The movie which criminally took the Best Picture Oscar of '52 when John Ford's The Quiet Man and some other notable entries were much better and are better remembered now. Cecil B. De Mille, along with producer David o. Selznick, was the most brash showman and the worst artist in Hollywood. I've never been a fan of his movies which always offset impressive spectacle with contrived and cheesy fluff. Here it is no different, though of all DeMille's pictures this is probably his most entertaining and fitting. Some eye catching circus acts and detail highlight a bloated epic which degenerates in the last hour, climaxing with a disastrous Lionel Train pile-up. In the aftermath everything but Mickey Rooney and Ronald Reagan is thrown at us in an attempt to get the show up and running on time. Because of the highly realistic dearth of ambulances, firefighters, and police getting in the way this goal is accomplished with a maximum of DeMillian hokum. A shame as the picture could have been much better if a real director had taken it on.
Acting wise, Chuck Heston is quite solid as the Boss man in an early role looking like Indiana Jones in his fedora and leather jacket and walking capably around like a young John Wayne. Betty Hutton on the other hand gives a terrible performance aside from her well done trapeze antics. Cornel Wilde is hit and miss with a one dimensional character and Jimmy Stewart fools no one, then or now, under all that clown make-up he wears throughout the movie.
Dorothy Lamour never was a very good actress, all her best moments were with Hope and Crosby and here they drop by to get a laugh in a brief cameo.
A watchable picture well worth the time invested to watch it but a semi-classic at best and FAR from being the best picture of the year!
Acting wise, Chuck Heston is quite solid as the Boss man in an early role looking like Indiana Jones in his fedora and leather jacket and walking capably around like a young John Wayne. Betty Hutton on the other hand gives a terrible performance aside from her well done trapeze antics. Cornel Wilde is hit and miss with a one dimensional character and Jimmy Stewart fools no one, then or now, under all that clown make-up he wears throughout the movie.
Dorothy Lamour never was a very good actress, all her best moments were with Hope and Crosby and here they drop by to get a laugh in a brief cameo.
A watchable picture well worth the time invested to watch it but a semi-classic at best and FAR from being the best picture of the year!