ESSAYS, ARTICLES, AND THEORIES ABOUT CINEMA: HOORAY FOR HOLLYWOOD! The Greed and Glamour in THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL (1952)

Famous American filmmaker Orson Welles once said, “Hollywood died on me as soon as I got there” (Think Exist). Welles’ quote is quite relevant for the very reason it attempts to shed light on one of the largest debacles in film history: What is Hollywood? The meaning of the quote brings attention to the aspiration of success from actors and actresses dazzled by the bright lights and majestic world depicted in movies, only to be let down by the discovery of Hollywood only as a mere town filled with a false image. In Vincente Minnelli’sThe Bad and the Beautiful (1952), the world of Hollywood is sliced open with a scalpel, allowing the audience to glimpse the true sense of the world behind the scenes. The title alone raises the imaginative scale of Hollywood consisting of both bad and beautiful attributes. The “bad” symbolizes betrayal in the possible worst scenario – also bringing forth a symbol of capitalism as a system in which Hollywood religiously adopts as a competitive, prophet-driven ideology (Naremore 45). The “beautiful” in the film symbolizes the vast glamour surrounding the mysticism Hollywood creates, but even deeper into opportunities for aspiring figures. The Bad and the Beautiful is so far the most accurate representation of Hollywood as a transitioning representation from the Classical Age of Cinema to the New Hollywood Era and as an entity, invoking qualities of glamour and greed.

The film opens with the intentions of giving a story delivered through the classical way. Director Fred Amiel is introduced as a major figure in which he refuses to accept an important call from a “Jonathan Shields.” The scene juxtaposes to famous actress Georgia Lorrison, who also receives the same call from Shields, but lies in order to refrain from discussion. Right away, it is obvious that Shields is now an important figure. The scene juxtaposes to another with easy-going writer, James Lee Bartlow accepting the call from Jonathan and exclaims, “drop dead” (The Bad and the Beautiful)! Jonathan’s character is clearly defined within the first few minutes without him ever appearing. After all three characters show loathsome feelings towards him; Jonathan is revealed as the head of his own motion picture studio, Shields Productions. All three characters are summoned by new studio owner Harry Pebbel to discuss a new project being produced none other than by Jonathan himself.

The film transgresses to another direction at this point, leaving the classical style behind and transitioning into a newer style not only through flashbacks, but multiply narrated by all three characters – something unheard of in the Classical Era of Hollywood (Hayes 117). The film was released in the 50’s, a time of disaster and progress. Disaster, in the sense of more than 300 actors/writers/directors were blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee and the emergence of television: the motion picture villain, but progress in the sense of a new era to experiment with the medium of film even further (Naremore 113). The Bad and the Beautiful is remarkable, because it shows, within the structure of the film itself, the very change occurring in Hollywood, from pictures that appeal to all, to pictures that appeal to selected individuals (Naremore 114). This is meant in the way how the Classical Era produced films that spelled everything out for the audience and focused on the overall plot, compared to the emergence of the New Hollywood, which combined symbolic nuances and focused less on plot and more on the psychological analysis of individual characters (Naremore 125).

Due to such vast changes, it became more common to analyze the state of the movies themselves, but also Hollywood. Throughout the 50’s a group of films emerged, which questioned the definition of Hollywood, including such as Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard (1950), Nicholas Ray’s In a Lonely Place (1950), Singing in the Rain (1952), Joseph Mankiewicz’s The Barefoot Contessa (1954), Robert Aldrich’sThe Big Knife (1955), and The Bad and the Beautiful (Ames147). These films brought up the question: what is Hollywood? These films echo the message of what Christopher Ames answers, “Hollywood is a state of mind” (1). In other words, Hollywood manufactures films to instill its very image. Of course, Hollywood is a location in California, but the real Hollywood exists in the imagination of moviegoers.The Bad and the Beautiful, more so, not only turns the camera around and captures the people involved with making films and glorifies the glamorous, but also exposes the corrupted greed infected within the system. Instead of showing Hollywood solely negative or solely positive, the film delivers more of a realistic approach dipped in fantasy. Just as everyone has good and bad days, Hollywood as an entity contains good qualities and flaws. The good qualities are shown through glamour and the flaws through greed. Examples of glamour and greed are shown in Fred, Georgia and James Lee’s story as they narrate how it ignites by their own collaboration with Jonathan (Hayes 123).

The first example of glamour exists in Fred Amiel’s story of his collaboration with Jonathan. Fred’s first interaction with Jonathan Shields is at the funeral for his father, Hugo Shields. Glamour is shown through opportunity, where Jonathan teams up with Fred and the two begin collaborating. Fred goes from a nobody to a somebody through befriending Jonathan. Together, they strive to “ram the name Shields down their throats” (The Bad and the Beautiful). A logo is even created to give a picture to their creative effort: two knights protected by a shield. Jonathan even claims the two knights represent Fred and himself. They turn out eleven pictures together until a horror B-film entitled, The Doom of the Catman is handed to them. After receiving great reviews, Fred pulls out his secrete project: The Faraway Mountain – a best selling novel requiring a million dollar budget in which three studios attempted to make and failed. Fred shows Jonathan a scene-by-scene plan and exclaims, “I want to direct it so much, I can taste it” (The Bad and the Beautiful). After Fred convinces Jonathan, he and Jonathan pitch the idea to Harry, who says, “I don’t want to win awards. Give me pictures that end with a kiss and black ink in the books,” to which Jonathan replies, “Now make this picture or I’ll quite! This is my baby. I want to produce it so much I can taste it” (The Bad and the Beautiful). This in a way acts as the first betrayal, however without going to bat for the idea, the film would have never been approved by Harry. Fred does not make it an issue, because at this point, he is willing to do whatever it takes to direct the film. Together, the two of them work on The Faraway Mountain, perfecting the script, organizing sets, location scouting and finally casting. For the leading man, they get Latin heartthrob Victor “Gaucho” Rivera to read the script and attend a conference meeting the next day with Jonathan and Harry. In the meeting they discuss business and after the meeting, greed formulates.

