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The Greatest Show on Earth
(1952),
Director: Cecil B. DeMille, rated Approved
Thrill to Cecil B.
DeMille's pageantry and excitement!
  Starring:
Betty Hutton, Cornel Wilde, Charlton Heston, James Stewart,
Dorothy Lamour, Gloria Grahame, Lawrence Tierney, Lyle Bettger,
Bob Carson, Henry Wilconxon, Emmett Kelly
DML Rating:
★★★★★★★☆☆☆
- good
"We bring you the circus,
pied piper whose magic tunes greet children of all ages, from
six to 60, into a tinsel and spun-candy world of reckless beauty
and mounting laughter and whirling thrills; of rhythm,
excitement and grace; of blaring and daring and dance; of
high-stepping horses and high-flying stars." - Narrator
Why watch this?
Drama and the excitement that is the traveling circuses of old!
Plot Summary:
The manager of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus,
Brad Braden, struggles to maintain a profitable show by hiring a
reckless, talented trapeze artist to attract larger audiences.
As romances and rivalries develop among the performers, a clown
with a dark secret tries to remain hidden within the troupe.
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Dad's Preview:
Cecil B. DeMille was a master of epic storytelling, most
famously
The Ten
Commandments (1956). This classic serves as both a
quasi-documentary of the Barnum and Bailey Circus, and a
dramatic soap opera, focused on the men and women who make up
the traveling show. Of course, every lion tamer, clown and
trapeze artist has a nebulous past, some using the show as a
hiding place. This film is a Techni-Color spectacle to behold as
the circus makes its way across 1950's America. Heston is superb
as the hard-driving, man-in-charge and Betty Hutton is charming
as a high-flying woman looking for love. Yet, it's James
Stewart, as Buttons the Clown, who delivers a memorable
performance as a wise clown with secrets. It won the Oscar for
Best Picture, but many critics feel is did not deserve it - I
personally disagree. |
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Cecil B. DeMille; Paramount Pictures |
