Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Not part of a collection.
The Bad and the Beautiful
I took you out of the gutter... I can fling you back!
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 on the way to becoming one of Hollywood's top movie makers.
- Original title
- The Bad and the Beautiful
- Language
- EN
- Country
- US
- Budget
- $1,558,000
- Revenue
- $3,373,000
CinemaSerf
Mar 25, 2023 · via TMDB
It all starts with poor old Walter Pidgeon ("Harry") assembling "Georgia" (Lana Turner), "Fred" (Barry Sullivan) and "Bartlow" (Dick Powell) in his office so he can persuade then to write, direct and star in one last picture for their nemesis "Jonathan Shields" (Kirk Douglas). They loathe him - with a passion, and "Harry" knows he has his work cut out if he is convince them. His preferred method is to remind each of them, whilst introducing us to their characters and stories, of how they alighted on the visionary, enigmatic and profoundly selfish "Shields", and of how his selfishness and determination helped each of them to achieve success. Vincente Minnelli has assembled a strong cast to deliver really well on Charles Schnee's screenplay. The flashbacks deliver just about everything from betrayal, duplicity, passion - pretty much the whole gamut of human emotions and frailties as we gradually build a picture of a man about whom nothing is simple - and about whom it is possible to admire and detest in equal measure. By reminding them of just how they got to where they are now, "Harry" - who was put through the wringer a bit too by his boss - hopes to convince them to step up for one last hurrah! Can he? Should he? Should they? There is a really strong supporting cast here - including an effective Gilbert Roland ("Gaucho") and the briefest of appearances from Gloria Grahame as ("Rosemary"). Douglas is on super form - he conveys the ambitiousness and odiousness of the producer character effortlessly and at the same time gives us quite a vision of just how transitory and cut-throat Hollywood was. Turner, likewise, is on super form as the gal who will do what ever it takes to succeed - within reason - then when she starts to wear the real fur coats, then... What helps this stand out is the writing - it has a plausibility to it. You can readily imagine these scenarios being true (albeit gilded, somewhat) and it makes for two hours of cinema that simply flies by. Big screen if you can - it's well worth it.
tmdb28039023
Aug 30, 2022 · via TMDB
The Bad and the Beautiful is sort of like Old Hollywood’s Rashomon. Three characters appear before a fourth to tell a story about a fifth; the three stories are different but interrelated, and the moral of each is the same: studio chief Jonathan Shields (Kirk Douglas) is a major a--hole and to know him is to hate him. Each tale is bookended by film producer Harry Pebbel (Walter Pidgeon) sarcastically condoling with the teller, pitying them for their blindness to the fact that Shields was a blessing in disguise. Without him, movie star Georgia Lorrison (Lana Turner) was "a drunk and a tramp playing bit parts, and he made a star of you ... For the last seven years, you've been in the top 10 in every popularity poll. Yes, Jonathan sure fouled you up." Screenwriter-turned-novelist James Lee Bartlow (Dick Powell) is told "Jonathan sure destroyed you. You came out of it with nothing. Nothing but a Pulitzer Prize novel and the highest salary of any writer in Hollywood." As for director Fred Amiel (Barry Sullivan), "[Shields] brushed you off his coattail, so you had to stand alone. And all you've got in the world is a wife, six kids, two Academy Awards and every stu-dio in town after you. Why, Jonathan ruined you!". In all three cases, however, especially the third, it would seem as if the complainer got to where they are now despite, rather than because of, Shields. Georgia and Bartlow he does help reach the summits of their respective trades — though it is worth noting that both were satisfied with their lots in life and had no interest in climbing to such heights in the first place —, which of course didn’t give him the right to crap all over their personal lives. And Amiel he screwed over on a profes-sional basis; used him and then kicked him to the curb. As it turns out, Pebbel’s intended irony is only half-true; Shields did foul Georgia up, destroyed Bartlow, and ruined Amiel one way or another. That they pulled themselves up by their boots traps and continued to be successful is more a testament to their determination than to Shields’s alleged Midas touch. To be sure, the film skimps a litte too much on Shields’s hubris. Yes, he naively assumes he can direct a movie himself and ends up bankrupting Shields Productions, but it is implied that he only failed because, for once, he wasn’t a bastard-coated bastard with bastard filling ("Jonathan the director was a new Jonathan. He was patience personified. He was tolerant, even-tempered, considerate and indulgent to his crew, his cast and his writer"). Moreover, Shields saves himself from well-deserved public scorn by shelving the movie instead of releasing it. Finally, even though it’s made clear that Shields needs Georgia, Bartlow, and Amiel more than they need him — as well as suggested that they might agree to work with him again, in spite of having every reason not to —, there’s no indication that Shields has changed for good. Right before biting off more than he can chew, Shields is given great advice: "To direct a picture, a man needs humility. Do you have humility, Mr. Shields?". Having his crony Pebbel rub it in people’s faces all Shields supposedly did for them while downplaying how he hurt them doesn’t go a long way to answer that question in the affirmative. All things considered, The Bad and the Beautiful is not unlike the film Shields drove to the ground;"beautifully" written, produced, photographed, etc., etc., but unsure of what it is that it wants to say about its subject matter. P.S. A decade later Godard made Le Mépris, wherein he practiced what he preached (in order to cri-ticize a movie, you have to make another movie); Jack Palance’s producer’s contentious relations-hips with his scriptwriter and director (legendary Austrian-American filmmaker Fritz Lang as himself; The Bad and the Beautiful includes a character possibly modeled after Erich von Stroheim and Josef von Sternberg, no less legendary or Austrian-American than Lang) parallels those of Shields’s; furthermore, Palance — dressed to the nines and hair carefully slicked back — looks to have styled himself after Douglas. The difference is that Le Mépris made no pretense that its antagonistic film producer was ever any-thing other than a Jerk with a Heart of Jerk , as opposed to The Bad and the Beautiful’s Wolf in Sheep's Clothing.
