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Based on the novel “Pylon” by William Faulkner, this powerful drama, set in New Orleans at the Mardi Gras’ aerial circus in 1932, revolves around a disenchanted trio of air circus daredevils. The story is about failure, a glimpse of the twilight world of ‘flying gypsies’ through the eyes of an alcoholic newspaperman. Faulkner’s style is necessarily transmuted not so much by an undeniable gloss and glamour brought to the playing out of tortured relationships, as by an unsurpassed density of visual expression and atmosphere. In linking festivity and death, Sirk finds correlatives for entrapment: circular motion and symbols of circularity, alternating areas of darkness and light, the clutter of objects and the unconventional ordering of shots. Cast includes Rock Hudson, Robert Stack, Dorothy Malone, Jack Carson, Robert Middleton.
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How to watch
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
316192
Language
English
Audience classification
PG
Subject categories
Communications, Infrastructure, & Transport → Air pilots
Communications, Infrastructure, & Transport → Airplanes
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Black and White
Holdings
VHS; Access Print (Section 1)