January 27 movie: The Greatest Show on Earth. This was called the most mediocre movie ever to win Best Picture. (That was before Gladiator.) True, the movie is aggressively mediocre -- it's basically a two hour advertisement for the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey circus -- but I still love it. For one reason: Betty Hutton. I heard that she practiced for months on the trapeze to make her character believeable. I love her melodrama dialogue: "You've got sawdust in your veins, Brad! Keep the circus rolling, and you don't care who it rolls over! Be careful, someday it may roll over you!" The movie also features Jimmy Stewart as a "crying on the inside" clown.
the greatest show on earth
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I always loved this movie...The bearing up under adversity of the train wreck and "the show must go on"...
Yeah, I remember staying overnight at my best friend's house to watch this one time. And falling asleep. But it's still a pleasure to watch, and I have it on tape. And it sure as hell isn't the most mediocre movie to win Best Picture, even with Gladiator out of the equation.
...With the DeMille connection, I can't help idly wondering how it would play out as an hourlong radio production on the Lux Radio Theater. "Boy, look at those acrobats! They're really good!"
So what do you think was the most mediocre movie to win Best Picture?
looking at the list of best pictures, some candidates jump out: Going My Way, Around the World in 80 Days, Braveheart...