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
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Lana Turner
Georgia Lorrison
Kirk Douglas
Jonathan Shields
Walter Pidgeon
Harry Pebbel
Dick Powell
James Lee Bartlow
Barry Sullivan
Fred Amiel
Gloria Grahame
Rosemary Bartlow
Leo G. Carroll
Henry Whitfield
Gilbert Roland
Victor "Gaucho" Ribera
Paul Stewart
Syd Murphy
Vanessa Brown
Kay Amiel
Elaine Stewart
Lila
Sammy White
Gus
Ivan Triesault
Von Ellstein
Jay Adler
Mr. Z (uncredited)
Stanley Andrews
Sheriff (uncredited)
Ben Astar
Joe (Party Guest) (uncredited)
Barbara Billingsley
Evelyn Lucien (Costumer) (uncredited)
Madge Blake
Mrs. Rosser (uncredited)
Marshall Bradford
Man Outside the Club (uncredited)
Robert Burton
McDill (uncredited)
Francis X. Bushman
Eulogist (uncredited)
Louis Calhern
Georgia Lorrison's Father (voice) (uncredited)
Marietta Canty
Ida (uncredited)
Jonathan Cott
Assistant Director (uncredited)
Lillian Culver
Real Estate Woman (uncredited)
Sandy Descher
Little Girl Screaming on "Cat Man" Set (uncredited)
Phil Dunham
Pawnbroker (uncredited)
Franklyn Farnum
Assistant on Set (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 the Party (uncredited)
Ned Glass
Wardrobe Man (uncredited)
Dabbs Greer
Studio Lighting Technician (uncredited)
Dick Johnstone
Mourner (uncredited)
Ted Jordan
Assistant Director (uncredited)
Kenner G. Kemp
Mourner (uncredited)
Peggy King
Singer at Party (uncredited)
Mike Lally
Preview Ticket Taker (uncredited)
George J. Lewis
"Far Away Mountain" Test Actor #2 (uncredited)
Wilbur Mack
Party Guest (uncredited)
Paul Marion
Spanish Actor in Screen Test (uncredited)
Paul Maxey
Man Talking to Gabby Agent at the Party (uncredited)
May McAvoy
Pebbel's Secretary (uncredited)
Harold Miller
Mourner (uncredited)
Roger Moore
Cigar Clerk (uncredited)
William H. O'Brien
Waiter at Party (uncredited)
Pat O'Malley
Man Outside the Club (uncredited)
Christopher Olsen
Amiel's Boy (uncredited)
Dorothy Patrick
Arlene (uncredited)
William Phillips
Assistant Director (uncredited)
Jeff Richards
Studio Props Department Man (uncredited)
Loretta Russell
Symposium Guest (uncredited)
Jeffrey Sayre
Waiter (uncredited)
Frank J. Scannell
Reporter (uncredited)
Reginald Simpson
Poker Player (uncredited)
William Tannen
Reporter (uncredited)
Dee Turnell
Linda Ronley (uncredited)
Harry Tyler
Man (uncredited)
Kaaren Verne
Rosa (uncredited)
Ray Walker
Cameraman (uncredited)
Cedric Gibbons
Art Direction
Edwin B. Willis
Set Decoration
Robert Surtees
Director of Photography
Helen Rose
Costume Design
Sydney Guilaroff
Hairstylist
William Tuttle
Makeup Artist
Alex Romero
Choreographer
A. Arnold Gillespie
Special Effects
Eric Alden
Stunts
Jerry Thorpe
Assistant Director
Vincente Minnelli
Director
John Houseman
Producer
David Raksin
Conductor
David Raksin
Orchestrator
David Raksin
Original Music Composer
Douglas Shearer
Recording Supervision
Charles Schnee
Screenplay
Her Children
War Mornings
Hadaya
Shari al-bahlawan
The Unknown Past
Ashab El Saadah
Love never dies
Mountains Clad in Green
Stars of Long Nights
And they said
Saedat El Rigal
Sad Melody
Alguien mató algo
12 Angry Men
Seven Samurai
Ikiru
Paths of Glory
The Thug
Women's Letters
Scarface
Casablanca
The World of Apu
The Kid
Metropolis
Some Like It Hot
All About Eve
M
The 400 Blows
The Last Lear
Steel Chariots
The Unknown Woman
Translations
Banat bahari
Citizen Kane
Eshaet Hob
Rebecca
La Jetée
Throne of Blood
A Man Escaped
Umberto D.
