The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)

A Masterpiece!

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Watched "Greatest Show on Earth" 1952 w/Charlton Heston, Betty Hutton & Cornel Wilde. It won Best Picture Oscar in 1952 somehow beating out "High Noon" Don't waste your time! How this flick won best picture is beyond me. Over 1/2 of the movie is filled with filmed Ringling circus acts (though in rich Tecnhicolor!). The weak story is 2nd rate soap opera.

I've see this movie at least 100 times and thoroughly enjoy every time I watch it. Tonight on cable I watched it again and during the big scene when the circus train arrived to raise the Big Top canvas I noticed 2 buildings in the background. It was then I realized those 2 buildings were part of the old Navy hospital complex in Philadelphia. The buildings have since been torn down, I believe back in the 80's. So this means the tent would have been raised in the FDR park adjacent to the hospital. Just off of broad street. The train would have arrive on the tracks that ran along side the Philadelphia Navy yard...Funny after all these years to finally realize this was filmed ,at least partially in Philadelphia.

DeMille had a thing for big, epic movies. This one runs almost 2 1/2 hours. It features fictional stories overlaid on the real Ringling Bros.-Barnum & Bailey's circus and in fact filmed at its winter quarters in Florida. Some of the scenes involved actual circus performances. This was a glorious time for traveling circuses, something that seems to pretty much faded from our history.Of particular interest to me are scenes in the movie, documentary in style, showing how the roustabouts erected the large tents, then later how they took everything down.This movie came out when I was only 6, I didn't see it right away but do remember seeing it when I was quite young. The most vivid scene that remained with me was the trapeze artist falling without a net. I saw it again today on the Movies! channel.A 30-ish Betty Hutton is Holly, one of the featured trapeze artists, when Cornel Wilde as The Great Sebastian is hired. Even though the two trapeze artists are competitive with each other, always wanting to try something more difficult, a love affair also blossoms. Then there is the fall that Sebastian takes, Holly blames herself for challenging him. When he returns from the hospital he seems fine but his right hand is paralyzed.Also 30-ish Charlton Heston plays the hard-driving circus master Brad Braden. Perhaps the most interesting role is James Stewart as a clown, we never see his face without makeup but his voice is recognizable as soon as he speaks. He is being hunted for a possible murder.

Brad Braden (Charlton Heston) is the general manager of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus which travels the country on their railroad train. His girlfriend Holly (Betty Hutton) expects to be in the lead trapeze spot. He is forced to hire trapeze star The Great Sebastian (Cornel Wilde) to keep the circus going. That starts a trapeze competition and a love triangle. Buttons the Clown (James Stewart) has a secret and is hiding from the law. Harry runs crooked games in the midway concessions. Elephant trainer Klaus is obsessed with Angel who rejects him.It is a technical marvel with many of the circus performers filling out the background. The combination of Cecil B. DeMille and P. T. Barnum results in an extravaganza but the stories don't hold up. I can admire the grand facade but in the end, there is nothing there. None of the actors are doing good work and the characters are too thin. Jimmy Stewart is probably the most interesting but he's a supporting character who is in clown makeup most of the time. All too often, these stories and characters feel grafted onto the circus.