The Greatest Show on Earth

 The Greatest Show on Earth 1952

• Director: Cecil B DeMille
• Seen by this director: The Ten Commandments
• Based on the novel: no
• Cast: Charlton Heston, Betty Hutton, James Stewart, Cornel Wilde, Dorothy Lamour, Gloria Grahame. Cameos by Bob Hope, Hopalong Cassidy (William Boyd), and others I recognised but don’t remember their names
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Charlton Heston – Hamlet, Soylent Green, Planet of the Apes, El Cid, Ben Hur, The Wreck of the Mary Deare, The Ten Commandments
• James Stewart – Shenandoah, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Bell Book and Candle, Vertigo, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Harvey, Rear Window, maybe others
• Dorothy Lamour – TV series
• Gloria Grahame –TV series, Oklahoma
• Why? Nostalgia.
• Seen: Once, as a child. Now 4 September 2021.      

       Don’t all kids love circuses? I did, even the tiny fleabag circus that came to our North Woods fleabag town. And I loved this film.   

       Behind the scenes of the Greatest Show on Earth. Romance, endless hard work, financial pressures, egos, jealousy, bitter rivalry, danger, secret pasts.

       And animals. I love the animals but I’m so glad circuses no longer exploit them.

       The documentary aspects of the film are fascinating. The show itself is spectacular. The characters are engaging enough if hammily acted by some. Hutton is awful, which is a shame because her character is the most interesting and complex. Jimmy Stewart is just as good as I remember him, and I like Gloria Grahame.

       It’s a pity that it just goes on and on. All those lavish costumes look tawdry and boring after the thousandth one parades by, and there are too many intrigues. It’s losing stars… 

3* of 5. Hal says 2*.