Antoinette Concello, Betty Hutton, Charlton Heston

A multi-faceted tale of circus life, from the flash and glamour of the big top to the clown hiding from his past.

Flixster Users

65% liked it

4,794 ratings

Critics

41% liked it

22 critics

Unrated, 2 hrs. 33 min.

Directed by: Cecil B. DeMille

Release Date: January 10, 1952

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DVD Release Date: April 6, 2004

Stats: 244 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (244)


  • June 19, 2009
    completely apt for family or childrens viewing, but it's just like going to the circus and eaves-dropping on some of the workers for about 15 minutes. it really has no story. just pure entertainment value. not my type of entertainment though
  • January 22, 2008
    I 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.
  • 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 tu...( read more)rning 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.
  • August 15, 2007
    A circus which has every cool act imaginable. It gets a bit soap-operish.
  • March 3, 2007
    Films 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.
  • November 20, 2009
    Good 50's film, but how it EVER won the Oscar for Best Picture, I'll never know.
  • November 19, 2009
    After reading all the reviews and opinions of others, I believe they sold it short! My family took me to see it when I was a very young girl and I fell in love with it. I found it to have a wonderful storyline and some of the greatest actors ever. All of them are no longer with ...( read more)us . I had to have it on VHS then on DVD and each time I watch it, the same feel good and nostalgic emotions flood my whole being and I feel like that child again. It takes me back to where things were good and innocent, a time where entertainment didn't have to have sex and bad language to be enjoyed or to get ratings. Think of when it was made!! 1952!! Good movie!!
  • September 29, 2009
    I enjoyed this movie. It follows the life of a few of the circus stars, but then has this intertwined with circus acts and other everyday working events of being part of a circus. It is an old movie and so has the sorts of entertainment you get with them where you would go for a ...( read more)bit of everything, Love, comedy, evil goings on, songs and performers such as dancing.
  • August 24, 2009
    Horrble mess of a movie. DID NOT deserve Best Picture.
  • August 13, 2009
    Not so bad as I expected.

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The Greatest Show on Earth Trivia


  • In the film The Greatest Show on Earth, during Dorothy Lamour's arial act, what frequent co-stars are shown in the audience?  Answer »
  • What legendary director links the films "Cleopatra", "The Ten Commandments", "The Greatest Show on Earth", "Madame Satan" and "Samson and Delilah"?  Answer »
  • In the 1956 film "The Greatest Show On Earth" was the train wreck based on a true story?  Answer »
  • This movie won the only Best Picture Academy Award for Cecile B DeMille, many feel more out of sentiment for DeMille than for the actual quality of the picture.  Answer »

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