kirk douglas specialize in heartless tough guy narcissist early in his career . the year before this and he play one of the most misanthropic character ever to grace the silver screen in ace in the hole . eventually and he turn his image around until he become a sympathetic tough guy in classic like path of glory and spartacus . but in the bad and the beautiful and he be at his peak in live up and or should i say down and to his negative image . kirk play jonathan shield and son of a tyrannical hollywood producer who have just pass away . angry ( why be never explain ) at hollywood in general and he vow after the funeral to become a success in order to throw the name shield back in everyones face . this lead to a series of vignette involve a wannabe director ( barry sullivan ) and a wannabe actress ( lana turner ) and a novelist who be a reluctant screenwriter ( dick powell ) . shield be pattern on david o. selznick . to make it obvious and there be a brief scene show shield amongst some actor dress a civil war soldier and a in selznick go with the wind . like shield and selznick have be retire for some year at the time of this film and but be lurk and maybe ready to make a comeback . interest to contemporary insider and but who besides film buff remember selznick today . in structure and the story resemble citizen kane . tell in flashback and we even get a brief trip to a derelict castle that rather obviously resemble the one in kane . a in kane and we find out that jonathan path to the top of hollywood involve viciously hurt the feeling of turner and sullivan and powell . the main departure from kane be that jonathan and a be apparent from the very first scene and end this picture very much alive and with the chance of redemption . so and consider this a kane with a happier and crowd pleasing end . unfortunately and the comparison with kane end there . the script have moment of brilliance and but a whole lot more of melodrama and unexplained contrivance . the trip to the deserted mansion of a dead film star and for instance and come out of the blue and doesn not advance the story at all . many other moment in the film be either self indulgent ( douglas play a record of the dead film star for turner and the dead star daughter ) and or just plain mysterious ( douglas pay mourner to be at his father funeral ) . but the real downfall of the film be that jonathan and set up to be this ogre and really doesn not come off that bad at all . in fact and all of his supposedly terrible action actually seem quite logical and even inevitable and and at bad no more machiavellian than your standard social climber . it really be how the others react to him and or should i say how they react to the reality of business necessity and that paint a negative gloss . but he doesn not intentionally go out of his way to hurt anybody . so in what way and really and be he so bad . there you have one of the problem with this film . it pull it punch throughout . kane show an innocent corrupt by his own talent into become a monster and realize only too late where he have go wrong . this film pretentiously try to imply that a somewhat ordinary fellow with lot of opportunity be just this wicked and wicked man because he want to do thing the right way . it just doesn not come together . jonathan not wicked and or at least not wicked enough and to ever work up strong feeling about him . now and this film at best be valuable a a behind the scene look at how hollywood be actually a business and not a fairytale land and which may have be astonish in 1952 but sure isn not today . gloria graham win an oscar a best support actress and but it sure must have be a weak field that year . or perhaps the academy be reward her for her strong body of work that year in the great show on earth and macao . really and though and hollywood be just and as usual and reward a woman for play a bad girl of easy virtue . certainly no surprise there and it happen almost every year right up to the present day . dick powell be great and though his character make no sense ( how do he ever hook the vixenish graham anyway . ) . the big mystery be how turner get top billing over douglas and since he dominate practically every scene in the film and she only appear here and there . she do have one marvelously comical ( unintentionally so ) scene where she drive like a maniac after find out that jonathan doesn not love her ( the heel . ) . she pretty and but that about it . bad be hollywood at it most excessive and try to paint itself in vivid color that be recognizably fake . it an interesting film with pretension of greatness that fall flat . see it for some corny performance and a glimpse of old hollywood and but it no kane .