, while he pursues her on the ground.

6.3

MagicScore

Big Top Bunny

1951

Bugs Bunny is hired to perform in Colonel Korny's Circus alongside Bruno the Magnificent, the Slobokian Acrobatic Bear, but Bruno doesn't want to share the limelight.

6.4

MagicScore

Variety

1925

The murderer “Boss” Huller – after having spent ten years in prison – breaks his silence to tell the warden his story.

6.6

MagicScore

The Story of Three Loves

1953

Passengers on an ocean liner recall their greatest loves.

5.8

MagicScore

Freaks

1932

A circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance.

7.8

MagicScore

The Circus

1928

Charlie, a wandering tramp, becomes a circus handyman - soon the star of the show - and falls in love with the circus owner's stepdaughter.

7.9

MagicScore

Wings of Desire

1987

Two angels, Damiel and Cassiel, glide through the streets of Berlin, observing the bustling population, providing invisible rays of hope to the distressed but never interacting with them. When Damiel falls in love with lonely trapeze artist Marion, the angel longs to experience life in the physical world, and finds -- with some words of wisdom from actor Peter Falk -- that it might be possible for him to take human form.

7.8

MagicScore

He Who Gets Slapped

1924

After a baron steals his scientific discoveries, runs away with his wife, and slaps him in public, a man joins a Parisian circus sideshow as a clown whose act consists of being slapped repeatedly and becomes infatuated with a showgirl colleague whose father intends to marry her off to the baron.

7.6

MagicScore

The Unknown

1927

On the lam, criminal Alonzo hides in the circus as The Armless Wonder – a performer who uses his feet to hurl knives. Alonzo keeps the arms he really has concealed to hide his identity. Meanwhile, ringmaster's daughter Nanon has a phobia of being touched by men, but is romantically pursued by not only Alonzo but the strongman Malabar. Alonzo's desperation to remain with Nanon will only end in tragedy.

7.5

MagicScore

#10

Mera Naam Joker

1970

Raju faces many hurdles and disappointments in matters of the heart throughout his life. But as a clown in a circus, he tries to make his audience laugh at the cost of his own sorrows. Along the way, Raju loves and loses, but must always keep a smile on his face because, in the words of his circus manager, "The show must go on."

7.4

MagicScore

#11

Behind the Sun

2001

Brazilian badlands, April 1910. Tonho is ordered by his father to avenge the death of his older brother. The young man knows that if he commits this crime, his life will be divided in two: the twenty years he has already lived and the few days he has left to live, before the other family avenges their son's death. He is torn between fulfilling his ancestral duty and rebelling against it, urged by his younger brother Pacu. That's when a tiny travelling circus passes through the vast badlands where Tonho's family lives.

7.3

MagicScore

#12

The Girl on the Bridge

1999

It's night on a Paris bridge. A girl leans over Seine River with tears in her eyes and a violent yearning to drown her sorrows. Out of nowhere someone takes an interest in her. He is Gabor, a knife thrower who needs a human target for his show. The girl, Adele, has never been lucky and nowhere else to go. So she follows him. They travel along the northern bank of the Mediterranean to perform.

7.1

MagicScore

#13

Street Angel

1928

A spirited young woman finds herself destitute and on the streets before joining a traveling carnival, where she meets a vagabond painter.

7.0

MagicScore

#14

Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away

2012

An original story featuring performances by Cirque du Soleil. A young woman is entranced by an Aerialist. When they fall into the dreamlike world of Cirque du Soleil and are separated, they travel through the different tent worlds trying to find each other.

7.0

MagicScore

#15

Lola Montès

1955

Lola Montes, previously a great adventuress, is reduced to being the attraction of a circus after having been the lover of various important men.

6.8

MagicScore

#16

Lili

1953

Members of a circus troupe "adopt" Lili Daurier when she finds herself stranded in a strange town. The magician who first comes to her rescue already has romantic entanglements and thinks of her as a little girl. Who can she turn to but the puppets, singing to them her troubles, forgetting that there are puppeteers? A crowd gathers around Lili as she sings. The circus has a new act. She now has a job. Will she get her heart's desire?

6.6

MagicScore

#17

The Playboys

1992

A young woman, Tara Maguire (Robin Wright) scandalizes her provincial Irish village in the 1950s by having a baby out of a wedlock, and refusing to name the father. She has a rare beauty and every man in town desires her, especially Sergeant Hegarty (Albert Finney). The arrival of a dramatic troupe stirs things up even more, especially when she falls in love with one f the "Playboys", Tom Casey (Aidan Quinn).

6.0

MagicScore

#18

Man Is Not a Bird

1965

A Serbian engineer falls for a younger woman, but he is inept at courtship.

5.9

MagicScore

#19

Intimate Parts

2013

Residents of a big city, each of whom has their own sexual problems and desires, secret and, most often, shameful from the point of view of society, need to solve them. Each of the characters tries to solve their problems in their own way: someone sublimates them, someone turns to a psychotherapist for help, someone rushes into experiments... but sooner or later they all return to where they started, and they have to overcome themselves again and again to get at least a little, even a millimeter closer to their happiness.

4.4

MagicScore

#20

The Great Mystical Circus

2018

The story of five generations of the Austrian-Brazilian Knieps family, from the inauguration of their family-owned Great Mystical Circus in the 1910s up to the early 21st century, following both the family and the circus from their prime through to their decadence.

4.2

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Trapeze?

The top films similar to Trapeze by MovieMagicScore are The Greatest Show on Earth (6.3), Big Top Bunny (6.4), Variety (6.6). Each shares drama/romance themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Trapeze worth watching?

Trapeze holds a MovieMagicScore of 6.2/10 from 93 viewer ratings.

What kind of movie is Trapeze?

Trapeze (1956) is a drama, romance film directed by Carol Reed, starring Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Gina Lollobrigida.

Where can I find more recommendations like Trapeze?

Browse the full ranked list above, or explore more drama recommendations on MovieMagicScore, where every list is ordered by genuine viewer ratings.

Keep exploring

Movies like The Greatest Show on Earth Movies like Big Top Bunny Movies like Variety Movies like The Story of Three Loves Movies like Freaks Movies like The Circus

About movies like Trapeze

This ranked list pairs Trapeze (1956), a drama and romance film from Carol Reed, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Burt Lancaster take note). Unlike critic-driven sites, every position here is ordered by MovieMagicScore — a rating built only from real viewers, with no studio marketing or paid placement. Scores update as more people rate, so the list stays current.

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