Press Release PHE Press Release: Paramount Presents! The Greatest Show On Earth (1952) (Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

[battlebeast]

I’d hope Paramount consulted Robert Redford on ORDINARY PEOPLE... an audio commentary, an interview... even just to see if the transfer was ok by him.

 

[RolandL]

I hear yuh! I remember going to the circus as a kid.

Are there still tent circuses anymore?

They have one at The Big E for a few weeks each year.

 

[RolandL]

Ringling Bros Barnum & Baily wasn't really a tent circus least in the last 50 years or so.

There last performance under a tent was in 1956, twelve years after the 1944 fire.

 

[Dick]

At least a Commentary and a Trailer would have been welcome. Who cares about Leonard Maltin and his opinion ?

Maltin's intros to various movies are not especially informative, and he seems a little too goody-two-shoes to be much of a resource. However, keep in mind that, in the past, Maltin has been instrumental in getting us Disney compilations on DVD, especially the highly collectable double-disc Walt Disney Treasures tins.

 

[JPCinema]

I've noticed there some streaming platforms are showing TGSOE in 1.85. iTunes has the correct aspect ratio....I can't wait for the blu ray.

 

[PMF]

And I’ve asked Criterion several time about releasing HAMLET, with no answer. I don’t think they care to release it.[...].

To BD or not to BD,
that is the Criterion question.

As for The Greatest Show on Earth?
It’s just a damned good piece of entertainment.

Day One and thrilled.

 

[RICK BOND]

I've noticed there some streaming platforms are showing TGSOE in 1.85. iTunes has the correct aspect ratio....I can't wait for the blu ray.

I watched it a few day's ago on Amazon Prime. Yes, it was in 1.85. also. PQ was not Sharp. If it was made two years later in 1954 it would have been in Vistavision. It would have looked as good as The Ten Commandments. The New Paramount Remaster will look Excellent. Can't wait to see it.

 

[jim_falconer]

To BD or not to BD,
that is the Criterion question.

As for The Greatest Show on Earth?
It’s just a damned good piece of entertainment.

Day One and thrilled.

I read somewhere that TGSOE was one of Oscar’s biggest gaffes, with voting it best picture of 1952. I forget where I read that. I saw the film once and enjoyed it, but agreed with the dissenters, and feel High Noon was the deserving film that year

 

[Robert Crawford]

I've noticed there some streaming platforms are showing TGSOE in 1.85. iTunes has the correct aspect ratio....I can't wait for the blu ray.

Back in 2017/2018, iTunes had the "Iconic 1950s Film Collection" on sale for 19.99. I got the following movies in that deal:

1. To Catch a Thief
2. Houseboat
3. A Place in the Sun
4. War and Peace
5. The Greatest Show on Earth
6. Sunset Boulevard
7. Funny Face
8. The Country Girl
9. Sabrina
10. Invasion of the Body Snatchers

IMO, one of my best HD digital purchases.

 

[Justin Ray]

Anyone heard about potential Paramount Presents titles for April/May?

 

[dana martin]

Thank You. The last RB&BBC I saw was at Madison Square Garden. But we always had a tent circus in my town when I was a kid.

only ran for one season, 1999-2000, and was blessed to be stationed at Great Lakes Naval Training Center at that time, so one wonderful night, the family and myself were transported back to the wonder of a real circus under a tent.

 

[ahollis]

I saw two shows under the tent. The next one I saw was in a baseball stadium and it rained so the high wire and many of the trapeze acts were cancelled. The next shows I saw were in a indoor arena.

I really do enjoy this movie. I first saw it on a re-release in the late 60’s and thought it was wonderful. I still do and can’t wait to watch the Blu-ray.

 

[Mark-P]

Well it only took nearly four months for iTunes to FINALLY upgrade to the new master. Now I can finally watch this thing. I didn’t want to watch it until I had digital access to the same transfer that’s on the disc. I’m not holding out for 4K though because Paramount doesn’t appear to be forthcoming in that regard.

 

[maxfabien]

another Vite for Ordinary People, especially si ce Redford, Hutton and Sutherland are still around for commentary. Wish they had done this when Mary Tyler Moore was st

Ah the circus genre! I prefer Jumbo myself. I mean Billy Rose’s Jumbo as nothing beats Doris Day on a trapeze with the possible exception of Joan Crawford as the ring mistress in Berserk!
But seriously I think Trapeze is a pretty good circus film too.
I will get this only because I collect all Best Film Oscar winners. Hopefully Around the World in 80 Days is next.

That's the only reason I bought it too, Best Picture 1952, which still boggles the mind. Winning over "High Noon", and that year "Singin' in the Rain" and "The Bad and the Beautiful" weren't even nominated.

