TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Scotty Burke It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Jon Hanley Every one was shocked when THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH won Oscars for Best Motion Picture and Best Screenplay; there was nothing about the film that could be considered "great art." At the same time, however, SHOW was a lot of fun, and certainly audiences of the day flocked to it, making it the single biggest grossing film of 1952.The story is purple-prose soap opera. Circus manager Brad Braden (Charleton Heston) is doing a balancing act between rival arielist stars Sebastian (Cornel Wilde) and Holly (Betty Hutton)--the later of whom is torn in her affections between the two. Add in a lovely but common show girl (Dorothy Lamour), a jealous elephant trainer (Lyle Bettger), the object of his affections (Gloria Graham), a clown with a mysterious past (Jimmy Stewart), high wire accidents, and a train wreck-- all mixed well by Cecil B. DeMille's eye for larger-than-life spectacle. The result is brassy, silly, corny, and thoroughly enjoyable.Seen today, the big attraction here is the chance to see the circus when it was still traveling by rail and performing under "the big top." Filmed with the cooperation of Ringling Brothers-Barnum and Bailey, SHOW allows us to see what was involved in organizing the lavish show that was the circus in the 1950s, a world filled with roustabouts, elephants, barkers, peanut vendors, acrobats, and all the rest. One of the more interesting aspects of this is Emmett Kelly, one of America's greatest clowns, who appears throughout the film as himself.THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH is lots of flash and dazzle, a little song and dance, Charleton Heston in his first major role, Betty Hutton in one of her final films (she did most of her own stunt work), and lots of corny charm. It might not really be the "greatest" show on earth, but it is very picturesque. The film isn't restored, but it isn't in bad condition; sadly, there are no bonuses at all.GFT, Amazon Reviewer

cadenney-65017 I've see this movie at least 100 times and thoroughly enjoy every time I watch it. Tonight on cable I watched it again and during the big scene when the circus train arrived to raise the Big Top canvas I noticed 2 buildings in the background. It was then I realized those 2 buildings were part of the old Navy hospital complex in Philadelphia. The buildings have since been torn down, I believe back in the 80's. So this means the tent would have been raised in the FDR park adjacent to the hospital. Just off of broad street. The train would have arrive on the tracks that ran along side the Philadelphia Navy yard...Funny after all these years to finally realize this was filmed ,at least partially in Philadelphia.

Lee Eisenberg "The Greatest Show on Earth" is harder to take seriously nowadays for a couple of reasons. One is the sheer spectacle factor. Everything was so pumped up that I could only throw out the sorts of comments that Mike, Servo and Crow throw at the crummy movies sent them by Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank. An example was a scene where a clown on stilts walks by and I called him the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.But more important is that we now have a consciousness about how we treat animals, and circuses have been known to mistreat them. That made the incident with the train all the more important: the animals get what they always wanted.As for this movie's Best Picture win over "High Noon", I can see how the blacklisting scared them into that. It would have never occurred to me to nominate this. The point is that it might be some fun stuff to watch, but it's no masterpiece. Although I will say that Jimmy Stewart's character wearing makeup throughout the whole movie was a good way to show that he was hiding his past.So, I can't recommend it.

mmallon4 The DVD release for The Greatest Show On Earth plays down its Best Picture win. Hang on, isn't this supposed to be the highest accolade in the film world? Why would you downplay that your film won the award? Probably because the Academy Awards are a farce. Yeah, total shocker. I normally have a rule when reviewing movies not to mention the Oscars because I feel it is so redundant to do so. "How did this beat 'x' picture?", "Why didn't 'x' get an Oscar nomination?", such tiring statements. Best Picture winners attract viewers to a film which they would unlikely watch otherwise and because of this many films get a bad reputation as the film which beat such and such for Best Picture.The Greatest Show On Earth is one such film, made out to be worse than it is due to attracting an audience who would otherwise never watch it if it wasn't for its Best Picture win. The Greatest Show On Earth is tons of fun; at times I had a care free feeling that I was at an actual circus, minus the smell of elephant dung. There is even an appearance of people wearing costumes of Disney characters; good luck trying to put that in a non-Disney film nowadays! The acrobatic scenes are suspenseful and you really get a sense of the scope and awe; the whole thing even feels like it has weight to it, so I can forgive the odd jumpy edit. You could look at it cynically and say it's a commercial for Barnum and Bailey, well it's a very entertaining commercial at that and a very informative one offering a documentary like look at how the circus operates. It's not an easy job, therefore someone as commanding as Charlton Heston is perfect for the role as the person who runs the operations and pulls the strings behind the scenes. The movie packs a lot of material into its run time and I felt like I got my money's worth.When your movie stars James Stewart (albeit a supporting performance), isn't any surprise he's the best aspect of the film. I believe his role of Buttons is an underrated performance of his and one of his most tragic. He has a permanent smile on his face (really, his make-up never comes off at any point), yet has a dark, troubled past. OK its obvious symbolism but you can feel his pain throughout thanks to his quiet, subtle performance. As the movie progresses it takes a surprisingly dark turn, not only with the shockingly intense train wreck sequence, but also the implication that Buttons assisted his wife to kill herself, surprising that a mainstream blockbuster would have an assisted suicide subplot in an era controlled by censorship.