The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)

Tagline: Kirk Douglas has swagger to burn!
Intro.

When I talk about books with my friends and co-workers, we inevitably mention our growing "to read" piles - books that have been recommended or even lent to us, books we've been itching to read but haven't been able to find time for or books that we know we should read because they are classics or bestsellers.  This last group, books that we should read, I think can be applied to a sort of loose canon of literature.  You know, those books we were all expected to read in school.  I think the same idea of a canon can be applied to film as well.  We can focus it on world film as a whole or on films of a particular country.  If we took American films, for example, some classics in the canon would include The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, Citizen Kane, Casablanca, you get the idea.  That got me thinking - what determines a film's place as a real classic?  On this site, I use the term "classic" loosely to mean any film more than 30 years old.  But you can't very well say two films like Carolina Moon and 12 Angry Men are classics in the same sense of the word.   Does it have to do with the number of Oscars a film wins?  Or the performances of the actors or actresses in their careers?  What about the place of a film within the history of Hollywood or in the film's culture?  What about the film's recognition in today's world (like how many people today have ever seen or even heard of films like The Life of Emile Zola or Grand Hotel - both are Best Picture Oscar winners)?  This is what I was thinking about when I saw that one of the films on my "should watch" list was on television.  The winner of 5 Oscars, The Bad and the Beautiful promised to be a great film, so I eagerly settled in to watch.

Overview
The Bad and the Beautiful starts with phone calls - one to a director, one to a beautiful woman, one to a writer.  All of the calls are from Jonathan Shields and all go purposefully unanswered.  All three of those people meet up at the house of studio head Harry Pebbel (Walter Pidgeon).  Washed out film producer Jonathan (Kirk Douglas) is ready after two years to make his comeback, but needs all three of those people to make the film with him.  As Harry pleads with them, each person tells the story of how Jonathan entered and then ruined their lives.  First up is director Fred Amile (Barry Sullivan), who met Jonathan when the latter first came to Hollywood.  Jonathan's father had been a big time producer and Jonathan aimed to do even better, but had to start at the very bottom.  Together, the two men began directing films back when they were very production-line oriented.  As the studio executive tells them, "I don't want to win awards.  I want to make pictures that end with a kiss and black ink in the books."  The men learn their trade through long hours and hard work, and finally make a really successful film.  Fred has a story outlined from a popular book and is dying to be lead director on his own picture.  But Jonathan is the one who can sell, and gets the picture made, though part of the bargain is to bring in an experienced director.  Fred disowns Jonathan, though back in the present tense of the film, Harry reminds him that Fred finally stopped hanging on Jonathan's coattails, became a great success on his own and has a great life.  Then the story switches to beautiful actress Georgia Lorrison (Lana Turner), who was discovered by Jonathan.  Her flashback shows us what a wreck she was - an alcoholic steeped in depression.  Jonathan takes care of her, teaches her to be a lady and gets her the role in his next big picture, despite the protests of the director.  Their fondness turns to love (at least on her part) and the night of the premier she is haled as the next great star.  But Jonathan isn't there to share her joy.  She goes to his house only to find him angry at her presence.  That's probably because he has another woman upstairs.  Completely crushed, she leaves him and almost has a car accident because she's crying so hard.  Thus, she blames him for using her.  Since then, however, she has continued to be a great star and studios everywhere are eager for her to work with them.  Finally the last story is told through the screenwriter, James Lee Bartlow (Dick Powell).  His connection with Jonathan started when he published his book on the history of Virginia.  Jonathan convinces him to come to Hollywood to turn the book into a film.  James is reluctant to stay and write the screenplay, but between Jonathan's influence and James's wife's desire to see Hollywood, he stays.  When he can't focus on the screenplay, Jonathan arranges for he and James to spend two weeks in the country.  He also arranges for a sexy actor called Gaucho (Gilbert Roland) to distract Mrs. Rosemary Bartlow (Gloria Graham), a charming Southern belle with a knack for disrupting her husband whenever he tries to work.  James finishes the script, but returns to Hollywood to find that Gaucho and Rosemary have been killed in a plane crash.  When the truth finally comes out, James disowns Jonathan.  So at last James, Georgia and Fred have to decide whether or not to give Jonathan another chance.

Highlights
I'm a big fan of flashbacks.  The way that The Bad and the Beautiful, uses three long flashbacks to tell the story of a man's life is very well done.  In fact, the whole film is very strong in its storytelling.  Part of it is the way it all ties together.  The three central characters (James, Georgia and Fred) all know of each other and appear in multiple flashbacks.  The opening itself is a great way to introduce the three of them as well as Jonathan - a man so hated no one will take his call.

