The dramatic lives of trapeze artists, a clown, and an elephant trainer are told against a background of circus spectacle.The dramatic lives of trapeze artists, a clown, and an elephant trainer are told against a background of circus spectacle.The dramatic lives of trapeze artists, a clown, and an elephant trainer are told against a background of circus spectacle.
- Won 2 Oscars
- 9 wins & 5 nominations total
Robert Carson
- Ringmaster
- (as Bob Carson)
Best Picture Winners by Year
Best Picture Winners by Year
See the complete list of Best Picture winners. For fun, use the "sort order" function to rank by IMDb rating and other criteria.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDespite his made-to-order background as a real-life circus acrobat, Burt Lancaster declined the role of The Great Sebastian, a fact Cecil B. DeMille doubly regretted when he learned that Cornel Wilde was afraid of heights. Wilde was game, however, and ended up performing many of his own stunts on the flying trapeze.
- GoofsWhen Brad is checking the baby gorillas after learning they may have contracted the mumps, a crowd of onlookers is gathered right behind, plainly staring at the camera filming the scene.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Concept (1964)
Featured review
It sure is.
This is my favorite Cecil B. DeMille picture and it rightfully deserves it's title. The cast is well cast. Heston makes a fine circus manager and a perfect "don't take nothing from nobody" type of guy when it comes to dealing with local gamblers. Cornell Wilde is perfect as the typical heart-throb of a trapezist. Betty Hutton is good as the daring young star fighting for the center ring. Last, but certainly not the least, James Stewart is wonderful as the lonely clown with a terrifying secret (I will not give it away!!! See the movie!!!). Cecil was a man of tremendous persona with a hunger for showcasing spectacle by means of careful, intense, and thorough research. He achieves amazing success in portraying (to the best of his ability of the times) the most realistic circus acts without the use of raw footage, and covering the stories behind the characters involved. The thing that really moves everything along though, is the musical score. Two words on that GOOD GOD!!! The music will make you want to go to the circus, even if you didn't like this picture. For those of you who didn't like this picture, why not go to the circus instead? You may be entertained to the point that you'll end up silencing your bad reviews. I'm not saying you have top like this picture, but if you haven't seen it yet, and it's because of the certain bad reviews it got from some people, you're really going to miss something.
helpful•177
- DrezenMedia
- May 4, 2004
- How long is The Greatest Show on Earth?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $4,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $36,000,000
- Gross worldwide
- $36,000,000
- Runtime2 hours 32 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
Top Gap
By what name was The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) officially released in India in Hindi?
Answer