The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Vincente Minnelli

Writers:

Charles Schnee (screenplay)
George Bradshaw (story)

Release Date:

9 February 1953 (Brazil)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

I took you out of the gutter . . . I can fling you back!

Plot:

An actress, a director, and a writer are asked to help revive the career of ruthless Hollywood studio bigwig Jonathan Shields. However, all three are reluctant because they have all been used and betrayed by him in the past.

Plot Keywords:

Director | Writer | Star | Actress | Hollywood

Awards:

Won 5 Oscars. Another 1 win & 6 nominations

Cast

Lana Turner	...	Georgia Larisson
Kirk Douglas	...	Jonathan Shields
Walter Pidgeon	...	Harry Pebbel
Dick Powell	...	James Lee Bartlow
Barry Sullivan	...	Fred Amiel
Gloria Grahame	...	Rosemary Bartlow
Gilbert Roland	...	Victor 'Gaucho' Ribera
Leo G. Carroll	...	Henry Whitfield
Vanessa Brown	...	Kay Amiel
Paul Stewart	...	Syd Murphy
Sammy White	...	Gus
Elaine Stewart	...	Lila
Ivan Triesault	...	Von Ellstein

Also Known As:

Memorial to a Bad Man (USA) (working title)
Tribute to a Badman (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

118 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Canada:14A (Ontario) | UK:A (original rating) | USA:Approved (certificate #16017) | UK:PG | Canada:PG (video rating) | Argentina:16 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Beverly Hills Hotel & Bungalows - 9641 Sunset Blvd., Beverly Hills, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The photograph of King Douglas' detested studio-head father, which Barry Sullivan straightens on the wall in this MGM film, looks exactly like Jack L. Warner, the head of Warner Bros. - MGM's competitor.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Jonathan is shining the flashlight at the girl up the roof, at one point he aims it away from her, but the light remains steadily focused on her legs.

Quotes:

Jonathan Shields: When an audience pays to see a picture like this, what are they paying for?
Fred: To get the pants scared off of 'em.
Jonathan Shields: And what scares the human race more than any other single thing?
[crosses to wall switch and turns out the light]
Fred: The dark!
Jonathan Shields: Of course. And why? Because the dark has a life of its own. In the dark, all sorts of things come alive.
Fred: Suppose... suppose we never do show the cat men. Is that what you're thinking.
Jonathan Shields: Exactly.
Fred: No cat men!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Lana Turner... a Daughter's Memoir (2001) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Don't Blame Me

2 Out Of 3 Ain't Bad

A bit of a soap opera, this film was divided into three segments as people recalled their experiences with "Jonathan Shields," played well by Kirk Douglas.

"Shields" was a guy interested in making movies and he used people to get to the top. Three of these people tell of their dealings with him, and none of them have too many good things to say.

I liked the first and third segments but didn't care for the middle one with Lana Turner simply because Turner became so melodramatic, too hysterical for me. Barry Sullivan was excellent in the first part and helped get me into the story. He was the director who got "screwed" by Douglas.

Turner was the unknown actress whom Douglas turned into a star while the last part dealt with the key screenwriter for Douglas, played by Dick Powell. I thought Powell was the best of the four main characters of the film but his segment was the shortest, unfortunately. As good as he was, his wife was equally as annoying. She was played by the normally entertaining and alluring Gloria Grahame, who was anything but that in this role. She sounded ludicrous with her fake southern accent. How she won an Academy Award for this role is mind- boggling.

Some classify this movie as film noir, but I dispute that. It's simply a straight drama with soapish overtones. It's well-written, however, and keeps one's interest all the way, so I am not knocking this movie. It has a good things going for it.