The Bad and the Beautiful
US (1952): Drama
In The Bad and the Beautiful, Kirk Douglas plays a tyrannical, manipulative producer fallen on hard times. To get back on his feet, he asks for help from three Hollywood giants whose careers he helped launch -- a director (Barry Sullivan), an actress (Lana Turner), and a writer (Dick Powell). Unfortunately, they all hate him. Flashbacks explain why. Douglas had been close to all three at different points in his career: He and the director started out together making B-movies, he gave the wayward actress her first starring role, he turned the novelist into a successful screenwriter. Then in one way or another he stabbed each of them in the back, though not always deliberately. The script has a lot of backstage clichés, but Vincente Minnelli's sharp, energetic direction, the gorgeous black-and-white cinematography, and the topnotch performances -- particularly Douglas and Gloria Grahame, who won an Oscar® for her sweet role as the writer's cheerful Southern wife -- flesh out the clichés with cutting details and convincing bile. Caustic, starry-eyed, and slyly funny, this film is a strange and skillful blend of "If I can make it here, I can make it anywhere" pluck and poisonous cynicism, one of the great movies about making movies. Also features Walter Pidgeon, Gilbert Roland, Leo G. Carroll, Vanessa Brown and Paul Stewart. (MGM) (Amazon.com)
6 nominations, 5 Awards
· Best Supporting Actress 1952: Gloria Grahame
· Writing (Best Screenplay) 1952: Charles Schnee
· Best Art Direction/Set Decoration (Black and White) 1952: Cedric Gibbons & Edward C. Carfagno - Art Direction, Edwin B. Willis & Keogh Gleason - Set Decoration
· Best Cinematography (Black and White) 1952: Robert L. Surtees
· Best Costume Design (Black and White) 1952: Helen Rose
· Actor 1952: Kirk Douglas