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:

Plane Crash | Deception | Reckless Driving | Film Industry | Satire

Awards:

Won 5 Oscars. Another 1 win & 6 nominations

Cast

Lana Turner	...	Georgia
Kirk Douglas	...	Jonathan
Walter Pidgeon	...	Harry Pebbel
Dick Powell	...	James Lee
Barry Sullivan	...	Fred
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

Also Known As:

Memorial to a Bad Man (USA) (working title)
Tribute to a Badman (USA) (working title)
Cautivos del mal (Argentina) (Spain) [es]
Ensorcelés, Les (Belgium: French title) (France) [fr]
Stadt der Illusionen (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
Assim Estava Escrito (Brazil) [pt]
Betoverden, De (Belgium: Flemish title) [un]
Bruto e la bella, Il (Italy) [it]
Cativos do Mal (Portugal) [pt]
Illusionernas stad (Sweden) [sv]
Illusionernes by (Denmark) [da]
Oraia kai to ktinos, I (Greece) [el]
Piekny i zly (Poland) [pl]
Särkyneitten haaveitten kaupunki (Finland) [fi]
Zli i piekni (Poland) [pl]

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:

Leo G. Carroll's brief appearance as a "demanding" director is a thinly veiled reference to Alfred Hitchcock. When he first came to Hollywood, Hitchcock was under contract to Selznik for years. Leo G. Carroll had roles in many Hitchcock films of this era.

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 "True Blood: I Don't Wanna Know (#1.10)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

Don't Blame Me

Entertaining backstage business

Glossy MGM soaper has many things to recommend it, not the least of which is a surprisingly grounded, natural Lana Turner (looking great, even in ordinary jammies) playing a successful movie actress who, along with a top screenwriter and director, help producer-on-the-skids Kirk Douglas stage a comeback. Not especially revealing about Hollywood, which at this stage wasn't quite ready to unmask itself, but still engaging and intriguing. Douglas is well-cast (he spits out his lines with a terse jaw--nothing new--but he's right for this part and is commendable). Turner is a revelation and deserved at the very least an Oscar nomination for her work. Sharp dialogue and gleaming photography are the other major assets. Gets less attention than something like "All About Eve", but it's actually more entertaining. *** from ****