should really have be call and big bad and beautiful and a this be hollywood movie making on a grand scale with a big budget and a list director and a starry cast produce a high quality melodrama centre on the world of movie make itself . unusually construct around three separate lengthy flashback of past associate ( a director and actress and writer and play by barry sullivan and lana turner and dick powell ) of boy genius jonathan shield ( a composite and perhaps of david o selznick and orson welles ) play with total conviction and no little vigour by an emergent kirk douglas and these serve to lay bare and wart and all and his large than life character by the conclusion and leave the viewer to decide for themselves whether this golden boy with foot of clay be deserve of our admiration or derision . of course be steer in the former direction not only by douglas terrific performance but also by the clever conclude scene when sullivan and turner and powell and all with ample reason to have nothing do with him and still find themselves effortlessly draw into his comeback plan . the film be a celebration of errant genius with an appreciation that such talent be frequently flaw in character and cause casualty along the way . the acting be uniformly excellent even though douglas name should really be above turner in the title and give the relative scale of their part and never mind their performance . besides the lead mention above and gloria grahame shines again a the fey southern belle wife of the unexciting pragmatic writer play by powell and sweep off her foot by a latin smoothie set up by shield . minnelli direction be effortless and purvey numerous backstage insight on and off camera . the story itself be highly melodramatic and improbable but nevertheless extremely entertaining and to paraphrase bette davis in the near contemporary classic all about eve and certainly a movie to strap in tight for and a bumpy ride be have by all .