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I have seen this film several times and each time I am more impressed. I don't look at a film to rate the acting, but rather I look at a film for its entertainment qualities. This film shows a behind-the-scenes look into circus life that most people would never have a chance to see. The circus acts shown are typical and entertaining, the characters have some qualities that are not always seen in a movie of this magnitude. I am always interested in special effects and how they are used in a film. The train wreck is obviously done with models but it is so well done, it rates mention. There are many considerations in making special effects seem real and all of those are carefully used in this film. Of course, the circus acts were NOT done with special effects and are very entertaining. If you have not seen this picture, please do so with an open mind and expect to be impressed.

I've never been to the circus, so I think of this movie as my trip to the circus. Charlton Heston is great as Brad, the all business manager of the circus. But my favorite character is James Stewart as Buttons the Clown. It's a very different role for him, but it's great.

The Best Picture of 1952, "The Greatest Show on Earth" is wonderful, especially if you've never experienced it. I think this is one of Cecil B. De Mille's finest movies, and I recommend it to everyone. So I give it a 10 out of 10!

It constantly amazes me that people carp that this won best Picture, as though no movie before or since ever won when maybe they shouldn't have. It was a big picture, it had a great story, it gave a lot of bang for the buck and that has always been a factor in grabbing the Oscar. It does seem a bit dated to us now, used to high flying special effects, different acting styles, and quick cut editing, instead of letting the scene play out as it so often does here, but it's such a great story. The circus itself is a character and the way Demille used the audience to make them seem so individual is wonderful. And I'm not just referring to the Hope/Crosby cameo. Remember the fat guy with the kid scarfing down the ice cream laughing his head off while the kid looked confused? You could tell he was reliving his childhood and he became EveryMan to us with only seconds of screen time. That's mastery. The integration of the real circus people with the actors was seamless and if nothing else this movie captures a time when the circus was really a circus. Carp all you want, guys. But I think you may be too spoiled by ultra realism to appreciate the subtler gems in this very respectable film.

I know that some people are down on this movie, but I absolutely LOVE it. It has great ideals and good (not great) acting. It tells a story about the circus in a pseudo-documentary. The story has love, action, and humor. Three things that are missing from much of today's movie. I also love the color and the dramatic "feel" of the film for that era. It's a wonderful, wonderful, piece of 'Americana'.

"The Greatest Show on Earth" is a good movie and it's entertaining enough, it's just not an Oscar-winning caliber movie. As other reviewers have noted, this film was probably given its Best Picture Oscar as a kind of life-time achievement award to Cecil B. DeMille. It wasn't that the Academy felt that they had unjustly snubbed DeMille in the past for any specific film, it was just that he had always made those kind of epic cast-of-thousands types of pictures that drew in the audiences but that rarely won Oscars. Plus, a large body of DeMille's work had been done before the Academy Awards even came into existence in 1927. The whole thing seems especially unjust when you look at the competition that year. Two of the other nominees - "High Noon" and "The Quiet Man" are considered unique and classic to this day. Also, there is a film in the top 10 of AFI Best Films from that year that didn't even get nominated for best picture - Singin' in the Rain - which is arguably the best musical film ever made. It's rather ironic that just four years later the Academy could have probably awarded DeMille more legitimately when he made his last movie, the epic "The Ten Commandments", in 1956.

This movie is basically a documentary on how the Ringling Brothers circus operated in the early 50's, and large chunks of film are taken up showing how the Big Top was assembled, the manual labor involved, how the entire circus - including wild animals - was transported via rail, and basically just all of the hard work that went on behind the scenes. There is also a pretty spectacular scene near the end of the film involving the two trains as they are transporting the circus from one town to another. I say "was" because the circus as it is portrayed in this movie closed down and ceased to exist in 1956. The truth is that the Ringling Brothers circus never fully recovered financially from the double whammy of the Great Depression and a fatal fire that killed over 100 people in Hartford, Connecticut in 1944 and thus was in the process of failing even when this movie was made. The plot of the movie is very thin, the main thread being an uninspired love triangle involving the two stars of the trapeze act, Holly and the Great Sebastion, played by Betty Hutton and Cornel Wilde respectively, and the managing boss of the traveling show, Brad Braden, played by Charleton Heston. The subplots include an elephant trainer who is obsessed over a girl in the show who doesn't care for him, some small-time mobsters whose crooked games get thrown off the lot by Brad, and "Buttons" the clown, played by Jimmy Stewart, who never takes off his makeup and who seems to have a mysterious past. All of these plot lines are just there to hold the documentary part of the film together and also as a backdrop for all of the circus acts that are numerous and quite spectacular to behold, especially the acrobatic acts. Quite honestly, one-fourth into the movie you can see the outcome of the dramatic portion of the movie coming at you from a mile away. This makes the fact that this movie won Best Motion Picture Screenplay an even odder decision than the Best Picture award.

