The Bad and the Beautiful | | Cast : | Lana Turner, Kirk Douglas, Walter Pidgeon, Dick Powell | | Director : | Vincente Minnelli | | Studio : | Warner Studios | | Format : | Black & White, Closed-captioned | | Released Date : | January 01, 1952 | | DVD Released Date : | February 05, 2002 | | Language : | Unknown (Dubbed), English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), Portuguese (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language), Thai (Subtitled), Chinese (Subtitled), Korean (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | NR (Not Rated) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 04, 2005 | | Summary | Greed, ambition, betray and selfish! | Content
 | In the Fifties the interiorities of the Industry movies was shocked by three remarkable works: everyone of them with its distinctive trademark: All about, Eve, Sunset Boulevard and The bad and the beautiful.
This is an unusual film of Vincent Minelli and one of my three personal favorites of him: add Wizard of Oz and Lust for life. Minelli literally showed he unknown and surreptitious passages of this industry alluding to several promising stars in previous and actual ages that you and me know but for obvious reasons must remain in discretional atmosphere.
In the narrative structure of the movie we can visible analogies with Citizen Kane. Around a table we can watch the three characters who involved closer than anyone about the appetencies, emotional behavior, and intimate feature of this mighty personage His unobstructed conviction and unstoppable determination to reach the fame. Every one of them reminds and tells us in glorious flash back about the circumstances, facts and disappointments around him.
Gloria Grahame's Award has been to my mind the Award with the lesser time acting in the story of the Cinema and I guess this item has its place in Guiness. Her extremely brief appearance deserved her the Best Supporting Actress as playing the role of the devoted wife of this writer, suddenly became a scriptwriter of first range; but the personal effort of Douglas to convince Gloria (Lana Turner) to abandon her alcoholism and the sad memories of his famous father show that beneath the apparently nasty behavior of this human being, remains beneath the surface of the appearances, an obsessed man (as well as Kane with his second wife, remember?) , deeply convinced about her talent against all the odds and negative forecasts.
There have been some discussed awarded performances, and to my view this was one of the most remarkable ones. Gary Cooper won and what happened with this towering acting of Douglas? It seemed that prevailed the idea that being Douglas a young actor, he would be able to win another Prize in the future; so in my humble opinion Cooper `s Prize looks like more a honest acknowledgment for his triumphal career that the performance by itself. An analog case may be found in 1993 with Al Pacino and Robert Downey Jr.
Finally we have in this extraordinary epilogue the final result of a passionate life, extremely selfish if you want but promoter of two brilliant careers of two previously low self esteemed people who reached the fame and glory because of him.
This is an excellent occasion to remind this Chinese statement: "Everybody reminds the last favor, till it becomes the antepenultimate one"
A must for you in your collection!
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| Rating | | | Date | June 18, 2005 | | Summary | The Bad and the Not So Bad | Content
| I had a chance to watch "The Bad and the Beautiful" last night and I came away with mixed impressions. Overall I thought it was a pretty good movie. Where I felt it came up short was in the character development and comparison. Yes, this is the story of a driven man, Jonathon Shields (played by Kirk Douglas), and how he rubs everyone else the wrong way. It means to show that their anger and resentment overshadowed the many positive ways he affected their lives. That makes for a good outline for a movie. However, two of the other four characters had wanted to do things their way and were primarily mad at Jonathon Shields for having it his way. The other two characters, played by Lana Turner and Dick Powell, were people who would not have risen as high as they did without the drive and determination that Shields instilled in them. I found it hard to sympathize with either of the other four for because of that. Actually, the characters of interest were those played by Gilbert Rolland and Gloria Grahame. They were opposites in their own way; one living life on the edge and the other coming wide-eyed out of a small Southern town into the wilds of Hollywood. Their brief scenes were the proper seasoning the rest of the cast failed to bring. I guess that explains Grahame's Best Supporting Actress Oscar in her rather brief appearances. It wasn't so much how well she played her role but how well that role played against the other roles in the movie.
