Man on a Tightrope
Man on a Tightrope is a 1953 American drama directed by Elia Kazan, starring Fredric March, Terry Moore and Gloria Grahame.Paterson based his true story, which first appeared as the magazine novelette International Incident, on the escape of the Circus Brumbach from East Germany in 1950.The government allows Černík to manage the circus, but he grapples with its deteriorating conditions, loss of his workers to the state, tension with his willful daughter Tereza, and his young second wife Zama, whom everyone suspects of being unfaithful.Propaganda minister Fesker casually asks him about a radio in his trailer, alerting Černík to a spy in his midst.Using an audacious and violent dash across the only bridge, most of the circus safely escape only to be told that Černík has paid with his life.