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My husband and I really enjoy the older moveis. This just released and I bought it with the other items I purchased the same day.
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I saw this movie in 1952, believe it or not. I was five years old and my parents took me to see it because we really loved circuses. It has remained with me as a colorful and exciting view into the world of life under the big tent. Now I am showing it to my adult ESL students and they are eating it up! Overlook the little side plots that you don't like and concentrate on the fun and drama. M*A*S*H goes to the circus.
DeMille needed to appeal to a wide range of tastes. Big tent rivalry, a man who lives only for the life of the circus, Betty Hutton in love with two men, and Jimmy Stewart as a doctor on the lam hiding behind his greasepaint. Dorothy Lamour and Bob and Bing sitting in the bleachers eating popcorn. High wire act daredevilry. Emmet Kelly and clowns who fit in cars unbelievably small. It's all there, including the crooked side show and the jealous elephant handler. And an appearance by my favorite cowboy, Hoppalong Cassidy. I think it is a great movie for its entertainment value as well as the capture of a moment in American history when we really did send large three ring circuses around the country by train.
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Cecil de Mille's THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH won an Oscar for best picture in 1952. While it may not be the greatest movie ever made, it certainly made me want to see a real live circus again, no small feat. The stunts are both funny and fantastic, the animals majestic, the circus comraderie feels genuine, and you can practicallly smell the cotton candy. Yes, there is a plot here too. A very young Charlton Heston is the circus manager who must ride herd on everyone. Betty Hutton and Cornel Wilde play trapeze artists; Jimmy Stewart is a clown with a past. There is a romantic triangle as well as good guys triumphing over the villains. Almost everyone-- but not quite-- winds up happy in the end.
You should certainly see-- if you never have before-- this movie but don't take it too seriously. As they say, they don't make movies like this anymore.
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Received this DVD in a timely manner. I haven't played it yet, but it looks to be in excellent condition.
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Every one was shocked when THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH won Oscars for Best Motion Picture and Best Screenplay; there was nothing about the film that could be considered "great art." At the same time, however, SHOW was a lot of fun, and certainly audiences of the day flocked to it, making it the single biggest grossing film of 1952.
The story is purple-prose soap opera. Circus manager Brad Braden (Charleton Heston) is doing a balancing act between rival arielist stars Sebastian (Cornel Wilde) and Holly (Betty Hutton)--the later of whom is torn in her affections between the two. Add in a lovely but common show girl (Dorothy Lamour), a jealous elephant trainer (Lyle Bettger), the object of his affections (Gloria Graham), a clown with a mysterious past (Jimmy Stewart), high wire accidents, and a train wreck--all mixed well by Cecil B. DeMille's eye for larger-than-life spectacle. The result is brassy, silly, corny, and thoroughly enjoyable.
Seen today, the big attraction here is the chance to see the circus when it was still traveling by rail and performing under "the big top." Filmed with the cooperation of Ringling Brothers-Barnum and Bailey, SHOW allows us to see what was involved in organizing the lavish show that was the circus in the 1950s, a world filled with roustabouts, elephants, barkers, peanut vendors, acrobats, and all the rest. One of the more interesting aspects of this is Emmett Kelly, one of America's greatest clowns, who appears throughout the film as himself.
THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH is lots of flash and dazzle, a little song and dance, Charleton Heston in his first major role, Betty Hutton in one of her final films (she did most of her own stunt work), and lots of corny charm. It might not really be the "greatest" show on earth, but it is very picturesque. The film isn't restored, but it isn't in bad condition; sadly, there are no bonuses at all.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer
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