Movies - The Greatest Show on Earth

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	Movies - The Greatest Show on Earth

The Greatest Show on Earth is a 1952 film set in the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. The film was produced, directed, and even narrated by Cecil B. DeMille.

The film stars Betty Hutton and Cornel Wilde as trapeze artists competing for the center ring, and Charlton Heston as the circus manager running the show. The three are also involved in a romantic triangle. Other subplots involve performers played by Dorothy Lamour and Gloria Grahame, and a clown who never removes his makeup, played by Jimmy Stewart. Bob Hope and Bing Crosby get cameo roles as circus spectators.

Behind-the-scene melodrama is interweaved with almost documentary-style scenes of realistic circus performances in lavish costumes (by Edith Head and others), and towards the end, a spectacular scene involving the two trains that carry the circus from town to town.

The movie won an Academy Award for Best Picture. It also won an Oscar for Best Story.

Controversies

Best picture award

Despite its awards, The Greatest Show on Earth has often been cited by film historians and movie buffs as one of Cecil B. DeMille's lesser motion pictures. Discussions among film fans (especially on the Internet movie newsgroups) have jokingly referred to this film as "the worst movie ever to win Best Picture." Supporters of this belief especially note that High Noon
and The Quiet Man
are generally held in higher critical acclaim.

Euthanasia

Jimmy Stewart's clown character, "Buttons," is a doctor on the run from the law. He never removes his makeup because he wants to remain undetected after the "mercy killing" of his terminally ill wife. Some critics believe that the "Best Picture" Oscar was Hollywood's method of voicing support for euthanasia.

Main cast

Betty Hutton
as Holly
Cornel Wilde
as The Great Sebastian
Charlton Heston
as Brad Braden
Dorothy Lamour
as Phyllis
Gloria Grahame
as Angel
Henry Wilcoxon
as FBI Agent Gregory
Lyle Bettger
as Klaus
Lawrence Tierney
as Mr. Henderson
James Stewart
as Buttons the Clown

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