The Three Maxims

Odd film about a trio of trapeze artists trying to make the bigtime in Paris. Anna Neagle stars as Pat who is the object of affection of both her partners: Tullio Carimnati as Toni, and Leslie Banks as Mac.

Trouble ensues after Banks expresses his love for Neagle and she rejects him. He hits the bottle and blames Carminati for his failure to win her. As they as practicing (with a net) Banks (who is the catcher) drops Carminati who falls into the net. The manager (Horace Hodges) is alarmed but no one else seems to be bothered.

On the night of the big show, Banks, who has overheard Neagle, gets very moody. As Carminati makes his jump, Banks catches only one hand. With Carminato dangling over the stage (no net) Neagle collapses in a faint on her perch and nearly falls. When the men see her in danger, they quickly get over their spat and race to save her before she falls.

The act is a big hit, but it wasn't part of the act. How will they resolve things? Neagle looks great and performs some of the aerial work. She also gets to dance a little. Banks and Carminati seem too old for their parts but are otherwise good. Hodges is fine as the manager, and Nicholas Koline is good as the comic with a duck.

Not the usual Neagle film, but certainly worth a look.

Anna Neagle, Leslie Banks and Tullio Carminati are the Three Maxims, a first-rate trapeze act in a third-rate circus. Fortune, however, beckons with a contract for a Parisian theater. At this point Banks asks Carminati to propose to Anna for him; when she turns him down, he turns surly, thinking the two are in love; he drops Carminati into the net during rehearsal, and they work without a net when there's an audience.

It's certainly a pleasure to see Miss Neagle in white tights, but there's nothing to do with the circus in her performance. She is miscast, but who can blame her producer and director, Herbert Wilcox, whom she would marry seven years later? It's a love letter to her, and who can blame the smitten fellow? Her co-leads are fine and the production certainly puts a lot of money on the screen with a crowd of extras in the theater scenes.

Whoever the uncredited acrobats were that filled in for the leads on the trapeze, they did a good job, as did Freddie Young, the great cinematographer, in the long shots -- alas, the print I looked at was not sharp to determine if the close-ups were of equal quality, but I'm sure they were.