Talk:The Greatest Show on Earth (film)

Should this become an article with a spoiler?
Should the article state that this film is very melodramatic largely because of the fact that Jimmy Stewart's character is a doctor running from the law and never removes his makeup because he is trying to remain undetected after the "mercy killing" of his terminally ill wife? The euthenasia aspect is why the film was and remains quite controversial; its "Best Picture" Oscar was widely seen as voicing Hollywood's support for the euthenasia issue. Does this belong in the article? Rlquall 01:33, 31 Mar 2005 (UTC)


 * I agree. I included a "controversies" section to that effect.  And I restored an old edit (reworked a little bit to handle NPOV issues) about the quality of the picture that received a "Best Picture" award.  I think these changes are appropriate, but I'll listen to other points of view... Joe 22:00, 10 October 2005 (UTC)

Controversial acts
I've flagged this as not having sources. "some critics" is not good enough for wikipedia, lets see some sources here showing the names of these that claim hollywood has a euthaniasia agenda. Desertsky85450 22:43, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Joseph McCathy Versus HUAC
This article makes the common error of linking the House Un-American Activities Committee with Joseph McCarthy. HUAC held hearings on communists in Hollywood while McCarthy went after people inside the government. The distinction is an important one if we are to understand the era.

There was no reason to appease McCarthy as the article says because McCarthy didn't concern himself with Hollywood. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Manfreedy (talk • contribs) 11:57, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

Desperado's Terrible leap for life
Just got given a poster for the above act - it says "The Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth - a terrific descent of 80 feet through space landing upon his chest on a skid placed at an angle of 50 degrees" which seemed pretty crazy - but looking here it seems like it might well have been a real event, and the chap playing the role of Desperado being the "mad German" Ernest Gadbin - I guess this probably deserves a mention somewhere in this article given that the poster has 'greatest show on earth' in the title? EdwardLane (talk) 19:24, 1 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Just found another mention of the act here not sure if it makes sense to have this here now that this has all moved to the film rather than the ringlin brothers article EdwardLane (talk) 15:16, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

Requested move 2 June 2016

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was: page moved.  Event horizon51  (talk) 13:36, 9 June 2016 (UTC)

– The phrase "The Greatest Show on Earth" seems to have as notable of a connection to Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus as it does with the film. In fact, the current WP:PRIMARYTOPIC situation could be seen as WP:ASTONISHing since the ambiguous title's article is the film. It would be better to have the disambiguation page moved to the ambiguous title so that readers can decide what subject they are trying to locate. Steel1943 (talk) 20:10, 2 June 2016 (UTC)
 * The Greatest Show on Earth → The Greatest Show on Earth (film)
 * The Greatest Show on Earth (disambiguation) → The Greatest Show on Earth
 * Support, the circus seems the primary. Randy Kryn 16:02, 3 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Support, the film is in no way the primary. I don't know whether the circus is the primary or not, but it's certainly more qualified for that spot than the film.  ONR  (talk) 01:53, 6 June 2016 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

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External links modified
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