Kirk Douglas carries the film so well.  He makes Jonathan both despicable and yet so endearing.  It's magnetism.  He can talk his way into or out of anything.  One word I thought of immediately was swagger.  The whole movie rests on how much swagger he has.  That and his perfect, unmovable hair.  But I digress.  Kirk Douglas should've won an Oscar for this performance - his character is the absolute epitome of everything we both love and hate about Hollywood.  I think that's why the film is such a classic.  It's not only about a man who will stop at nothing to get to the top, but also the story of old Hollywood, or at least the kind of story we want to see. 

Review and Recommendation
The Bad and the Beautiful has some great aspects and the Oscars it won (Art Direction, Cinematography, Writing, Costume Design, and Supporting Actress for Gloria Grahame) are deserved.  It's not as dark as most "inside Hollywood" films, but also not as light as say Singin' in the Rain.  While I don't think it's a "classic" as much as some other films, it is nevertheless a fine piece of movie-making history.  An all-around good film, I recommend it also for Douglas's fine acting and a great story.

The Three Musketeers (1948)

Intro.
In one of my earlier posts, I had written about the 1921 version of The Three Musketeers, which had starred Douglas Fairbanks.  I had commented about Gene Kelly seeing that version and wanting to someday play d'Artagnan.  I finally got the chance to see the 1948 remake with Gene Kelly, and I have to say you can definitely see Fairbanks's influence.

Overview
The plot of the first hour of this film follows the original pretty closely (see the prior post).  However, where the first film ended with the safe return of the jewels, this one extended the storyline to include the whole of the original novel.  D'Artagnan returns to find each of his fellow musketeers where he had left them en route to London, and once reunited they have to find a way to earn some money.  D'Artagnan runs into the Lady de Winter and that's where things get interesting.  He pretends to be her lover in order to get her ring, and he discovers that on her shoulder is the brand of a convict.  We then learn that she is the wife of Athos and has been using men and leading them to their deaths.  She heads to London, where the Musketeers have warned the Duke of Buckingham.  He jails her and has Constance (the innocent seamstress and D'Artagnan's wife) act as jailer.  Lady de Winter feigns a serious illness and when Constance tries to help her, she kills Constance and a guard and flees back to France to seek out D'Artagnan and kill him too.  D'Artagnan, however, is in London and finds Constance.  He vows revenge, so with the help of his friends they find Lady de Winter and execute her in a very troubling, disturbing ending.  At the end D'Artagnan gets what he's always wanted - a commission with the King's Musketeers.

Highlights
One of the things Gene Kelly does so well in this film is his sword fighting.  Already an athlete and light on his feet as a dancer, he effortlessly goes from sword fight to sword fight in an almost comical manner.  It does get a bit ridiculous when he fights the captain of Richelieu's guards, but his seemingly boundless energy keeps the film going.  You do have to remember that d'Artagnan is only supposed to be 21, so it makes sense that he's a bit of a ham.

I was very pleasantly surprised by the other actors and actresses in this film.  I didn't realize it until I started watching, but this film also stars Angela Lansbury, Vincent Price (as a fantastic Richelieu!!), Lana Turner, Frank Morgan and June Allyson.  It also stars Van Heflin as Athos - he's an actor I hadn't seen much of previously, but I really enjoyed him in this role.  He adds a certain vulnerability to his character which sets him apart from the other Musketeers.

Comparison
It puzzled me that this film ran 2 hours and the 1921 version ran 2 hours but the stories were so different.  This version told in 1 hour what the 1921 version had done in 2 hours.  It made the story much harder to follow, and if I hadn't seen the 1921 version, I wouldn't have understood any of what was happening.  I missed the subtlety and development of character that was in the 1921 version.  We hardly get to see or understand Angela Lansbury as the Queen, and Vincent Price as Richelieu doesn't get nearly enough screen time.  I did enjoy seeing the entire story, though.  And I can understand why the storyline of Lady de Winter may have been a concern.  It is handled well in the remake and certainly toned down from the way the book was written.       

Review
All in all, an entertaining film.  I wouldn't recommend it as highly as other period films, mainly because the plot is hard to follow without previously knowing the story.  Gene Kelly's stunts and sword fighting are great, but his acting is too over-the-top.  I actually preferred the 1921 version, so if you like the book, start there.  I hope to see one of the newer remakes as well; who knows, maybe I'll have a series.  Meanwhile, if you're in the mood to watch some Gene Kelly, I'd recommend An American in Paris, Singin' in the Rain, Take Me Out to the Ball Game, It's Always Fair Weather (tap dancing on roller skates!!) and Inherit the Wind. 

To read more, check out IMDb.  There's also a brief write-up about the book here.