The film premiered at the Florida Theater (now the Sarasota Opera House) in Sarasota, Florida. When Mary Pickford presented the film's producer-director Cecil B. DeMille with the Oscar for Best Picture, not only was it the first time the Academy Awards ceremonies had ever been televised, it was also Pickford's very first television appearance. While primitive and crude compared with modern special effects, the electrifying scene amazed audiences and influenced an entire generation of movie magic. Of course this was way back in the year 1937. "[15], Critic Leonard Maltin opined that "like most of DeMille's movies, this may not be art, but it's hugely enjoyable. Hutton's trapeze work especially impresses and Wilde had to overcome a crippling fear of heights to perform his aerial work, which was somewhat modified to accommodate his acrophobia. A few animals escaped, but all were quickly hunted down, a few were captured and most killed. In addition to mastering the tricks of their respective circus trades, the stars of the film had to athleticize their bodies to resemble the professionally toned circus performers who doubled for them. Privacy Policy Unable to do "The Greatest Show on Earth", which required Lucy to perform strenuous stunts, Desi Arnaz convinced her to accept "The Magic Carpet" do to its very short one week filming schedule. DeMille's film includes spectacular action sequences, including a show-stopping train wreck. On the flip side, it's important to noteThe Greatest Show on Earthrepresents the type of big-budget, popular, epic fare the Academy typically loves, and Zinnemann - not DeMille - took home the award for Best Director. "[14] Variety wrote that the film "effectively serve[s] the purpose of a framework for all the atmosphere and excitement of the circus on both sides of the big canvas. When 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. This is because only a few years earlier, in 1944, 167 people were killed and hundreds more injured when a Ringling Brothers "big top" caught fire and burned to the ground in Hartford, CT. In many of her movies, the brash and brassy Hutton often can be annoying (okay, insufferable), but DeMille manages to tone her down and keep her in check most of the time. A lovely remastered transfer is marred by a lack of cleanup and extras are slim, but such faults can't diminish the entertainment quotient of this garish and bombastic picture. A leaflet containing a digital copy code is tucked inside the front cover. Director Cecil B. DeMille Writers Fredric M. Frank (screenplay) The dramatic lives of trapeze artists, a clown, and an elephant trainer are told against a background of circus spectacle. Photofest. From $1.61. This offers an explanation as to why the marvelous Jean Hagen went home empty-handed, despite her iconic performance as the hilariously doomed Lina Lamont in Singin' in the Rain (1952). Cornel Wilde probably had it the worst, since he was portraying a trapeze artist. DeMille's film includes spectacular action sequences, including a show-stopping train wreck. The Greatest Show on Earth Paramount Home Entertainment 1952 / Color / 1:37 flat full frame / 152 min. Really, Paramount? The simians were so frightened of the lions and tigers that they panicked and fled the building, ending up in the adjoining Hollywood Cemetery. The unsolved crime Buttons the clown was wanted for, was for killing his ailing wife. I have three other locomotives to my credit, a 3/4 inch scale Hudson No. The movie was filmed in Sarasota at the winter home of the circus. Brad intervenes to save her, and fires Klaus. He later regretted this decision, considering it one of the worst mistakes in his career. Heston thought it was one of the best reviews he ever received. Good old Hollyw ood entertainment - they don't make'em like this anymore. 5302 saw quite a bit of service until 1940 when it went into storage while I explored the work possibilities of Chicago for two years and then off to California. Now he is 23 and a graduate student at Stanford University. The train wreck sequence is especially impressive, with booming bass combining with high-pitched screeches to create a thrilling sonic cacophony. Although the film was shot in 35mm three-strip Technicolor, Paramount did shoot some test footage on the set using its newly developed wide-screen process Vistavision, which ran 35mm film horizontally through the camera, exposing two standard frames, eight perforations wide. All rights reserved. Learn More. Size Product Type; 11 . A woman is carried in the mouth of an elephant in the View-Master reel; actress Gloria Grahame repeats the same stunt in the movie The Greatest Show on Earth A man balances on a chair balanced on a swinging trapeze at the circus; actress Betty Hutton pulls off the stunning feat in the movie. "Paramount will hit its greatest production stride since the war in the first two months of 1951, with seven films slated to go before the cameras in a sixty-day period. January 10, 2019 6:34am. Unlike his religious films or his historical films, this film is a nice tribute to an American institution, the Ringling Brothers&Barnum&Bailey Circus and as such it does not attract the controversy of some of his other films. Brad bargains to keep the circus on the road as long as it makes a profit, thus keeping the 1,400 performers and roustabouts employed. I am always interested in special effects and how they are used in a film. [24] Senator Joseph McCarthy was pursuing communists at the time, and DeMille was a conservative Republican involved with the National Committee for a Free Europe. One of the opening shots shows the old Philadelphia Municipal Stadium in the background that was demolished in 1992. High quality Greatest Show On Earth-inspired gifts and merchandise. Bold reds grab attention, Grahame's green velvet dress looks sumptuously rich, the purple capes pop, and all the rainbow hues in between are gorgeously defined. He was seriously afraid of heights. Given the film's mammoth structure and episodic nature, one element that is often overlooked is the caustic performance by Gloria Grahame in her first comic role. The first movie that Steven Spielberg ever saw. This plot point was also used ten years later in 1962's Hatari!, where the Indian (Bruce Cabot) is gored by a rhinoceros, needs a transfusion, has the rare AB negative blood type, and a potential donor, Charles Maurey (Gerard Blain), is there at the scene. This movie is seen by some as an elaborate public relations gesture by Ringling Brothers. The Greatest Show on Earth (film) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Greatest Show on Earth