‘Man on a Tightrope’: A Dangerous Escape for a Little Big Top

A circus cuts loose from a communist chokehold.

(L–R) Tereza Cernik (Terry Moore), Karel Cernik (Fredric March) and Krofta (Richard Boone), in “Man on a Tightrope.” Twentieth Century Fox

NR | 1 h 45 min | Drama | 1953

Elia Kazan’s film dramatizes the real-life escape of Cirkus Brumbach from the clutches of communism. Set in 1952 Czechoslovakia, it draws from the real-life escape of this troupe from East Germany to West Germany in 1950.