The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)

An unscrupulous movie producer uses an actress, a director and a writer to achieve success.

Director:

Vincente Minnelli

Writers:

Charles Schnee (screenplay), George Bradshaw (story)

Stars:

Lana Turner, Kirk Douglas, Walter Pidgeon

Won 5 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

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

Storyline

Told in flashback form, the film traces the rise and fall of a tough, ambitious Hollywood producer Jonathan Shields, as seen through the eyes of various acquaintances, including a writer James Lee Bartlow, a star Georgia Lorrison and a director Fred Amiel. He is a hard-driving, ambitious man who ruthlessly uses everyone - including the writer, star and director - on the way to becoming one of Hollywood's top movie makers.

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Plot Keywords:

screenwriter | rise and fall | film studio | film producer | hollywood california | 

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Taglines:

The story of a blonde who wanted to go places, and a brute who got her there - the hard way!

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 February 1953 (Brazil)

Also Known As:

Tribute to a Badman

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Budget:

$1,558,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$2,367,000, 31 December 1953

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$3,373,000, 31 December 1963

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The scene showing the production of the fictional low-budget horror film was based on how Val Lewton produced Cat People (1942).

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Goofs

In the George Lorrison's house, Jonathan cuts a drawing from the wallpaper and holds it unrolled. In the next shot he is holding it in half rolled up.

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Quotes

Jonathan: [to Georgia about her screen test] And I know I'm right about you. I gave you no help. The test was atrocious, but bad as it was, it proved one thing: when you're on the screen, no matter who you're with, what you're doing, the audience is looking at YOU. That's star quality... Lorrison quality.

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Alternate Versions

Also available in a computer colorized version.

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Connections

Referenced in Flamingo Road: The Bad and the Beautiful (1982)

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Soundtracks

Don't Blame Me
(uncredited)
Music by Jimmy McHugh
Lyrics by Dorothy Fields
Performed by Peggy King

User Reviews

The composer the star

My tribute to the great Hollywood film composer, David Raksin, is long overdue. I only discovered the other day that he died a couple of summers ago at the considerable age of 92. I suppose I had thought that like most of those figures who reached their peak in the middle of the last century he had passed away many years ago. A re-seeing of "The Bad and the Beautiful" fairly recently reminded me of just how outstanding was his contribution to movies of all shades of quality. I first became aware of the uniqueness of the Raksin 'sound' on my original viewing of Wyler's "Carrie" in 1952. It is impossible to define, other than to say that it owes nothing to central European romanticism, the sound of almost all the in-house studio composers such as Newman, Stothart and Steiner, or to the tradition of 20th century symphonists such as Copland and Diamond which fed the imagination of film composers as diverse as Elmer Bernstein and David Amram. Raksin had a sound all his own as did Bernard Herrmann and Miklos Rozsa, as instantly recognisable as theirs but I feel his range is wider. He seldom repeated himself as did Rozsa who composed in the same style regardless of genre. ("Double Idemnity", "Ben-Hur" and "Madame Bovary" have nothing common apart from their same sort of watered down Kodaly-like music.) His style is intensely lyrical, conceived with a verve and passion that always transcended the most trivial movies and made them, if not worth watching, always worth listening to. Unlike many of his colleagues he seldom hit the jackpot by working on films of great quality. I think it only happened twice, with Abraham Polonsky's B movie "Force of Evil" which has become recognised as a marvellous example of film noir and of course William Wyler's "Carrie" where he was just one of many outstanding contributors to what I have long argued is possibly the greatest work of art to have ever emerged from the Hollywood studio system. Although it has its passionate advocates, I cannot share their enthusiasm for Vincente Minnelli's "The Bad and the Beautiful". It is certainly very professional in the way it slickly dissects an unsympathetic character through the flashback reminiscences of those he mistreated, but it had all been done before and considerably better in "Citizen Kane" and "All About Eve". However the film is worth watching if only to wallow in Raksin's gorgeous score. And there is plenty of it, particularly in accompanying all those voice-off narrations. And then just as one is beginning to wonder if the marvellous opening credit theme is about to be heard once too often, the composer introduces something entirely new for the Dick Powell narrative, a jaunty section based on a four-note motif (a falling perfect fifth, rising up a major sixth, then down a major seventh). The way this is subsequently developed is truly symphonic. Incidentally if you want to discover a film score that has the length and complexity of a symphony just close your eyes (you won't be missing much) and listen to "Forever Amber". Raksin in excelsis!