"The Greatest Show on Earth" is a heaping helping of flapdoodle served up by one of Hollywood's canniest entertainers: producer-director Cecil B. DeMille. This overripe melodrama purports to be life inside the Ringling Brothers Circus; maybe it's not, but the circus ought to be like this. The actors wrestling with the purple dialogue are: early-career Charlton Heston, as the tough-as-nails circus manager; Cornel Wilde and Betty Hutton as trapeze artistes; and Gloria Grahame (who won an Oscar), dangling from elephants. Best of all, James Stewart plays a clown who--for mysterious reasons--never removes his makeup. (Stewart took the supporting role simply because he'd always wanted to play a clown.) This is a fried-baloney sandwich of a movie: it ain't sophisticated, and probably isn't good for you, but once you start you can't stop. It was the box-office champ of 1952, and it shocked everybody by winning the best picture Oscar.
-KENTFLIX
| Antoinette Concello | Herself |
| Betty Hutton | Holly |
| Cornel Wilde | The Great Sebastian |
| Lyle Bettger | Klaus |
| Charlton Heston | Brad Braden |
| Robert Carson | Ringmaster (as Bob Carson) |
| Cucciola | Himself |
| Dorothy Lamour | Phyllis |
| Lillian Albertson | Buttons' Mother |
| Gloria Grahame | Angel |
| Henry Wilcoxon | FBI Agent Gregory |
| Lawrence Tierney | Mr. Henderson |
| Emmett Kelly | Himself |
| John Ringling North | Himself |
| Tuffy Genders | Himself |
| John Kellogg | Harry |
| John Ridgely | Assistant Manager |
| Frank Wilcox | Circus Doctor |
| Julia Faye | Birdie |
| James Stewart | 'Buttons' A Clown |
| Felix Adler | Himself |
| Fay Alexander | Himself |
| The Alzanas | Themselves |
| Jimmy Armstrong | Himself |
| James Barnes | Himself |
| Rix's Bears | Themselves |
| Charley Bell | Himself |
| The Bokaras | Themselves |
| Bones Brown | Himself |
| Ernie Burch | Himself |
| Arthur Burson | Himself |
| The Chaludis | Themselves |
| Lola Dobritch | Herself |
| Peterson's Dogs | Themselves |
| Merle Evans | Himself (circus bandleader) |
| The Flying Artonys | Themselves |
| The Flying Comets | Themselves |
| The Flying Concellos | Themselves |
| The Fredonias | Themselves |
| Christy and Gorilla | Themselves (as Christy & Gorilla) |
| Peter Grace | Himself |
| The Henadas | Themselves |
| Paul Horompo | Himself |
| Martha Hunter | Herself |
| The Idnavis | Themselves |
| Lou Jacobs | Himself (clown) |
| Paul Jerome | Himself |
| Paul Jung | Himself |
| Lilo Juston | Herself |
| Eddie Kohl | Himself |
| Mroczkowski's Liberty Horses | Themselves |
| C.H. Lindsey | Himself |
| Miss Loni | Herself |
| Luciana & Friedel | Themselves |
| Veronica Martell | Herself |
| The Maxellos | Themselves |
| Frank McClosky | Himself |
| La Norma | Herself |
| Rusty Parent | Himself |
| Miss Patricia | Herself |
| Billy Snyder | Bill Snyder (as Bill Snyder) |
| Prince Paul | Himself |
| Mike Petrillo | Himself |
| Buzzy Potts | Himself |
| The Realles | Themselves |
| Gilbert Reichert | Himself |
| Bob Reynolds | Himself |
| The Romigs | Themselves |
| Eugene Scott | Himself |
| Tiebor's Sea Lions | Themselves |
| Jeanne Sleeter | Herself |
| Bill Snyder | Himself |
| Tonito | Himself |
| Trisco | Himself |
| Truzzi | Himself |
| George Werner | Himself |
| The Zoppes | Themselves |
| Lee Aaker | Boy (uncredited) |
| Dorothy Adams | Sam's Wife (uncredited) |
| Erville Alderson | Spectator (uncredited) |
| Eric Alden | Canvas Man (uncredited) |
| Stanley Andrews | Man (uncredited) |
| Ross Bagdasarian | Man (uncredited) |
| Vicki Bakken | Vicki (uncredited) |
| Mary Bezemes | (uncredited) |
| Oliver Blake | Spectator (uncredited) |
| William Boyd | Hopalong Cassidy (uncredited) |
| Gladys Blake | Spectator (uncredited) |
| Bobby Burns | Spectator (uncredited) |
| Paul E. Burns | Spectator (uncredited) |
| Lonnie Burr | Boy Spectator (uncredited) |
| Ralph Brooks | Spectator (uncredited) |
| Helen Brown | Spectator (uncredited) |
| Bruce Cameron | Bruce (uncredited) |
| Iphigenie Castiglioni | Herself (uncredited) |
| Jeanne Browning | Girl (uncredited) |
| Lane Chandler | Dave (uncredited) |
| Arthur Q. Bryan | Spectator (uncredited) |
| Donna Burke | Girl (uncredited) |
| Ken Christy | Tightrope Act Spectator (uncredited) |
