Which 1952 film won Best Picture and was directed by Cecil B. DeMille?

The 1952 film that won Best Picture and was directed by Cecil B. DeMille was The Greatest Show on Earth.

The film is a circus drama set around the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Betty Hutton, Cornel Wilde, and Charlton Heston lead the cast, while James Stewart plays a mysterious clown who never removes his makeup. The production used the real circus troupe, including about 1,400 performers, hundreds of animals, and 60 railroad cars of equipment.

At the 25th Academy Awards in 1953, the film won Best Picture and Best Motion Picture Story. DeMille was also nominated for Best Director, making the victory especially notable because it became his only competitive Oscar win. The result remains controversial because the film defeated acclaimed nominees such as High Noon and lost some of its critical reputation over time.

The title is sometimes confused with DeMille's later biblical epic The Ten Commandments, but that film was released in 1956 and did not win Best Picture.