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

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 working title, "Tribute to a Bad Man", was later used as the title of an unrelated MGM feature (Tribute to a Bad Man (1956)). One reason for the title change was to add "beautiful", in consideration of the top-billed Lana Turner.

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:

Georgia Lorrison: People who knew my father give me the extra work and a line to say every now and then. I drink what I want, I see who I want. Who knows. Someday, I may even get married, to a nice, upright, assistant's assistant.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in L.A. Confidential (1997)

Soundtrack:

Temptation

a movie that embraces the Hollywood studio machine while putting a harsh criticism of it

That one line summary makes me sound like I'm calling the Bad and the Beautiful a case in 'tough love', where director Vincente Minnelli wags his finger at what happens to some people (cough, David O. Selznick, cough), while also showing too the joys of working in the business. But it's a business at its most booming time, coming out of the 40s where the producer was king, and the director had to vie for room at times to really get his vision in. Here the producer Jonathan Shields is played by Kirk Douglas as someone with big ideas at first- he even has an idea to help make a scary movie about cats even more frightening by not showing the cats (echoes of Val Lewton). Soon he rises the ranks and becomes big enough to really call the shots all he wants, but it also gets in the way of personal relationships, severs ties, and sometimes even makes him out to be monstrous (there's one shot I remember all the time where Douglas, in a big fit of anger against Lana Turner's character, seems like he's a whole foot taller with the ego almost manifested). The narrative of the film is a retelling by people who knew him, a sexy but soon disillusioned actress, a director who once worked with Shields but then got cut off from him, and a writer played by Dick Powell. Rashomon or Citizen Kane it is not in trying to reveal more grandiose and amazing things about human nature, but rather a supreme rumination on the good times and the bad times, possibly more of the latter. What's great about Douglas's portrayal is that through the stories from the three ex-friends and co-workers and lovers, he becomes a very well-rounded character. At the core, of course, is the producer who at the time had as more creative say than anyone else on the set. This brings some of the great scenes ever shown about movie-making, such as the moment when Amiel, the director, tries to put Jonathan in his place about how a scene should be shot, "in order to direct a picture you need humility". Another comes with the moment when Jonathan and his soon to be 'asistant to the producer' has to object out of just being stunned. But more than Douglas, it's also tremendous, memorable screen time for Lana Turner, perhaps in her most successful performance in just sheer acting terms (not necessarily just in presence or style like in other pictures), and for Dick Powell, who with this and Murder My Sweet has two defining roles outside of his usual niche. With many sweet camera moves, a script that crackles with the kind of scenes and dialog that makes one wish for the glory times of Hollywood's Golden Age, and at least four or five really excellent performances, The Bad and the Beautiful might not be as astounding and near-perfect as 8 1/2 or as funny as Bowfinger, but it ranks up there with the best movies about movie-making, and can make for some fine entertainment even for those who aren't really interested in how movies are made.