Capital Celluloid 2017 - Day 318: Fri Nov 17

The Bad and the Beautiful (Minnelli, 1952): BFI Southbank, NFT2, 6.20pm


This 35mm presentation, which also plays on November 30th, is part of the Gloria Grahame season at BFI Southbank. Full details here.

Chicago Reader review:
Vincente Minnelli will always be known and loved for his musicals (Meet Me in St. Louis, The Band Wagon), but the melodramas he made in the 50s are no less accomplished and often more personal. The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) is superficially a typical Hollywood “inside story” chronicling the ruthless rise of an aggressive producer (Kirk Douglas), loosely based on Val Lewton. But under Minnelli's direction it becomes a fascinating study of a man destroyed by the 50s success ethic, left broke, alone, and slightly insane in the end. Douglas is surprisingly good as Minnelli's manic everyman and is well supported by (believe it or not) Lana Turner and Dick Powell. Scripted by Charles Schnee; with Walter Pidgeon, Barry Sullivan, Gloria Grahame, Gilbert Roland, and Leo G. Carroll.
Dave Kehr

Here (and above) is the trailer.

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