Stand by Me
Anatomy of a Murder
Freaks
All Quiet on the Western Front
Rififi
Edward Scissorhands
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Viridiana
The Killing
Sweet Smell of Success
The Longest Day
Oliver Twist
A Night to Remember
Until Forever
A Few Good Men
The Philadelphia Story
Angels with Dirty Faces
The Man Who Wasn't There
The Manchurian Candidate
Zorba the Greek
Hassan and Nayima
Band of Outsiders
Breathless
Cold War
Trouble in Paradise
Scarface
Blow
Spellbound
The Purple Rose of Cairo
Bad Education
Lifeboat
Murder She Said
Dead Man
Pickpocket
Chimes at Midnight
Lisbon Story
Mädchen in Uniform
The Player
12 Mighty Orphans
High Fidelity
Law of Desire
Alex: The Life of a Child
C'mon C'mon
The Spy Who Came In from the Cold
Quién te cantará
The Wolf Man
Shanghai Express
Christmas in Connecticut
1945
Wafaa Forever
The workshop
Sabar Uparey
Fosforlu'nun Oyunu: Kıtıpiyoza Tuzak
I Love you Hassan
King Kong
Wag the Dog
Frances
Thursday
Horse Feathers
Heart Blackened
Love Story
Brighton Rock
Magnificent Obsession
Wife Number 13
The Majestic
The Silent Ocean
The Thing from Another World
What on Earth Have I Done Wrong?!
The Ledge End of Phil
Charlie Bartlett
Shadow of the Vampire
Conspiracy Theory
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
The Bricklayers
Hippocrates
Hollywood Ending
Things to Come
Tout Va Bien
Dananeir
The Mayor
The Last Movie Star
Road to Singapore
Struggle of the Heroes
Forget Paris
The Last Joint Venture
De-Lovely
S1m0ne
Shades
The Jayne Mansfield Story
The Showgirl
Young Adam
Heat
Serbis
The Good German
The Only One
Harlow
The Nameless
Little Aurore's Tragedy
Too Young to Die
What Just Happened
Broken Threads
The Encounter
Harvey
Too Much, Too Soon
Kaivopuiston kaunis Regina
Loudly, Death Unties
Blonde on a Bum Trip
Jacked
The Sheets Must Be Silk
Hollywood Lucifer
Romeo 3000
Horse Riders
The Stop
Me, My Wife and My Lover
Fili di memorie
Max in the Morning
The Super
Jawhara
Eghraa
Al-Haz Al-Sa'eed
Woman on the Margin
Berlanty
Verlorene Töchter 3. Teil - Die Menschen nennen es Liebe
Der rote Henker
Medicina Para Fantasmas
WINDER
The Art of Staying Inside
Suburbia
The Common Courtesy
Sunset Boulevard
Man On The Borderland
Sunset Boulevard
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Your Fault: London
Winter Spring Summer or Fall
Chemical Hearts
After We Collided
Bastard Out of Carolina
After We Fell
Malcolm & Marie
A Journal for Jordan
After Ever Happy
A Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate
My Week with Marilyn
The Other Side of the Wind
Puncture
The Souvenir: Part II
The Day of the Locust
Under the Silver Lake
The Assistant
The Last Tycoon
Fire with Fire
Heatwave
Newness
Blind
Love Me Love Me
The Souvenir
Wander Darkly
Lucky Them
The Man from Elysian Fields
Strange Weather
Dec 25, 1952
Los Angeles, California
Jan 15, 1953
