Actors - The Bad and the Beautiful

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	Actors - The Bad and the Beautiful

The Bad and the Beautiful is a 1952 melodramatic film which tells the story of a film producer who alienates all of those around him. It stars Lana Turner, Kirk Douglas, Walter Pidgeon, Dick Powell, Barry Sullivan, Gloria Grahame, Gilbert Roland and Leo G. Carroll.

The movie was written by George Bradshaw and Charles Schnee. It was 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. It was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Kirk Douglas). In 2002 the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Its story begins with three characters: Powell playing a screenwriter, Turner playing a screen actress, and Sullivan playing a movie director, shown at work in different locations in Hollywood, each in turn getting an operator-announced call from a Shields in Paris--and refusing to talk to him. They soon get calls from Pidgeon, playing "Harry Pebbel," a movie producer, telling them to help Shields out. Shields is soon revealed to have been played by Kirk Douglas, and who is the "bad" man of the title. Originally the title did not include "beautiful," which was designed to refer to Turner, who was eventually given top billing.

The backstory of their dealings with Shields ensues. Each gained access to the film industry by Shields, and each was betrayed by him. Shields was the son of a notorious old filmmaker who himself had been dumped by the film industry, and Shields couldn't have risen without using the three characters in turn.

Spoiler Alert

After telling the stories of these characters, the climax of the plot is that Shields finally takes the reins of directing a film himself, instead of producing it by manipulating others -- and botches it! Every worker in the studio does his or her part admirably, but the result isn't a watchable story with a build-up, just a series of scenes that are all of the same intensity. It is this which causes the studio to dump Shields and cause him to try to ask for help at the beginning of the movie.

The ending is that all three characters reject Shield's offer--and then listen in on the phone as he continues to talk to Pebbel.

Featured cast

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