is a 1952 American drama film produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille, [2] shot in Technicolor and released by Paramount Pictures. Special effects produced a green halo around Gloria Grahame and Betty Hutton in the Grand Parade scene, so a shot was added of green floodlights turning on above them. would show, but the page had a tear on the page where the question mark belongs. Territories, Canada, and Bermuda. The Greatest Show on Earth is a 1952 American drama film produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille,[2] shot in Technicolor and released by Paramount Pictures. Coming upon her final film obligation Cohn learned of Lucy's offer to appear in "Greatest Show." Mona Freeman: Circus spectator. Greatest Show On Earth (DVD) Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth is a lavish tribute to cir cuses, featuring three intertwining plotlines concerning rom ance and ri valry beneath the big top. All orders are custom made and most ship worldwide within 24 hours. [4] John Ringling North plays himself as the owner of the circus. Ensemble Dark Horse: The German sisters with the head balancing act who keep swooning over Sebastian have little plot prominence or dialogue but are pretty popular performers. Buttons gives Brad a direct transfusion from Sebastian, who has the same rare blood type; Gregory assists him, and afterwards reluctantly arrests him, telling him "you're all right". Lucy collected her $80,000 fee which helped support the couple as they embarked on a newly presented opportunity to do a weekly television situation comedy they developed for CBS called "I Love Lucy." extravagance. Though Gloria Grahame returned to drama with twelve hard-hitting performances following this film, it was her acerbic performance in The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) that led Rodgers and Hammerstein to personally select her to portray Ado Annie Carnes in the film version of Oklahoma! Wilde turned it down, saying that both the role and the salary were too small. Brad now realizes how much he loves Holly, but she now has no time for him because the show must continue. The Greatest Show on Earth takes place under the Big Top of Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey's Circus. The all-star circus extravaganza, "The Greatest Show on Earth." DeMille was not only a long-time industry insider and Hollywood pioneer who was long overdue for some sort of Oscar recognition, he was also a staunch anti-Communist who reportedly outed some of his colleagues during Senator Joseph McCarthy's reign of terror. vertical_align_top. Cornel Wilde plays Sebastian, who is referred to as a "high-flying peacock". The program ran on Tuesday evenings for 30 episodes on ABC during the 19631964 season. Product Description. Learn more about DVD region specifications here Paramount Presents: The Greatest Show on Earth [Blu-ray + Digital] Betty Hutton 286 Blu-ray Harry is fired, vows revenge, and hangs about the periphery of the show sowing disaffection, particularly with Klaus. She also had her daughter, Monie Ellis, with her. He was six years old at the time. By year's end, the versatile actress copped a supporting Oscar for The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), but it was largely understood that she received the award for her collective body of work from 1952. The hunky Wilde, who spends much of the film bare-chested, flexes his pecs and flashes his movie-star smile with equal enthusiasm and regularity, and Lamour adds some sass in a wisecracking role that reportedly was slated for Lucille Ball. Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-rayThe Greatest Show on Earthat long last arrives on Blu-ray packaged in a clear case inside a fold-out sleeve that reveals a reproduction of the movie's poster art. However, Tierney . The Greatest Show on Earthmay not stand as DeMille's greatest film, but it's quite a show and a glowing salute to what sadly has become a bygone art form. The seller is away until Jan 20, 2023. Al Luedtke of Jim Thorpe, PA, posted the following on DiscoverLiveSteam.com, December 2015: Charles N. Barnard wrote the following for True magazine, May 1951: Al Luedtke wrote to provide more information (December 2015): One inch scale passenger car props used in "The Greatest Show on Earth", shown here at the Ringling Circus Museum, Sarasota, FL. Some shots feature more noticeable lines than others, but the overall effect can be quite jarring. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, formerly Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows, byname The Greatest Show on Earth, American circus that was the best-known traveling circus in the United States in the 20th and early 21st centuries. Phillips was a nationally known expert on. At the time Lucy was under contract to Harry Cohn at Columbia Pictures where she had a three picture deal which yielded her $80,000 per film. $26.18. The film's storyline is supported by lavish production values, actual circus acts and documentary-style views into the complex logistics behind big-top circuses. From $1.27. Heston had only appeared in one minor Hollywood film (the 1950 noirDark City) when DeMille plucked him off the Paramount lot and cast him as the macho Brad. This film is listed among The 100 Most Amusingly Bad Moves Ever Made in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book THE OFFICIAL RAZZIE MOVIE GUIDE. Victor Young's big-top music brightened the last of his six consecutive scores for Cecil B. DeMille productions, which began with North West Mounted Police (1940). The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) In producer/director Cecil B. DeMille's undeserving, overwrought, splashy, star-filled Technicolored Best Picture winning epic - a quasi-documentary and soapy showbiz melodrama about life (involving love, jealousy, and competing one-upmanship and rivalry amongst the circus folk) behind the scenes . Final film of Gertrude Messinger and Judith Ann Vroom. The same time the gray checks came out, another part of Musk's plan went into effect: an offer to let people who paid $8 a month for a Twitter Blue subscription get a blue check showing they were . Copyright Fandango. It is possible that the members of the Academy who were veterans of the silent era felt that he, as an elder statesman of Hollywood and one of the founders of the Academy, deserved the honor even if the other nominees for Best Picture were in some ways better than The Greatest Show On Earth. This overripe melodrama purports to be life inside the Ringling Brothers Circus; maybe it's not, but the circus ought to be like this.