O Maior Espetáculo da Terra

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).

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.

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!

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.

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'.