Review of The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) by Arth J — 05 Jul 2018

Chalky around the edges..

The Greatest Show On Earth.

2 Out Of 5.

The Greatest Show On Earth is a plot driven feature depicting behind the scene politics of the circus which is not interesting enough to invest in it. The emotions depicted in here comes off shallow and pretentious for the most part of it is distracted by the tactics and the plays acted out in the circus where the rest of the material is offered raw and unsupervised.

It is short on technical aspects like art design, background score, costume design, choreography, production design, cinematography, sound department and editing. The characters are overstuffed and undercooked which never communicates with the audience due to the crowded screen which frankly everyone wants to get off to. The camera work is decently handled and shot to please and attract the viewers which is clearly visible.

The adaptation by the writers is weak and pretentious that wishes to play safe and sound unlike its characters. Cecil B. DeMille; the director, needs some work on the execution skills especially when attaining a balance of commercial and art aspects of the cinema. The performance is plausible by James Stewart and Charlton Heston but unfortunately weren't supported to that extent by the cast.

The Greatest Show On Earth is chalky around the edges and completely undercooked at the core; neither does it hit nor does it swing.