THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH (1952) C 153m dir: Cecil B. DeMille

w/Betty Hutton, Cornel Wilde, Charlton Heston, Dorothy Lamour, Gloria Grahame, James Stewart, Henry Wilcoxon, Lyle Bettger, Lawrence Tierney, John Kellogg

From The Movie Guide: "It's big, it's garish, it's loud, and most of all, it's wonderful. This is Cecil B. DeMille's superlative salute to the circus world, and all its glamor and flashy hoopla suits perfectly the director whose middle name was epic. An episodic soap opera set under the big top, the film is almost like a documentary in its meticulous detailing of circus life. Charlton Heston plays the head of the sprawling ensemble and the entire cast is outstanding, particularly James Stewart as the clown hiding from his past. Since the early 1920s, DeMille had planned on producing a spectacular circus film, but his biblical epics got in the way. Finally, in 1949, after Paramount paid Ringling Brothers $250,000 for the right to use the circus' name, equipment, and talent, DeMille began elaborate preparations. The film is authentic and awesome and earned an Oscar as Best Picture."

THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH won an additional Oscar for Best Story (Fredric M. Frank, Theodore St. John, Frank Cavett). It was also nominated for Best Director, Editing (Anne Bauchens), and Costume Design (Edith Head, Dorothy Jeakins, Miles White).