The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)

The Greatest Show On Earth2 Out Of 5The Greatest Show On Earth is a plot driven feature depicting behind the scene politics of the circus which is not interesting enough to invest in it. The emotions depicted in here comes off shallow and pretentious for the most part of it is distracted by the tactics and the plays acted out in the circus where the rest of the material is offered raw and unsupervised. It is short on technical aspects like art design, background score, costume design, choreography, production design, cinematography, sound department and editing. The characters are overstuffed and undercooked which never communicates with the audience due to the crowded screen which frankly everyone wants to get off to. The camera work is decently handled and shot to please and attract the viewers which is clearly visible. The adaptation by the writers is weak and pretentious that wishes to play safe and sound unlike its characters. Cecil B. DeMille; the director, needs some work on the execution skills especially when attaining a balance of commercial and art aspects of the cinema. The performance is plausible by James Stewart and Charlton Heston but unfortunately weren't supported to that extent by the cast. The Greatest Show On Earth is chalky around the edges and completely undercooked at the core; neither does it hit nor does it swing.

With so much attention currently being paid to The Greatest Showman I have selected another circus film for my 'Oldies but Goodies' post this week. The 1952 film, The Greatest Show on Earth, was based on the famous railroad circuses of the day and went on to win the Academy's Best Picture award for that year. Directed by the famous Cecil B DeMille and starring Charlton Heston, Betty Hutton, Cornel Wilde and Jimmy Stewart, this movie takes us behind the scenes of the famous Ringling Brothers - Barnum and Bailey Circus. What makes this movie so fascinating is that when you review the cast list it becomes apparent that most of the circus characters were true circus performers. The story focuses on the circus manager, Heston, trying to keep the circus financially viable. To do so he has to employ an arrogant and womanising trapeze artist, Wilde, to be his star attraction. This impacts the manager's girlfriend, Hutton, who thought she would be the central trapeze artist as she is relegated to a lesser role. As the story progresses it becomes apparent that Heston cares more for the circus than his girlfriend. Hutton feels neglected and starts falling for Wilde's character but still wants the top billing so they both try more daring performances to prove there skill. Eventually Wilde has an accident that prevents him from continuing to perform. There are a whole lot of side stories revolving around who has romantic feelings about who and also there is the mysterious clown, Buttons (Jimmy Stewart), who never takes off his makeup. The climax of the film is a spectacular train crash that cripples the circus, brings out everyone's true feelings for each other and uncovers a couple of mysteries. The true spirit of 'the show must go on' brings the movie to its close. Stephen Spielberg tells that this was the first movie he ever saw and influenced his desire to make movies. Those who have seen his film 'Super 8' will recognise the influence of the train crash from this movie transferred to his. The love of circuses continued on TV as remember growing up watching Bozo the Clown. I really enjoyed this movie and while I never was adventurous enough to ever consider running away to the circus it gave me a greater appreciation for how exciting the circus was 7 friends out of 10

I went to the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus three times in my life. I saw it twice when I was much younger then one more time when I was an adult. I had seen this movie three times before also and always thought it was a good movie. I also have been to the Ringling Bros. Museum in Sarasota.This is a grand movie for its time. It is a gigantic, costly production, much like Ben-Hur or Cleopatra. There are literally thousands of cast members who are in the movie, but are real life Ringling Bros. or some other circus performers. It is amazing to see them work together to put on such a grand performance.The movie is filled with drama, love triangles, jealousy, accidents and conflict. It shows the real life life of how a circus functions all wrapped up in a 152 minutes of run-time. It has one of the most complex productions I know of since Gone with the Wind.However, the movie does not show the dirty side of the circus. While it is all fun and games for the townsfolk who come to see the circus, this move lacks the fundamental truth. It does touch on a little bit of the evils of these circuses, Cecil B. DeMille keeps the viewer from becoming frightened of the circus.Charleston Heston plays the lead role of Brad Braden who is the circus manager. Betty Hutton, Cornel Wilde, James Stewart, Dorothy Lamour, Gloria Grahame, Lyle Bettger all play supporting cast members. If you watch the opening credits you see several hundred "acts' being given credit for their performances.As time passes, this movie loses its flavor. I dislike it for what it represents in the story, but support it for the amazing production.

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.