The biggest show in the world
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The biggest show in the world |
| Original title | The Greatest Show on Earth |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1952 |
| length | 152 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Cecil B. DeMille |
| script |
Fredric M. Frank Barré Lyndon Theodore St. John |
| production | Cecil B. DeMille / Paramount |
| music | Victor Young |
| camera |
George Barnes J. Peverell Marley |
| cut | Anne Bauchens |
| occupation | |
| |
The greatest show in the world (original title: The Greatest Show on Earth ) is an American, semi-documentary fictional film from 1952.
action
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus is the largest circus company in the United States. They travel across the United States with their show "The Greatest Show in the World" from their winter quarters in Florida .
But these are difficult times at the moment. The manager Brad Braden relies on a major attraction in order to get approval for a full season from the sponsors. He hires the trapeze artist "The Great Sebastian". Against all sorts of concerns, because Sebastian is not only on the tightrope, but also a big number with women and has caused a lot of confusion among the female workforce at some circuses.
The circus goes on tour. Among the artists is the clown Buttons, who never shows himself without a mask in his spare time, and what nobody else in the circus knows, with good reason: Buttons is a former doctor who years ago illegally assisted his own, terminally ill wife and has been on the run from the police ever since.
The tour was a success thanks to Sebastian, but he didn't owe his reputation just in the air, but also on the ground. Above all, he ensnares the young Holly, also a trapeze artist and once Brad's friend, who had made herself hope for the main ring for this season, but had to vacate it in favor of Sebastian. A competition breaks out between the two of them with increasingly daring feats. One day Sebastian becomes too cocky, falls hard and falls out.
Besides losing his main attraction, Brad is also worried about a competitor who has sent a crook on his neck. This troubles the circus with fraud, theft and finally with a robbery on the till. The latter also leads to a serious collision between the two transport trains, which destroys a large amount of the material. But nobody is discouraged by this, you first set up a provisional venue and then give the next performances. Buttons is provided by the police, but Sebastian's arm, which remained numb after the fall, is recovering and he can work as an acrobat again.
background
The film is considered to be the circus film par excellence. DeMille filmed the show of what was then the largest circus in the United States. To do this, he accompanied the circus on a tour before filming. In the film, the actual artists on the show appear. The story of the feature film is embedded in a documentation of circus life.
In some scenes with the actors who play during the circus performances, however, it can be clearly seen that they were recorded in the studio in front of a rear projection screen. James Stewart in the role of the clown button can only be seen wearing a clown mask throughout the entire film, except in a short scene of a photograph of the police officer in charge. In another short scene, Bing Crosby and Bob Hope , then two top Paramount stars, can be discovered among the circus spectators.
One of the villains of the film, the morbidly jealous elephant tamer played by Lyle Bettger , who is called Carlo in the German version , is a German by the name of Klaus in the original version .
German version
The German dubbing was created in 1952 in the Berliner Synchron studios . Erika Streithorst wrote the dialogue book and CW Burg directed the dubbing . The German premiere was on December 25, 1952.
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Holly | Betty Hutton | Gisela Trowe |
| Sebastian | Cornel Wilde | Peter Mosbacher |
| Brad Braden | Charlton Heston | Ernst Wilhelm Borchert |
| Phyllis | Dorothy Lamour | Friedel Schuster |
| fishing rod | Gloria Grahame | Sigrid Lagemann |
| Clown buttons | James Stewart | Siegmar Schneider |
| FBI agent Gregory | Henry Wilcoxon | Martin hero |
| Carlo | Lyle Bettger | Ernst Schröder |
| Ring master | Robert S. Carson | Harry Giese |
| Mr. Henderson | Lawrence Tierney | Friedrich Joloff |
| reporter | Brad Johnson | Siegfried Schürenberg |
| Harry | John Kellogg | Fritz Tillmann |
| Circus doctor | Frank Wilcox | Kurt Waitzmann |
| teller | Cecil B. DeMille | OE Hasse |
Reviews
- “(...) atmospherically quite authentic, opulent monumental show with a large number of superstars; Exciting and colorfully staged. ”(Rating: 3 out of 4 possible stars = very good) - Adolf Heinzlmeier and Berndt Schulz : Lexicon“ Films on TV ”, 1990
- “Hollywood circus film of bewildering variety and exhausting length. (...) Not advisable for children under 14 "- 6000 films, 1963
- “The monumental film, advertised as the greatest circus film of all time, was shot with the largest circus company in the world. The many artistic performances are held together by a sentimental-romantic plot that is determined by the tried and tested motifs of hatred, love, jealousy, rivalry, crime, nobility, tragedy and renunciation. ”- Lexicon of international film
Awards
The film won three Golden Globe Awards in 1953 in the categories of Best Picture (Drama), Best Director and Best Cinematography (Color). It was nominated for five Academy Awards at the 1953 Academy Awards and won in the categories of Best Picture and Best Original Story .
Web links
- The Greatest Show on Earth in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Thomas Bräutigam : Lexicon of film and television synchronization. More than 2000 films and series with their German voice actors etc. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-289-X , p. 260 / The largest show in the world in Arne Kaul's synchronous database ; Retrieved October 19, 2008
- ^ "Lexicon of International Films" (CD-ROM edition), Systhema, Munich 1997
- ^ Adolf Heinzlmeier, Berndt Schulz: Lexicon "Films on Television" (extended new edition). Rasch and Röhring, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-89136-392-3 , p. 329
- ↑ 6000 films. Critical notes from the cinema years 1945 to 1958 . Handbook V of the Catholic film criticism, 3rd edition, Verlag Haus Altenberg, Düsseldorf 1963, p. 172
- ↑ The largest show in the world. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .