The Best Picture of 1952 is…..”The Greatest Show on Earth.” This massive production from director Cecil B. DeMille (“Samson and Delilah” 1949) tells the story of life behind the scenes at Ringling Bros.-Barnum and Bailey Circus. The film includes comedy, drama, romance, high-rise thrills, chills, and spills, and a spectacularly filmed train wreck scene.
The cast includes Charlton Heston as the no-nonsense circus manager, James Stewart as a clown always in makeup, Bette Hutton and Cornel Wilde as trapeze artists, Henry Wilcoxon as an FBI agent, as well as Gloria Grahame, Dorothy Lamour, Lawrence Tierney, and cameo appearances by Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Danny Thomas, Noel Neill, Van Heflin, Emmet Kelly, Leon Ames, and Edmond O’Brien as the narrator.
“The Greatest Show on Earth” was a huge hit at the box office for producer C. B. DeMille and Paramount Pictures. It was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning two: Best Picture and Best Story (Fredric M. Frank, Theodore St. John, Frank Cavett). Non-winners were Best Director, Best Costume Design (Edith Head), and Best Film Editing. It was filmed in Technicolor.
The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
cinema
My Review
The Best Picture of 1952 is…..”The Greatest Show on Earth.” This massive production from director Cecil B. DeMille (“Samson and Delilah” 1949) tells the story of life behind the scenes at Ringling Bros.-Barnum and Bailey Circus. The film includes comedy, drama, romance, high-rise thrills, chills, and spills, and a spectacularly filmed train wreck scene.
The cast includes Charlton Heston as the no-nonsense circus manager, James Stewart as a clown always in makeup, Bette Hutton and Cornel Wilde as trapeze artists, Henry Wilcoxon as an FBI agent, as well as Gloria Grahame, Dorothy Lamour, Lawrence Tierney, and cameo appearances by Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Danny Thomas, Noel Neill, Van Heflin, Emmet Kelly, Leon Ames, and Edmond O’Brien as the narrator.
“The Greatest Show on Earth” was a huge hit at the box office for producer C. B. DeMille and Paramount Pictures. It was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning two: Best Picture and Best Story (Fredric M. Frank, Theodore St. John, Frank Cavett). Non-winners were Best Director, Best Costume Design (Edith Head), and Best Film Editing. It was filmed in Technicolor.