There is some interesting trivia involving the film. Famous clown Emmett Kelly can be seen at one point in the film without makeup - a fact that Mr. Kelly was not happy about. Also, Dorothy Lamour has a supporting role in this film, and during one of her musical performances in the show the camera pans to the audience -as it often does in this film - but this time you get a brief glimpse of Bing Crosby and Bob Hope enjoying the show. The inside joke here is that Lamour, Crosby, and Hope were the costars of the popular series of "Road to ..." movies of the 40's and 50's.

Spectacular and overlong story of a traveling three circus combined show , plenty of diverse characters as a tough manager (Charlton Heston) , a swaggering ringmaster , and a mysterious clown (James Stewart ) with a dark secret who never takes off his disguise . Furthermore , it includes the aerialist acrobat girlfriend (Betty Hutton) , a French somersault artist rival (Cornel Wilde) , and an evil elephant trainer (Lyle Bettger) , among others .

Cecil B. DeMille is an expert in realization of high-budget films with glamour where the greatness does not lack even a moment , here gets to make a nice tribute to the circus world and its surroundings . This hugely agreeable film is a faithful reflection of the title . This is tone of the best Cecil B. De Mille, here in all his epic glory , he is the great director of the greatness. It has a fantastic scenario, great mass movement, and even spectacular scenes for the time, as a car driving toward a train on the railroad tracks and subsequently crash. The story is fine , wrought with romance , love stories , and impressive scenes with enormous pedigree. The film is a melodramatic and romantic tale with the classic triangular love story between Heston-Hutton-Wilde and meshing drama with events offstage along with some scenes in documentary style . The movie is wrought with romance and glamour but is a simple , and also contains an intriguing story about a doctor pursued by the justice . It packs some patently faked ones with players in front of obvious blue real projection. This colorful and dramatic flick packs amazing shows and exciting final . Extraordinary cast and good performances , especially from Charlton Heston and James Stewart as likable clown , both of whom are top notch under Cecil B De Mille's correct direction . Furthermore , some scenes the actors perform their own stunts . Some surprising guest-star cameos as Bob Hope , Bing Crosby watching their usual partenaire , Dorothy Lamour . Lavishly produced Henry Wilconson who plays a police , he's Cecil B. De Mille's usual . Unfortunately the circus at present time , in total downfall, is far from the magic in which they lived in that time. Here are united the Ringling Bros , Barnum and Bailey in combined shows and three-ring circus with colorful parades . The movie deservedly won two Oscars as Best Picture and Story , however the complaints of reviewers and moviegoers ever since , who don't believe it worthy of the honor . Although long-term, it becomes very entertaining and does not superfluous nor a minute. It's a fantastic and spectacular film that achieved big success at Box office . There are frames that children may never forget as the train wreck and an aerialist falling to the soil . Rating : Better than average . Worthwhile seeing .

This film has the reputation of being the least deserving of the "Best Film" Academy Award winners, and that may be true (though I personally think "Oliver!" deserves that designation). However, don't conclude from that that this is a bad movie. In fact, it is a very good movie.

At the end of the day, "The Greatest Show on Earth" succeeds primarily because it's good entertainment. Cecil B. DeMille knew how to do spectacle, and there is plenty here to please the senses: fun songs and costumes abound and the circus tricks bear up even by today's standards.

