Review of The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) by Kate P — 24 Nov 2007

Ooh that kirk douglas, he was a wrong-un. he's always at his best playing men of ruthless passion and ambition. and so vulgarly attractive. theres an oxymoron for you. the film itself is predictable enough, telling through flashback how jonathon shields screwed each member of a small gathering, each of whom subsequently turned his treatment of them to their advantage and found fame and glory.

all of their tale-telling is just an excuse to let kirk rip, fleing his overbearing mysoginist muscles for all he's worth. all that's missing for this to be another epic is for him to be dripping with baby oil.

the other two men involved are interchangeable and indistinguishable, but lana turner was her usual luminous self playing a drunken tramp turned starlet. her pathetic crush on jonathon is a disaster waiting to happen and you end the film agreeing with jonathon that they should all pull theit socks up because they owe him.

this is the kind of thing that made the golden era so shiny.