Originally posted on 7/26/21
Currently watching: I usually don't care that much for circus movies, but producer/director Cecil B. DeMille's blustery, bloated, bombastic, and at times downright monstrous THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH (1952) eventually won me over.
DeMille clearly did care for circus movies--enough, at least, to make this the most spectacular big top epic ever, with the full participation of the Ringling Brothers-Barnum & Bailey Circus, the best outfit of its kind ever to tread the sawdust.
It's also packed with dozens, perhaps hundreds of actual circus performers (including Emmett Kelly), making it a three-ring extravaganza that barely lets up for its entire two-and-a-half hour running time. Even Hopalong Cassidy makes an early appearance.
The director's sentimental streak for the circus life is expressed in all the cutaways of wide-eyed kids, wonderstruck by the spectacle before them as they gorge themselves on cotton candy and other treats even as their adult companions can be seen reliving their own childhood joy.
What really drives this film, however, is the behind-the-scenes drama. Charlton Heston is awesome as the no-nonsense boss, Brad, who dresses like Indiana Jones and drives the performers and roustabouts to always push themselves to produce the best show possible despite all odds.
The absolutely indefatigable Betty Hutton has one of her most energetic roles as trapeze star Holly, driven to risk her life nightly when another trapeze master, roguish French superstar Sebastian (Cornel Wilde), joins the show and competes with her for the center ring. Both perform their increasingly dangerous stunts without a net, with inevitably tragic results.
Also filling out a wonderful cast are Gloria Grahame as elephant trainer Angel, Holly's rival for Brad's affections; exotic Dorothy Lamour as an emotionally unpredictable glamour girl; and Lyle Bettger and Lawrence Tierney as criminal types whose dastardly schemes threaten both the circus and the very lives of its people. (Keep a sharp eye out for a great dual cameo appearance by two very familiar stars.)
Last but not least is Jimmy Stewart, a clown who hides his identity beneath layers of greasepaint due to a dark secret in his past that will return to haunt him at a crucial moment. His character stays in the background for most of the film but comes to the forefront in a big way during the finale.
This occurs when a spectacular train wreck spells instant disaster for the circus as DeMille pulls out all the stops. The miniature special effects are great fun here, and so are the full-scale practical effects and stunts, replete with escaping wild animals and a number of grievous injuries among the tightly-knit circus family.
Till then, however, DeMille himself does an impressive juggling act as he keeps all the various subplots up in the air. Some are of the romantic variety, while others focus on the performers' egos as well as the evil forces that are conspiring to bring ruin to the show.
It's all a dizzying mish-mash of melodrama, with plenty of corny dialogue and gushing sentiment, and somehow it all works when the viewer settles in and becomes acclimated to the atmosphere DeMille has so feverishly created in what was evidently one of his most heartfelt productions (which he himself narrates in solemn tones just as he did his later epic THE TEN COMMANDMENTS).
Sprawling, colorful, eye-pleasing, and delightfully old-fashioned, THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH is pure pleasure for anyone who wants to put their minds on hold and let one of Hollywood's greatest showmen entertain them for a few hours.
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