The film's many solid casting choices don't hurt either. Charlton Heston is perfect as the brusque workaholic circus manager, succeeding in remaining likable and sympathetic. Betty Hutton tackles the extremely difficult task of being girlish, enthusiastic, and breezy without being annoying. Both Hutton and Gloria Grahame provide some good drama and are thoroughly convincing as circus performers. Dorothy Lamour provides some nice comic relief, and James Stewart is (of course) right on target, giving a melancholy aspect to the tale. It's a pity the creators thought it necessary to have Cornel Wilde fake a French accent; otherwise, his performance is quite good.

It's also refreshing to see actors (especially from this time period) doing their own stunts, actually touching the animals, and otherwise throwing themselves into their roles.

While the romantic subplots flirt dangerously with cheesiness, they do succeed in building genuine romantic tension.

My biggest complaints are the stock villains and the deus ex machina resolution of one of the love triangles.

Still, this is good solid entertainment. Movie lovers will find plenty to interest them including Jimmy Stewart shown exclusively in clown makeup, Charlton Heston's first star role, and cameos from Bob Hope and Bing Crosby.

The Greatest Show on Earth is a Cecil B. DeMille extravaganza, maybe the best one he ever produced and directed. Unlike his religious films or his historical films, this film is a nice tribute to an American institution, the Ringling Brothers&Barnum&Bailey Circus and as such it does not attract the controversy of some of his other films.

The Best Picture Oscar for 1952 that this film won was more of a tribute to a Hollywood institution. Cecil B. DeMille in fact directed the first Hollywood made film, The Squaw Man, forty years earlier and this Oscar was essentially a tribute to him for the work of a lifetime. Not the first time or the last time the Motion Picture Academy has done that.

This is DeMille spectacle at it's best. The circus as a cinema subject, so full of color and life, is ideal for a DeMille production. Wonderful camera work marks this film, both of the circus acts and the reaction shots into the crowd of the children of all ages.

Cecil B. DeMille himself narrates portions of the film showing the work involved in putting on the Greatest Show on Earth. His was a familiar voice to the American public because for 10 years DeMille came into American households via radio narrating the Lux Radio Theater. In fact until Alfred Hitchcock got his own anthology TV series, DeMille's voice was probably the most known to the American public of a film director.

And only his name and that of Walt Disney's of people behind the camera were guaranteed box office in the days of the Hollywood studio system.

Spectacle was his thing and DeMille was the master. As a director of players and a judge of good modern writing, DeMille left a lot to be desired. Because of the nature of the subject, no great historical or religious events, the grandiloquent dialog present in so many DeMille films is kept to a minimum here.

This was Charlton Heston's first big break as a star and his second film under a Paramount contract. He had done a film called Dark City, a good noir thriller that got good reviews, but did little for him personally. DeMille saw the six foot two Heston walking on the Paramount lot one day and just said to himself that this was to be the circus ramrod for this film.

But Heston was fourth billed behind Betty Hutton, Cornel Wilde, and Gloria Grahame, all better known than him at the time. Wilde and Grahame were independents as was James Stewart who played a clown with a hidden past.

Stewart in fact had always wanted to play a clown and took this supporting role with smaller billing just for the opportunity. At the time he agreed to do this, his wife Gloria was pregnant with their twin daughters. Stewart had it in his contract a clause that gave him permission to leave the film temporarily to be with Gloria when her time was near. In fact Gloria McLean Stewart had a rough time with the birth and Jimmy exercised that option and totally enraged DeMille who had to shut down production for a few days. He and DeMille did not get along after that though Stewart finished the film and was great in it.

Gloria Grahame may not have been the most beautiful woman in Hollywood, but she was the most seductive operating in 1952. That was a banner year for her. She got a Best Supporting Actress for The Bad and the Beautiful on top of this DeMille film. As the elephant girl she attracts the unwanted attentions of Lyle Bettger who plays an elephant trainer.

Bettger was a great player at that time who played a lovely variety of psychopaths on the screen. He pulls out all the stops here and its his unwanted attentions to Grahame that set up the final scenes.

Dorothy Lamour was here also in a supporting part and she gets to sing Lovely Luawanna Lady in sarong and the reaction shots of the crowd focus on a couple of familiar faces who panted after her in a few Paramount films.

The story itself is a standard four sided triangle involving Heston, Hutton, Wilde, and Grahame with Bettger horning in. You have to see the film to find out who winds up with who.

