There's an audience member we see a few times in this movie who is gorging himself on concessions and pointing out to his kid how great he thinks everything is. This random character feels like a perfect encapsulation for what the filmmakers are going for. This is pure, big, lovingly bombastic Hollywood entertainment that's as melodramatic and silly as it is impossibly fun and impressive. It's loud, chaotic, colorful, and diverting...like the circus itself. Much better than its reputation says.

The Greatest Show On Earth2 Out Of 5The Greatest Show On Earth is a plot driven feature depicting behind the scene politics of the circus which is not interesting enough to invest in it. The emotions depicted in here comes off shallow and pretentious for the most part of it is distracted by the tactics and the plays acted out in the circus where the rest of the material is offered raw and unsupervised. It is short on technical aspects like art design, background score, costume design, choreography, production design, cinematography, sound department and editing. The characters are overstuffed and undercooked which never communicates with the audience due to the crowded screen which frankly everyone wants to get off to. The camera work is decently handled and shot to please and attract the viewers which is clearly visible. The adaptation by the writers is weak and pretentious that wishes to play safe and sound unlike its characters. Cecil B. DeMille; the director, needs some work on the execution skills especially when attaining a balance of commercial and art aspects of the cinema. The performance is plausible by James Stewart and Charlton Heston but unfortunately weren't supported to that extent by the cast. The Greatest Show On Earth is chalky around the edges and completely undercooked at the core; neither does it hit nor does it swing.

In 1952 both "High Noon" and "The Quiet Man" were nominated for Best Picture. It was also the year that the greatest of all musicals, "Singin' in the Rain" first appeared and yet the Academy didn't think it worthy of a Best Picture nomination, (though they did nominate "Ivanhoe"). So what did the Academy choose as the Best Picture of 1952? Why, that was the year the honor went to Cecil B. DeMille and "The Greatest Show on Earth", the biggest and arguably the best of all circus films, as well as one of the least deserving Best Picture winners of all time; not the worst perhaps but set it beside "High Noon" and "The Quiet Man" and it pales into insignificance.It's an epic that uses the real-life circus of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey as the basis for its spectacular and melodramatic plot and it crams a load of stars onto the screen for effect, (Charlton Heston, Betty Hutton, Cornel Wilde, Gloria Grahame, Dorothy Lamour and Jimmy Stewart, hiding, not very convincingly, behind clown make-up), and when it's on the high-wire or the flying trapeze it's certainly exciting and without the constraints of the Bible hanging over him, it may be DeMille's best film. So is it the greatest show on earth? Where sawdust and tinsel is concerned it might be but not when you have "The Quiet Man" and "Singin' in the Rain" waiting in the wings.

The Greatest Show on Earth follows the trials and tribulations of performers in a circus. It's very much of it's time and a very long and bloated film but is not without some merit. At times it does get repetitive especially during the middle section. The last quarter is probably the best section and is very much out of place with the rest of the film. However, it is a welcome diversion. Although there are plenty of superfluous scenes there are also some very good ones. I'm sure this is one film that wold have benefited from being shortened. There are plenty of decent performances, a young Charlton Heston makes a good and charismatic lead. The great James Stewart is unrecognisable as the clown Buttons. A surprising part for the actor maybe but he does a fine job. This film is all about the spectacle and this it delivers. I was surprised this won the best Oscar but maybe that was what went down well at the time. Though it has plenty of flaws this is still a fairly enjoyable film for those that appreciate older films.