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The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
Director: Cecil B. DeMille
Writers: Fredric M. Frank & Barré Lyndon (screenplay)
Cast: Charlton Heston, Betty Hutton, Cornel Wilde, James Stewart, Gloria Grahame
Genre: Drama
The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
Writers: Fredric M. Frank & Barré Lyndon (screenplay)
Cast: Charlton Heston, Betty Hutton, Cornel Wilde, James Stewart, Gloria Grahame
Genre: Drama
"The dramatic lives of trapeze artists, a clown, and an elephant trainer are told against a background of circus spectacle."
Oscar winner for Best Picture...but did it deserve to win over such classics as John Ford's The Quiet Man or the Gary Cooper film High Noon. Well, the answer is complex. No one wanted to vote for the anti McCarthy message film High Noon. And Cecil B. de Mille was highly regarded in Hollywood and yet had never been directly rewarded with an Oscar. And while the story line itself in The Greatest Show on Earth is strictly by the numbers and uninspired...and the acting is mishmash at times, there's no denying the grandeur that was the hallmark of Cecil B. de Mille.
Much of this film works as a documentary with much actual behind the scenes footage filmed at Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey's Florida camp, and features the actual circus troupe who appears in the film, along with hundreds of animals, and trainloads of equipment and tents.
One of the high lights of this technicolor film is the actual circus performances by the stars. That's Gloria Grahame's face that a very real elephant rest it's foot on! And the multi talented Betty Hutton had to learn how to do the trapezes as did her male co star, Cornell Wilde.
This was Charlton Heston's first leading role in a movie and launched his career. James Stewart plays his entire role in clown make up so isn't as well remembered but he should be.
At 2.5 hours this is long, but well worth it for the exciting and real circus scenes.
Much of this film works as a documentary with much actual behind the scenes footage filmed at Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey's Florida camp, and features the actual circus troupe who appears in the film, along with hundreds of animals, and trainloads of equipment and tents.
One of the high lights of this technicolor film is the actual circus performances by the stars. That's Gloria Grahame's face that a very real elephant rest it's foot on! And the multi talented Betty Hutton had to learn how to do the trapezes as did her male co star, Cornell Wilde.
This was Charlton Heston's first leading role in a movie and launched his career. James Stewart plays his entire role in clown make up so isn't as well remembered but he should be.
At 2.5 hours this is long, but well worth it for the exciting and real circus scenes.