The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) is a MGM melodramatic film which tells the story of a film producer who alienates all around him. It stars Lana Turner, Kirk Douglas, Walter Pidgeon, Dick Powell, Barry Sullivan, and Gloria Grahame.
The film was written by George Bradshaw and Charles Schnee and directed by Vincente Minnelli. It won Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Gloria Grahame), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White and Best Writing, Screenplay. Kirk Douglas was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role.
In 2002 the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.
There has been much debate as to which real-life Hollywood legends are represented by the film's characters. Jonathan Shields is thought to be a blending of David O. Selznick, Orson Welles and Val Lewton. The Georgia Lorrison character is the daughter of a "Great Profile" actor (like John Barrymore) but also includes elements of Minnelli's ex-wife Judy Garland. The director Henry Whitfield (Leo G. Carroll) is a "difficult" director modeled on Alfred Hitchcock, and his assistant Miss March (Kathleen Freeman) is modeled on Hitchcock's wife Alma Reville.
Told in flashback form, the film traces the rise and fall of a tough, ambitious Hollywood producer Jonathan Shields (Kirk Douglas), as seen through the eyes of various acquaintances, including a writer James Lee Bartlow (Dick Powell), a star Georgia Lorrison (Lana Turner) and a director Fred Amiel (Barry Sullivan). 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 moviemakers. Written by alfiehitchie
Three successful movie industry people - an actress, a writer and a director - are invited to a major studio to hear a pitch from Jonathan Shields, an out of work movie producer to whom they all owe their success. In flashbacks, we learn how and why each of them has come to hate him completely. Fred Amiel, the director, was an assistant director until Shields gave him his big break; when he hires someone else to direct Amiel's dream project, it's the end. For Georgia Lorrison, an actress, Shields made her into a major star. When he pursues other women, it also marks the end of their professional relationship. For the writer, James Lee Bartlow, Shields plucked him out of some sleepy southern college town and turned one of his novels into a hit movie. Once again, Shields steps over the line when he arranges for a famous Latin movie star to squire Mrs. Bartlow around and tragedy ensues. Written by garykmcd
