READ THIS FIRST: This is a 12-inch Diameter Laserdisc, which is NOT the same as DVD and cannot be played on a DVD player!
Laserdisc Title: "THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL (1952)"
Edition: Fullscreen Edition (Single Disc)
Directed By: Vincente Minnelli
Starring: Lana Turner, Kirk Douglas, Walter Pidgeon, Dick Powell, Barry Sullivan, Gloria Grahame, Gilbert Roland, Leo Carroll, Vanessa Brown
Special Features: ---none---
Production / Year: 1952 Loew's Incorporated Renewed 1980 MGM
Running Time: 119 Minutes / B&W
Audio Format: CX Encoded
Video Format: NTSC, CLV (Extended Play)
Miscellaneous Features: Not Rated, Closed Captioned
Distributed By: MGM/UA Home Video
Catalog / Spine Number: ML100959
Cosmetic Condition
Disc (s): Excellent - Hardly noticeable to very minor hairline surface swirls, if any
Jacket: Excellent - Original outer plastic shrink wrap still partially intact
Synopsis:
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, The Bad and the Beautiful 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.
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.
THIS IS A 12" LASERDISC AND WILL NOT PLAY IN A DVD PLAYER
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