THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH (1952)

To ensure a full profitable season, circus manager Brad Braden (Charlton Heston) engages The Great Sebastian (Cornel Wilde), though this moves his girlfriend Holly (Betty Hutton) from her hard-won center trapeze spot. Holly and Sebastian begin a dangerous one-upmanship duel in the ring, while Brad pursues her on the ground. Subplots involve the secret past of Buttons the Clown (James Stewart) and the efforts of racketeers to move in on the game concessions; dazzling spectaclse of life behind the scenes with Ringling Bros.-Barnum and Bailey Circus, the best three-ring circus in the land that ends in a train wreck and a near fatal blow to the circus. Director: Cecil B. DeMille. Cast: Charlton Heston, Betty Hutton, Cornel Wilde, Dorothy Lamour, Gloria Grahame, Henry Wilcoxon, Lyle Bettger, Julia Fay, James Stewart, Lawrence Tierney and Emmett Kelly.