Hollywood likes to make movies about Hollywood. "The Bad and the Beautiful" is one of the better such productions (although it is no "Sunset Boulevard"). The best acting is that of Kirk Douglas who was great so long as he didn't lose his temper. It may seem to be about a world that's completely different from our own. However, most of us may have had a person in our past like the character of Jonathon Shields. Personally, I'm re-evaluating my opinion of my 5th grade trombone instructor. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 01, 2005 | | Summary | The man who'd do anything to get what he wants... | Content
| Lacerating and dramatic, lovable and witty, this is a drama of the finest calibre about an irresistibly charming and ruthless movie producer Jonathan Shields who, although well intentioned, ends up burning everyone in his path in favor of his own advancement. With loads of spark and spirit, edge and grime, this mix of a Kane-esque character study and down and dirty inside look at the movie business is a winning combination. The story is told by three of his former friends-cum-colleagues who have grudges ready to last a lifetime, but still, although they'd be loathe to admit it, have a soft spot in their heart for Jonathan Shields.
The writing is sharp, and the glimpse at old Hollywood is endlessly interesting. And through Kirk Douglas' magnetic, visceral, and charismatic performance it's difficult not to be entirely engrossed as he secures his dreams even while those he cares about the most fall away. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 27, 2004 | | Summary | 'You have a very naughty mind.' | Content
| The career of director Jonathan Shields (Kirk Douglas) is examined through the stories of three people who worked with him, and swear they'll never do so again. Fred Amiel (Barry Sullivan) is the director who worked with Shields when they worked on a series of B films together. James Lee Bartlow (Dick Powell) is the Southern professor turned Hollywood screenwriter whose grievance with Shields stems from personal tragedy. Shields redeemed actress, Georgia Lorrison--he saw her star quality, but then his wanton cruelty almost destroyed her. Amiel, Bartlow and Lorrison each have a tale to tell through flashbacks, and their stories reveal different aspects of Shields' nature.
Supporting roles include Walter Pidgeon, Gloria Grahame (as the annoying yet charming Mrs. Bartlow), and Gilbert Roland as Gaucho, a dashing, Hollywood romantic lead. 'The Bad and the Beautiful' is directed by Vincente Minnelli, and while this drama contains aspects of the classic tear-jerker, its emphasis remains squarely on hard-boiled Hollywood.
The most fascinating thing about this well-structured film is the character of Jonathan Shields. He's an ambitious, driven man--that's quite clear, but he's also complex. In his relationship with Georgia Lorrison, Shields is extremely interesting. He shows persistence when salvaging Georgia, and he handles her with a tough reality that she responds to. Many people would fold under the tough challenges Shields offers, but he reads Georgia's character well, and anticipates her reactions. Unfortunately, Shields also has a hard, ruthless side, and he's perfectly willing to dump people when he's used them to get what he wants.
DVD extras include a documentary about Lana Turner, and the original screen trailers. The DVD transfer is excellent--displacedhuman
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| Rating | | | Date | October 21, 2003 | | Summary | Soapy, but entertaining | Content
| This is a slick and enjoyable wallow by Hollywood about Hollywood, which succeeds despite Lana Turner's performance (she was not a good actress and ended up trying much too hard as a result). Gloria Grahame specialized in creating vivid supporting characters but never got her full props -- if you're impressed with her work here, check her out as Ado Annie in Oklahoma or in any number of excellent films noirs, including her unforgettable role as Lee Marvin's girl in The Big Heat. Kirk Douglas was born to play nasty connivers; he could go over the top at times but in a movie like TBATB, that just adds to the fun. Also deserving of mention is the superb score by David Raksin, another of Hollywood's best who never got much recognition beyond Laura (the one score everyone knows). Raksin, unlike expat European classical musicians such as Korngold, Waxman, Herrmann et al. was a pure Hollywood product, cutting his teeth working on Charlie Chaplin shorts and helping to pioneer film scoring as an art form. Raksin's TBATB score perfectly sums up the emotional throughline of the story, and the gorgeous main theme stays with you long after the film's done. |
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