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The Bad and the Beautiful
Promotional movie poster for the film
Directed by	Vincente Minnelli
Produced by	John Houseman
Written by	George Bradshaw (story Tribute to a Badman) Charles Schnee
Starring	Lana Turner Kirk Douglas
Music by	David Raksin
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	December 1952 (U.S. release)
Running time	118 min
Language	English
Budget	$1,558,000 (estimated)
IMDb profile

The Bad and the Beautiful is a 1952 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, Gloria Grahame, Gilbert Roland and Leo G. Carroll.

The film 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. 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.

Screenwriter James Lee Bartlow (Powell), actress Georgia Lorrison (Turner), and movie director Fred Amiel (Sullivan), shown at work in different locations in Hollywood, each get a phone call from someone named Shields in Paris--and each refuses to talk to him. They soon get called by movie producer Harry Pebbel (Pidgeon), begging them to help Shields out. Jonathan Shields (Douglas) is the "bad" man of the title. Originally the title did not include "beautiful," which refers to Turner, who was eventually given top billing.

The backstory of their involvement with Shields unfolds. Each made it in the film industry through Shields, and each was betrayed by him. Shields is the son of a notorious old filmmaker who had himself been dumped by the film industry, and Shields couldn't have risen without using his three associates in turn.

Shields finally directs 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. This causes the studio to dump Shields and make him try asking for help at the beginning of the movie.

All three characters show up in Pebbel's office to reject Shield's offer again--and then listen in on the phone as Shields describes his movie.

Actor	Role
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
Gilbert Roland	Victor 'Gaucho' Ribera

Actor	Role
Kim Novak	(on screen for three minutes, in a non-speaking role as the girl selected by Shields to amuse Gaucho)
Leo G. Carroll	Henry Whitfield
Vanessa Brown	Kay Amiel
Paul Stewart	Syd Murphy
Sammy White	Gus
Elaine Stewart	Lila
Ivan Triesault	Von Ellstein