The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)

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
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jay Adler	...	Mr. Z - party guest (uncredited)
Stanley Andrews	...	Sheriff (uncredited)
Ben Astar	...	Joe, Party Guest (uncredited)
Barbara Billingsley	...	Evelyn Lucien, Costume Designer (uncredited)
John Bishop	...	Ferraday (uncredited)
Madge Blake	...	Mrs. Rosser (uncredited)
Marshall Bradford	...	Man Outside Club (uncredited)
Hadda Brooks	...	Piano player (uncredited)
Robert Burton	...	McDill (uncredited)
Francis X. Bushman	...	Eulogist (uncredited)
Louis Calhern	...	Georgia Larrison (voice) (uncredited)
Marietta Canty	...	Ida (uncredited)
Robert Carson	...	Casting Director (uncredited)
Janet Comerford	...	Bobby-Soxer (uncredited)
James Conaty	...	Party Guest (uncredited)
Jonathan Cott	...	Assistant Director (uncredited)
Lillian Culver	...	Real Estate Woman (uncredited)
Alexis Davidoff	...	Priest (uncredited)
Bob Davis	...	Assistant (uncredited)
Sandy Descher	...	Screaming Little Girl on "Cat Man" set (uncredited)
Phil Dunham	...	Pawn Broker (uncredited)
Steve Dunhill	...	Cameraman (uncredited)
Franklyn Farnum	...	Assistant on Set (uncredited)
James Farrar	...	Publicity Man (uncredited)
Bess Flowers	...	Joe's Friend at Party (uncredited)
Steve Forrest	...	Actor in Georgia's Screen Test (uncredited)
Kathleen Freeman	...	Miss March (uncredited)
Frank Gerstle	...	Gabby Agent at Party (uncredited)
Ned Glass	...	Wardrobe Man (uncredited)
Lisa Golm	...	Undetermined Minor Role (uncredited) (unconfirmed)
Phyllis Graffeo	...	Leading Lady (uncredited)
A. Cameron Grant	...	Timmy, Assistant Director (uncredited)
William E. Greene	...	Hugh Shields in Portrait (uncredited)
Dabbs Greer	...	Studio Lighting Technician (uncredited)
Sam Harris	...	Party Guest (uncredited)
Stuart Holmes	...	Poker Player (uncredited)
Ted Jordan	...	Assistant Director (uncredited)
Kurt Kasznar	...	Party guest (uncredited)
Joseph Keane	...	Assistant Director (uncredited)
Kenner G. Kemp	...	Mourner (uncredited)
Peggy King	...	Singer (uncredited)
Lucy Knoch	...	Blonde Dancing with Gaucho (uncredited)
Mike Lally	...	Preview Ticket Taker (uncredited)
George J. Lewis	...	'Far Away Mountain' Test Actor #2 (uncredited)
Paul Marion	...	Spanish Actor in Screen Test (uncredited)
Paul Maxey	...	Man talking to gabby agent at party (uncredited)
May McAvoy	...	Pebbel's secretary (uncredited)
Harold Miller	...	Mourner at Shields Funeral (uncredited)
Patrick J. Molyneaux	...	Studio Electrician (uncredited)
Roger Moore	...	Cigar Clerk (uncredited)
Ellanora Needles	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Richard Norris	...	Leading Man (uncredited)
William H. O'Brien	...	Waiter at Party (uncredited)
Christopher Olsen	...	Amiel's Boy (uncredited)
Pat O'Malley	...	Man Outside Club (uncredited)
Dorothy Patrick	...	Arlene (uncredited)
William 'Bill' Phillips	...	Assistant Director (uncredited)
Paul Power	...	Theatre Manager (uncredited)
Kathy Qualen	...	Bobby-Soxer (uncredited)
Frank J. Scannell	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Perry Sheehan	...	Pebbel's Secretary (uncredited)
George Sherwood	...	Cameraman (uncredited)
Reginald Simpson	...	Poker Player (uncredited)
Mabel Smaney	...	Heavy Woman (uncredited)
William Tannen	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Arthur Tovey	...	Actor in Catman Suit (uncredited)
Dee Turnell	...	Linda Ronley (uncredited)
Kaaren Verne	...	Rosa (uncredited)
Ray Walker	...	Cameraman (uncredited)
Harte Wayne	...	Judge (uncredited)
Larry Williams	...	Poker Player (uncredited)
Eric Wilton	...	Butler (uncredited)
Douglas Yorke	...	Leading Man (uncredited)

Directed by
Vincente Minnelli

Writing credits
Charles Schnee		(screenplay)
George Bradshaw		(story)

Produced by
John Houseman	....	producer

Original Music by
David Raksin

Cinematography by
Robert Surtees

Film Editing by
Conrad A. Nervig

Art Direction by
Edward C. Carfagno		(as Edward Carfagno)
Cedric Gibbons

Set Decoration by
F. Keogh Gleason		(as Keogh Gleason)
Edwin B. Willis

Costume Design by
Helen Rose		(costumes: women)

Makeup Department
Sydney Guilaroff	....	hair stylist
William Tuttle	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jerry Thorpe	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Douglas Shearer	....	recording supervisor

Special Effects by
A. Arnold Gillespie	....	special effects
Warren Newcombe	....	special effects

Stunts
Eric Alden	....	stunts (uncredited)

Music Department
Gus Bivona	....	musician: saxophone (uncredited)
Lawrence Morton	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
David Raksin	....	conductor (uncredited)
David Raksin	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Ruby Raksin	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Alex Romero	....	choreographer (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (controlled by Loew's Incorporated)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1952) (USA) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1953) (France) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1954) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Video (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Vidéo (2006) (France) (DVD)
• Warner Home Vídeo (2002) (Brazil) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)  grateful for permission to use the Academy Award Statuette

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:

Lana Turner plays an actor whose career started as a movie extra. Turner started her own career as an extra in A Star Is Born (1937).

Goofs:

Continuity: When the director Von Ellstein and Shields are having their big spat on how a just-concluded scene should have been directed and the overall directorial style and vision for the picture, the cuts between the perspective views of their arguing show Shields alternately with tensed outstretched arms and then casually folded hands on the top step of the short ladder or whatever that was he was leaning on.

Quotes:

Victor "Gaucho" Ribera: To give truth to a performance, there's nothing like love.
Georgia Lorrison: Love is for the very young.
Lila: Love is for the birds!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Watch the Skies!: Science Fiction, the 1950s and Us (2005) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Don't Blame Me

Trash By Any Other Name......

This glossy, trashy soap opera of a movie has won all sorts of accolades and an idolatrous fan base, but its appeal is lost on me. It's filmed in chilly black and white, giving it the patina of an art film, but if this were filmed in blazing Technicolor, it wouldn't be any more distinguished than a heap of other 50s sudsers, like "Peyton Place" or "The Best of Everything." Vincente Minellis proved that he could do shadowy melodramas as well as colorful musicals, but his direction is still fairly anonymous. The pacing of the film itself, with its rigid flashback structure, is monotonous, and it's much too long. I get a kick out of Gloria Grahame in whatever she's in, so she was a welcome addition to the cast, but she's in the film for maybe ten minutes late into its running time, and I was too numbed by indifference by the time she appeared to regain interest. Dick Powell is the only other actor I really remember, mostly because his dry, cynical writer character was so far removed from the bouncy, googly-eyed boy-next-door roles he played in all of the Warners musicals.

Grade: C+