MovieChat Forums > Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928) Discussion > Question about Tito's last trick

Question about Tito's last trick

posted 14 years ago by FranLovesBetteD
4 replies | jump to latest

First of all, English is not my first language, so I'll try to express my doubt as clearly as possible.

I just watched the movie for the very first time, and I still have this in mind: in one of the last scenes, when Tito decided to do the trick on the tightrope, his friend kind of hesitated about it, as he knew Tito was still feeling down (I guess). But afterwards, once Tito was up there and about to do it, suddenly appeared another man on stage and definitely tried to alert him. I thought it would have been due to some technical issue over the tightrope, or something like that. But in the end, he fell down with no reason other than his own "fault".

How the third man in scene guessed that something like that could have happened?

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[–] Local Hero 13 years ago

I did not understand the scene the way that you did.

In my impression, Tito's partner is very concerned that Tito is so distraught and yet about to try such a dangerous trick, but he doesn't know whether it's better to stop him or not. But as he watches Tito atop the ladder, it becomes more and more obvious that Tito is losing his mind and the situation is very dangerous. Just then the third man appears on stage and, in my opinion, it is the original partner who shares his concern with the third man, immediately after which the partner finally runs to try to stop it. The third man essentially serves as a witness to the event, and as someone with whom the partner can share his fears so as to heighten the drama.

[–] skiddoo 11 years ago

That's the way I saw it, too.

[–] rmontro 12 years ago

I saw this movie the other night (great flick, no pun intended).

When he did the trick in front of the live audience, it appeared that he strapped on some sort of safety harness or belt beforehand. It didn't look particularly convincing or effective, but when he did the trick at the end for the rehearsal, he didn't put on any such harness. I'm guessing that's what Simon suddenly realized when he tried to stop him.

Perhaps the other man in the scene was telling him the harness was not up there. I don't remember if it was missing, or if he just forgot to put it on.

[–] coldnaps 9 years ago

His not putting it on was deliberate. Nobody got that?