Rent The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
3.3 of 5 from 87 ratings
2h 26min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Charlton Heston stars as Brad Braden, the diehard circus manager who lives and breathes to keep the show rolling. With the Big Top about to hit rock bottom, Braden hires The Great Sebastian (Cornel Wilde), a daring trapeze legend, to revitalize the circus. His arrival sparks the rivalry and admiration of Holly (Betty Hutton), Braden's girlfriend and trapese star. After a death-defying battle to regain her place in the centre ring, Holly soon finds herself torn between the love of workaholic Brad and the brazen Sebastain. Add to the mix a flirtatious elephant trainer, racketeers and a lovable clown (James Stewart) with a secret past, and every character becomes a tough act to follow.
- Actors:
- James Stewart, Charlton Heston, Betty Hutton, Cornel Wilde, Dorothy Lamour, Gloria Grahame, Henry Wilcoxon, Lyle Bettger, Lawrence Tierney, Emmett Kelly, Cucciola, Antoinette Concello, John Ringling North, Tuffy Genders, John Kellogg, John Ridgely
- Directors:
- Cecil B. DeMille
- Producers:
- Cecil B. DeMille
- Writers:
- Fredric M. Frank, Barré Lyndon, Theodore St. John, Frank Cavett, Jack Gariss
- Others:
- Frank Cavett, Theodore St. John, Edith Head, Dorothy Jeakins, Anne Bauchens, Miles White
- Aka:
- El espectáculo más grande del mundo
- Studio:
- Paramount
- Genres:
- Children & Family, Classics, Drama, Romance
- Collections:
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- Awards:
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Reviews (1) of The Greatest Show on Earth
Big Top, Small Returns - The Greatest Show on Earth review by griggs
A parade of elephants, trapeze artists, and painted clowns—Cecil B. DeMille throws it all into the ring in The Greatest Show on Earth. What emerges isn’t a masterpiece so much as a stitched-together spectacle: romance under the big top, rivalry on the high wire, melodrama in the sawdust.
Nothing here truly soars. The acting does the job, the dialogue clunks along, the set pieces impress without dazzling. Yet taken together, the film trundles forward like its own circus train—gaudy, noisy, impossible to ignore. The much-touted train wreck is the peak of the show, though even that feels more contrived than cataclysmic.
What lingers isn’t artistry but overload: act upon act, until you surrender. Not the greatest by any stretch, but a reminder that sometimes DeMille’s showmanship was more about filling the tent than lifting the spirit.
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