Rated: Unrated
Starring: Charlton Heston, James Stewart, et al.
Director: Cecil B. DeMille
Review
The Greatest Show On Earth is my all-time favorite movie.
It has everything - a murdering clown, a jealous elephant trainer, a train
wreck, and Cornel Wilde in spandex! Critics will complain it's too
melodramatic but that is exactly what makes this movie one you can see
over and over again. With great performances by Charlton Heston, Betty
Hutton, Jimmy Stewart, and scene-stealing Gloria Grahame this movie has
stood the test of time. This is Cecil B. DeMille's love letter to the
circus and he makes all of us watching fall in love too.
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"The Greatest Show on Earth" is probably Cecil B.
DeMille's best sound film (sans the 1956 perennial "The Ten Commandments")
since it is a film about showmanship. DeMille was cinema's greatest
showman, whether his movie plots were historical, religious, dramatic, or
just plain American 1950's hokum, such as this one. "The Greatest Show on
Earth" succeeds at glorifying the lost art of the world's traveling circus
when the circus was performed in tents, vs. the great arenas of today.
DeMille's narration adds an air of authenticity to the proceedings, but
the audience knows full well that this movie is a big show itself, which
is low on the acting quality but big on the spectacle. Some of the matte
shots and special effects show their age, especially the model train wreck
which climaxes the film. Most fun of all is seeing Bob Hope and Bing
Crosby in the circus audience watching their Paramount co-star Dorothy
Lamour perform.
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