However the high point of the film involves a circus train wreck. DeMille got a lot of notice for wrecking a train in Union Pacific back in 1939. So he doubles the excitement and wrecks two trains here with circus animals pouring out of busted cages. Great stuff.

Betty Hutton was coming close to the end of her film career. This and Annie Get Your Gun would be her biggest triumphs. Given DeMille's limitations on directing players, Hutton is surprisingly subdued here and effective. She also sings a couple of nice songs here as she bids adieu to Paramount in her next to last film for them.

When The Greatest Show on Earth came out and was doing great box office, Charlton Heston related a story that DeMille came over to him on the Paramount lot and gave him a newspaper clipping and said he would never get a better notice ever, no matter how long a career he had. Heston read the thing and the critic from some small town paper praised all the actors like Stewart, Wilde, Hutton, Grahame, and Lamour said they were great, but that C.B. DeMille must be the greatest director in the world to get a performance out of that circus ramrod.

For all of DeMille's faults here, he created a circus picture that set the standard for any to follow.

This may not be the worst movie to ever win best picture but its up there. Well on second thought this is probably the worst film to ever win best picture. Still though you would expect it to be a worth while film. That in fact though if questionable as well. The film contains almost no depth and is just "fun" after "fun" if you want to call it that. At first its very interesting but it seems as if everything is exaggerated on so many levels.

The acting was not spectacular to watch but it was quite interesting seeing Charlton Heston in his first lead role. I found many of the characters like the tone of the movie annoying after awhile. Who I did like a lot was James Stewart as the philosophical clown. He to me saved the film in that he gave it a much needed extra layer. Sadly though after Stewart there was not much else.

The directing of the much respected Cecil DeMille was non existent to me. I found the movie corny at times and his use of Betty Hutton was a mistake. The look of the movie was very good at times but it did not generate that magical feeling that classics need to have. The writing was actually pretty good considering how shallow much of the movie was.

From movies like this did the term "Hollywood Trash" come up. There is no depth, no valid attempt at drawing emotions out of the audience and simply no artistic value to the film. Then of course the many holes in the plot throughout. This movie was consistently annoying and frustrating. I even had a sense through this film that much of what I was watching was not only and inaccurate depiction of circus life but instead the opposite of how it really is. Why this won best picture is beyond me but its not like the first or the last time the Oscars will and have made a mistake.

Brad: "Women are poison!; Angel: It's a wonderful death"

This one has it all. Even as Show's top competition for that year's Oscar, Quiet Man, is a personal favorite, I take no issue with the Academy's choice for best picture (52). The guts are glorious in their colorful pageantry, charming odditites, romantic wrangle, heroic animals, clever dialogue, subtle to serious humor, cute crowd vinettes (Hope Crosby), strong sentiment, terrific action (a train wreck so exciting it makes Fugitive's "Casey Jones" almost pale in comparison) & moral message on mercy (Dr Buttons) that doesn't feel moralizing. Maybe the greatest director on the planet, DeMille provides narration throughout, opening wide a window into the joy, drama, tireless teamwork and sheer enormity that was the circus, truly the greatest show on earth (3.5/4).

For basically being a two-and-a-half hour advertisement for the circus, The Greatest Show on Earth isn't bad. Is it the best film of 1952? Probably not. But it's still better than some other Best Picture winners I've seen. Part fiction and part documentary, this movie is an impressive spectacle. The dialogue may be corny and the performances may be over the (big) top, but this is a fun way to experience the magic of the circus.

This is my favorite Cecil B. DeMille picture and it rightfully deserves it's title. The cast is well cast. Heston makes a fine circus manager and a perfect "don't take nothing from nobody" type of guy when it comes to dealing with local gamblers. Cornell Wilde is perfect as the typical heart-throb of a trapezist. Betty Hutton is good as the daring young star fighting for the center ring. Last, but certainly not the least, James Stewart is wonderful as the lonely clown with a terrifying secret (I will not give it away!!! See the movie!!!). Cecil was a man of tremendous persona with a hunger for showcasing spectacle by means of careful, intense, and thorough research. He achieves amazing success in portraying (to the best of his ability of the times) the most realistic circus acts without the use of raw footage, and covering the stories behind the characters involved. The thing that really moves everything along though, is the musical score. Two words on that GOOD GOD!!! The music will make you want to go to the circus, even if you didn't like this picture. For those of you who didn't like this picture, why not go to the circus instead? You may be entertained to the point that you'll end up silencing your bad reviews. I'm not saying you have top like this picture, but if you haven't seen it yet, and it's because of the certain bad reviews it got from some people, you're really going to miss something.

