peteg's blog - noise - movies - 2022 07 23 TheBadAndTheBeautiful

The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)

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Some more Gloria Grahame completism. Here she had a minor role as a sassy Southern Belle in perhaps her most artificial performance, and wouldn't you know it, that's what got her her Oscar. Kirk Douglas lead as an unscrupulous producer with the magical touch but was given second-banana billing to Lana Turner's star being born. The whole thing is a bit of Hollywood navel gazing in the mode of Sunset Boulevard (from 1950). It has its moments but is in no way anything special.

Bosley Crowther: a mountain of clichés. He was as unimpressed by Lana Turner's efforts as I was. Highly rated at IMDB (7.8) and heavily Oscared. Douglas got a nom but not the gong.