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Plot:
The Greatest Show on Earth is a heaping helping of flapdoodle served up by one of Hollywood's canniest entertainers, producer-director Cecil B. DeMille. This overripe melodrama purports to be l...( read more 
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Recent Reviews
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MCT:July 8, 2008
The circus shows are entertaining enough. Charlton Heston, Cornel Wilde and James Stewart's performances are good. But not "greatest" anyway......
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MCT:June 27, 2008
A highly entertaining, suspenseful extravaganza... I'm gonna type that word again... extravaganza... cool...
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MCT:April 12, 2008
not as good as i had hoped way to long cant lie had to fast foward a little bit. great acting though
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MCT:January 22, 2008I hate this movie this so much that this isn't a review as much as a warning. This turkey is considered the worst best picture winner at the oscars for a very good reason.
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MCT:December 9, 2007
Boy, was this movie LONG. But, it was a revelation to the kids, who will probably never get the chance to see a circus of this size in their lives.
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MCT:November 26, 2007Do I usually dislike DeMille? Yeah. He's a pompous old coot most of the time. But this movie features, and I can't stress this enough. A clown who is not only a doctor, but a murderer. And in an entirely non-sci fi outer space killer klown kind of way. Plus, its about the circus, which I hate usually, but the actors make it seem like the circus doesn't smell like cabbage and shattered dreams...A bit dull and long-winded if you're not in the right mood...
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MCT:November 26, 2007
Usually spoken of as one of the undeserving Best Picture winners (competition included High Noon and The Quiet Man, as well as some un-nominated like Singin' in the Rain).
What is there to say?
It's true. It's too long, it's a little disjointed, randomly turning from a drama about the characters, a circus picture (i.e., one that displays the acts, animals and so on), a bit of a comedy, a romance--so far everything works all right--and then suddenly Cecil B. DeMille, the director, suddenly reappears in voiceover after half an hour with purple prose exposition about the 'great beast' of the circus tent after we forgot he narrated the beginning of the movie, too, as if he's trying very hard to make it seem like a documentary. It's odd and it doesn't quite mesh.
Now, despite that, Charlton Heston is in fine form as Brad Braden the circus manager, as are Betty Hutton as the torn trapeze artist Holly, Cornel Wilde as the thickly accented "The Great Sebastian"--and most importantly, ol' Jimmy Stewart as Buttons the clown. Braden is trying to keep the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus running for a full season instead of just hitting the big cities, bringing in daredevil and casanova The Great Sebastian in to draw crowds with his fame and reputation. This ruins Holly's original guarantee of center ring, damaging the relationship he has with her, one where she is ignorant of what feelings he has for her.
The plot sort of meanders from there, though, in fairness, it does maintain its pacing and aim clearly, but it just takes too damn long to get there. DeMille films and directs beautifully, though there's some early Technicolor artifice hanging around the edges (the meeting between the money-men behind the circus is uncomfortable in its clearly false setting, clunky line delivery and hammy dialogue) where films were starting to sort of feel out what they could do outside being a purely visual medium or adapting stage works. It's entertaining enough and will probably come off better when I re-watch it eventually, but for now I'm about as impressed as I expected to be by it, which isn't much. Not a film I'd recommend jumping at, but not a bad way to spend your time if you have two and a half (!) hours to kill--though there are better films to spend that much time on. -
MCT:August 22, 2007
Just a wonderful movie. It keeps you watching from start to finish and wanting just a little bit more.
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MCT:August 5, 2007
I enjoyed this very much. Poor Buttons. Is it strange that I feel bad for him considering the circumstances? Anyway I recommend it, but thinks some parts are kind of sexist.
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MCT:May 28, 2007The finest circus movie of all time. A must see for circus enthusiasts wanting to see such greats as Emmett Kelly Sr., Jackie LeClaire and others. Perhaps Jimmy Stewart's finest performance too.
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MCT:May 20, 2007
Heston could easily be a massive star in our day and age. More importantly, this movie impressively sticks to the main theme throughout, something films in today's age seem to have difficulty with.
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MCT:March 15, 2007
I could watch this show over and over again... and even the best movies I don't really like to watch that much!
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MCT:March 3, 2007Films about circuses are invariably rubbish, and this is no exception. Clumsy melodramatic soap opera that's wall-to-wall cliches. Only James Stewart's enigmatic clown piques any interest at all.
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MCT:January 24, 2007
Excellent movie. I particularly liked the James Stewart's character's story line. The train wreck near the ending is unforgettable.
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MCT:January 14, 2007
Doesn't live up to its name. There are some unintendedly stupid line like: "Clowns are funny people." It truly is the worst "Best Picture."
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MCT:November 3, 2006
A good movie of what everyone believes the circus to be like with all the side melodrama that goes on with the circus folk.
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MCT:October 26, 2006
Ah, what a great melodrama. It may not be gay enough for Fossbinder, but I have to admit, the angst on top of angst in this grandiose DeMille wank totally sucked me in. And as much as you may hate him politically, ya gotta admit, Chuck Heston had presence.
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