This film does a good job of showing the behind-the-scenes lives of circus performers, as well as showing circus performances. It is not filled with thrills and constant excitement, but it is an entertaining film that leaves one feeling sentimental for the days when the circus really was the "greatest show on earth." I would recommend this film to circus fans, Betty Hutton fans, and Jimmy Stewart fans (Jimmy is really charming in this as "Buttons the Clown"). Also, it is fun trying to spot the cameos in this film. Look closely during one of the show scenes and you'll see Bob Hope and his favorite adversary watching Dorothy Lamour.

Most everything that needs to be said about this film has been said: that it is typical Cecil B. De Mille hokum, that it is wondrously undeserving of the Best Picture Oscar it nabbed for 1952, that it manages to capture a world that doesn't exist anymore, etc., etc. And a great deal has been said about James Stewart's fine understated performance in perpetual clown makeup. Charlton Heston has been a fine, sometimes brilliant actor, but here he was very early in his career and hadn't quite worked out the use of nuance in the tough leading man role, and in the nuance department, not many people compete with Jimmy Stewart. Stewart makes every moment real, even though his character takes some suspension of disbelief. (Years in the circus without ever taking off his makeup and he has aroused neither suspicion nor terminal eczema?) But seeing this thing again after many years, I was quite surprised to see how Cornel Wilde absolutely leaps off the screen. Though I've long been a fan of his, nothing prepared me for the charisma that he radiated in every frame. He's not the actor Stewart is -- maybe not even that Heston is -- but if he had been an unknown when he made this film, it would have made him a star the way "Thelma and Louise" made Brad Pitt a star. Though some have quibbled with his accent, apparently not aware that Wilde was fluent in French, German, Hungarian, and several other European languages, it is the sheer dazzling quality of his presence that is now for me the most memorable part of this movie. As the movie started, I was surprised to realize that Wilde has top billing among the male actors. But moments after his entrance, I realized why.

As time goes by circuses have become scarcer and in many parts of the world are no longer in business. In the 50's and 60's they were indeed on top of the world. Children loved the circus with performing animals, trapeze artists and other performers and especially the clowns. And with all this tension and awe, sweets, popcorn and ice cream were consumed in large numbers.

This era will never be seen again because of changed circumstances.

To take yourself back in time and especially for children to experience this missed opportunity, you can do no better than view this film. It has it all and is a spectacular glamorous show, with a number of underlying stories to tell as well. Worth a sparking star rating of 8 in 2020.

Not only did this picture not deserve to win the best picture Oscar, no human being should be forced to sit through this 2.5 hour monstrosity.

In a vain attempt to create an over the top spectacle Cecil B. DeMille fills half the movie with circus acts and parades. As a boy I loved the circus as much as anyone, and even now I have great respect for the amazing athletic ability of circus performers, but if I wanted that I would watch Cirque de Soleil.

Granted, Charlton Heston does a fine job playing circus boss Brad, but comes nowhere close to saving this mess.

Jimmy Stewart definitely drops a few pegs in book for his boxy portrayal of Buttons The Clown.

With such legendary movies as High Noon and Singin' In The Rain also made that year, The Greatest Show On Earth had no business even being nominated.

It would validate this film best if I state outright at this point that I am a great fan of the movie SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, also released in 1952 and generally ignored by the Academy, seemingly due to the shower of accolades handed out to AN AMERICAN IN PARIS. THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH did not win many Oscars beyond the coveted best picture award, but even this fact has poisoned my viewpoint of the justification of the Academy's decision, and that this in itself displays the incomprehensible factor that the statuette ended up at Paramount, not MGM.

However, my eventual purpose of viewing this film was threefold: to see Jimmy Stewart, Dorothy Lamour and one of the final best pictures of the 1950s, which I had not seen. All my SINGIN' IN THE RAIN prejudices aside, I was very pleasantly surprised.

