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The Greatest Show on Earth

February 28, 2015 - 7:30 pm
In-person: 
Mark A. Vieira, co-author, "Cecil B. DeMille: The Art of the Hollywood Epic."

The Greatest Show on Earth  (1952)


The backstage romances and rivalries of circus trapeze artists, animal trainers and clowns fill out this grand portrait of the circus, offering thrilling aerial stunts and amazing set pieces, including the crash of a circus train full of animals.  Director Cecil B. DeMille's one concerted look at the lives of show people (he himself had begun his career in the theater) won the Best Picture Academy Award.

Paramount Pictures Corp.  Producer: Cecil B. DeMille.  Director: Cecil B. DeMille.  Screenwriter: Fredric M. Frank, Barre Lyndon, Theodore St. John.  Based on a story by Fredric M. Frank, Theodore St. John, Frank Cavett.  Cinematographer: George Barnes.  Editor: Anne Bauchens.  Cast: Betty Hutton, Cornel Wilde, Charlton Heston, Dorothy Lamour, Gloria Grahame.  35mm, color, 152 min.