 

[Dick]

I read somewhere that TGSOE was one of Oscar’s biggest gaffes, with voting it best picture of 1952. I forget where I read that. I saw the film once and enjoyed it, but agreed with the dissenters, and feel High Noon was the deserving film that year

I agree with this assessment. But did anyone here ever attend a true Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey circus at Madison Square Garden as a mesmerized kid? I did, a number of years. The smells (peanuts, animal shit, cotton candy, sawdust), the anticipation, the sight of trained tigers and elephants, clowns -- really GOOD clowns like Emmett Kelly -- the ringmaster, the highwires, the parades...what an experience! With age I grew to realize the animals were often maltreated out of sight of us, and I'm guessing a bunch of animal acts have been dropped in recent years under protest. But I am fortunate to have had the experience. THE GREAT SHOW ON EARTH is a mediocre film in the company of most other Oscar nominees/winners, but it's the closest to being able to relive the days spent at the circus in the 50's and 60's.

20 Fascinating Facts About the Ringling Bros., Barnum and Bailey Circus – Page 9 – History Collection

The Big Top. Three rings of non-stop entertainment with trapeze artists, lion tamers, fire-eaters, acrobats, jugglers, knife throwers, and magicians. And of cou

historycollection.com

I don't know what happened to the first 8 "fascinating facts," but that's a nice article.

 

[Gerani53]

Ironically, I always thought Irwin Allen's imitation of GREATEST SHOW, 1959's THE BIG CIRCUS, provided a more enjoyable bit of Hollywood 'big tent' fluff. With Gilbert Roland's walk across Niagara Falls the main attraction, CIRCUS was charmingly directed by "master of Technicolor" Joseph M. Newman (THIS ISLAND EARTH, RED SKIES OF MONTANA, etc.), and the cast is wonderful: Roland, Victor Mature, Rhonda Fleming, Vincent Price and Peter Lorre (their first pairing), Red Buttons, Kathryn Grant, David Nelson... even Howard (Floyd the barber) McNear, the very same year he played a doctor discussing sexual fluids and rape in ANATOMY OF A MURDER.

 

[Robin9]

Ironically, I always thought Irwin Allen's imitation of GREATEST SHOW, 1959's THE BIG CIRCUS, provided a more enjoyable bit of Hollywood 'big tent' fluff. With Gilbert Roland's walk across Niagara Falls the main attraction, CIRCUS was charmingly directed by "master of Technicolor" Joseph M. Newman (THIS ISLAND EARTH, RED SKIES OF MONTANA, etc.), and the cast is wonderful: Roland, Victor Mature, Rhonda Fleming, Vincent Price and Peter Lorre (their first pairing), Red Buttons, Kathryn Grant, David Nelson... even Howard (Floyd the barber) McNear, the very same year he played a doctor discussing sexual fluids and rape in ANATOMY OF A MURDER.

Yes, I like The Big Circus too. I saw it when it first came out, loved it and was glad to buy the DVD-R.

 

[Noel Aguirre]

I agree with this assessment. But did anyone here ever attend a true Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey circus at Madison Square Garden as a mesmerized kid? I did, a number of years. The smells (peanuts, animal shit, cotton candy, sawdust), the anticipation, the sight of trained tigers and elephants, clowns -- really GOOD clowns like Emmett Kelly -- the ringmaster, the highwires, the parades...what an experience! With age I grew to realize the animals were often maltreated out of sight of us, and I'm guessing a bunch of animal acts have been dropped in recent years under protest. But I am fortunate to have had the experience. THE GREAT SHOW ON EARTH is a mediocre film in the company of most other Oscar nominees/winners, but it's the closest to being able to relive the days spent at the circus in the 50's and 60's.

20 Fascinating Facts About the Ringling Bros., Barnum and Bailey Circus – Page 9 – History Collection

The Big Top. Three rings of non-stop entertainment with trapeze artists, lion tamers, fire-eaters, acrobats, jugglers, knife throwers, and magicians. And of cou

historycollection.com

I don't know what happened to the first 8 "fascinating facts," but that's a nice article.

I went to RBBBC as a child in Baltimore and I’ll never forget my brother got a chameleon on a tiny chain that he pinned to his t shirt- I got a balloon being younger. When we got home the chameleon actually bit him as it must have been under such distress.
And no wonder many of us got ADD eventually after trying to watch 3 rings all at once!!
Ah the good ole days!?

 

[Dick]

I went to RBBBC as a child in Baltimore and I’ll never forget my brother got a chameleon on a tiny chain that he pinned to his t shirt- I got a balloon being younger. When we got home the chameleon actually bit him as it must have been under such distress.
And no wonder many of us got ADD eventually after trying to watch 3 rings all at once!!
Ah the good ole days!?

No shit! I actually bought a "pet" chameleon at the New York circus, too! It got loose and no one could find it. But I had green wall paper with a light criss-cross pattern, and my little lizard had simply moved up the wall and stayed still for days, totally camouflaged. No more lizards as pets for me, per my mom!

 

[RolandL]

If you are ever in Florida, visit the Ringling museum in Sarasota.