Cecil B. DeMille's opinions of the circus as a ‘human machine made up of many parts' is interesting as it evokes the assemblage of any motion picture, and certainly, an enormous production such as this one. The script, generally convincing in its theme, can deliver on its expectations and bring to life a drama-comedy-epic-action-romance-musical that actually works, all elements and sub-plots played alongside. Even if these aspects make for melodramatic story lines, I have assumed that the purpose of the film is generally basic entertainment. And the basic story…the dramatic lives of circus performers culminating and reaching their peak underneath the glamour and colour of the big top isn't too bad either. DeMille's well-handled direction is intriguing and always expectantly, a job well done.

There are many good examples of an all-star ensemble cast, but this one ranks close to the top…Betty Hutton, Cornel Wilde, Charlton Heston, Jimmy Stewart, Dottie Lamour, Gloria Grahame…each may bear no resemblance to their character's personalities, but play their parts interestingly well. Generally, I found Stewart's portrayal as Buttons the clown, masked behind a multiple personality, to be the best performance in the film. It is difficult also not to mention the many great and entertaining real-life circus performers that truly made up the spirit of THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH, and continue to do so in their differed entertaining medium today, so it is really quite a nice tribute to their dedication.

To satisfy the varied genres of the film, each character is where they are to fuel the particular element. Angel (Grahame) enhances the comedy with her natural talents, and Phyllis (Lamour) and Holly (Hutton) to fill out the musical aspects with an extensive musical program, including `Jumpin' Jack' and the title song. Romance is demonstrated in a series of different love triangles involving five of the six lead characters. Drama is seen with the integration of all these aspects, involving Buttons (Stewart), tension between Sebastian (Wilde) and Brad (Heston), and the case of post ANNIE GET YOUR GUN competitive one-upmanship between Holly and Sebastian on the trapezes. Finally, in the case of action, the sensationalism of the train scene brings all these emotions to a halt…to create one of the biggest epics of 1950s Hollywood, and to destroy some of the colourful and glamourous illusions of circus life.

Despite the fact the film definitely exceeded my original expectations of it and the fact that it filled its three-hour plus running time certainly impressed me. However, I would like to continue to retain my position on the unfair juxtaposition of SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, and it is doubtful my opinion will swing to favour THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH any time soon.

Rating: 8/10

Hmm 1952, the year where if what I have just read is right? Was actually the biggest miscarriage of justice in the history of cinema, yes, we all know that Monkey Business should have won best picture hee hee.

The Greatest Show On Earth, bold and brash seems to be the words that come to mind after just taking in my first viewing of the Cecil B. DeMille love song to the circus way of life. The film exudes all the grandness one expects from a director who seems to have single handedly invented the word epic! It has enough nouse to feel like a very believable story, a sort of up close and personal look into the nitty gritty world of circus performers, whilst it also manages to keep it on the right side of glossy with a series of strands that can't help but keep the viewer involved.

The negatives are evident for sure, tho, because I'm a James Stewart fan I can't help being annoyed at the background part he plays in proceedings, especially as his character has such a brilliant story that could have been fleshed out to give us so much more, it's just a waste of talent when you look at the array of picket fence acting that surrounds him. None of them cover themselves in glory, and I was rather surprised at just how poor Heston was, and don't get me started on Betty Hutton, boy that woman has a voice that can curdle milk from a mile away.

Yet the wooden performances and the overwhelming belief that High Noon & Singing In The Rain were robbed of a gold statue can't take away from the fact that the aerial trapeze scenes are wonderful, the clowns, the Elephants, the hidden back story of Buttons, the tricks, the who loves who basic human fallibility, and that flipping train crash makes for a dam enjoyable film. I only go 7/10 for it myself, but anything less than that is unfair as far as I'm concerned.

"come to the circus, the greatest show on earth"

In a year when "Singin' in the Rain" and "High Noon" were released, this overstuffed turkey somehow won the Oscar for Best Picture. Half the film is nothing more than circus performances. The other half is soap opera and melodrama. Heston and Wilde both overact, although they are models of restraint compared to the annoying Hutton. Playing a self-centered trapeze artist, Hutton acts like an overzealous high school student in a badly produced school play. Grahame is the only cast member to turn in a decent performance. DeMille has no interest in telling a good story, only in creating an overlong spectacle, no matter how dull.