Greed is represented through betrayal. Fred nervously waits for Jonathan to exit the conference room and hear the verdict. Upon hearing it, everything falls apart. An overexcited Jonathan announces to Fred that not only is the film green-lit, but they acquired the million dollar budget, a location shoot in Veracruz and Gaucho to star. Fred’s expression freezes in shock when he hears, “Von Ellstein to direct” (The Bad and the Beautiful). Jonathan arrogantly tries to build him up insisting the title “Assistant to the Producer” will be next to Fred’s name. Fred, at first cannot believe that Jonathan betrayed him all of a sudden, but comes to terms with it angrily. Jonathan tries to rationalize the situation:

JONATHAN: Fred, I’d rather hurt you now than kill you off forever. You’re just not
ready to direct a million dollar picture.
FRED: But you’re ready to produce a million dollar picture?
JONATHAN: With Von Ellstein, I am.
FRED: You’re stealing my picture! It was my idea. I gave it to you!
JONATHAN: Without me, it would have stayed an idea.

Von Ellstein walks out of the conference room and exclaims how wonderful it is working with a producer “who writes like a director” (The Bad and the Beautiful). Fred is forced to witness Jonathan achieving recognition for his own hard work. With a simple goodbye, Jonathan walks out with everything Fred had worked for (Hayes 123). This idea of Jonathan betraying Fred for his own beneficial advancement into the business world symbolizes the epitome of greed.

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Fred’s story is important, because it serves as a point in history when the early cinema progressed into the full fledge studio system. When Jonathan is first shown, he is at his father’s funeral. Hugo Shields is important, because he symbolizes the Classical Hollywood system, which had been run into the ground. Jonathan symbolizes the New Hollywood, coming in, making his way to the top and making new and improved suggestions, bringing the studio back up. Fred is the idealist writer/director who wants to make films for the films’ sake. What attracts Fred to The Faraway Mountain is not the fact that other studios have tried to make it and failed, but that it is a genius book that, through his mind, would make a perfect picture. Jonathan wants to make the picture, because he can make money and gloat about the success to the other studios. Jonathan symbolizes the very force Fred is morally opposed to, because Fred cares about what is on the screen compared to Jonathan who cares about how many are in the audience. However, without Jonathan, Fred would not have risen to the amount of success he accomplished.

The second example of how glamour exists is in Georgia Lorrison’s story with her interaction with Jonathan. Her story begins years after Fred’s, with the success of The Faraway Mountain, Jonathan is promoted to the head of the studio. Georgia’s opportunity comes as a leading woman title. She however refuses in fear of being compared to her alcoholic Silent-Era father, and yet keeps a shrine of him in her room. Georgia is based on Diana Barrymore, a real life actress, whose career flourished due to her instability brought on by her alcoholic father, John Barrymore (Naremore 118). One night, Jonathan asks Georgia to do a screen test for the studio, and she, in a drunken sarcasm, insults him. Incredibly unimpressed, he says, “You’re a Lorrison alright” (The Bad and the Beautiful). He approaches the shrine and plays an old record of her father performing Macbeth’s “Tomorrow, Tomorrow” speech (Ames 160). The scene is perfect with Georgia losing control:

GEORGIA: I said turn it off! I don’t want to hear it, I hate him!
JONATHAN: Make up your mind. You hate him and you build this shrine to him? He
died over ten years ago and you’ve been holding your own wake ever since. You can’t be a star in a cemetery.
GEORGIA: Can’t you get that through your head? I’m one girl who doesn’t want to be a star!
JONATHAN: Because he was a drunk, you’re a drunk. Because he loved women, you’re
a tramp. But you forget one thing – he did it with style. […] Look at you, you’re
acting now! You’ve been playing the daughter of the doomed great man. That’s not a God talking, that’s only a man!

Jonathan takes the record and breaks it in half. Out of anger, Georgia throws a glass bottle, striking Jonathan in the head, and in a furious rage, she tries attacking him, but Jonathan with the same aggression, tries to reconcile her. The next day, she agrees to do the screen test. With various reactions from the screen test, Jonathan gives her the lead female role in his next film. The night before shooting, with the inability to relax and sleep, Georgia nervously walks through the empty set. The sights of her labeled chair, the labeled dressing room, and a gift of new pearls from Jonathan, sends her into a nervous frantic, yearning a drink. The next day, she never appears on the set. Jonathan, bewildered and upset, says, “I wanted to make a picture with her. Make a star with someone they threw into the ashes” (The Bad and the Beautiful). He goes to her apartment and finds her passed out drunk. Once she is sobered up, Georgia confesses her love for Jonathan. Not only does Jonathan fail to reply, he says that love is for the young. Upon being asked if he will ever marry her, he responds, “I don’t need a wife right now, I need a star” (The Bad and the Beautiful). And Jonathan in fact, turns her into a star. This opportunity comes with coaching from Jonathan – which in turns makes the film and her performance better. The film scores big and Georgia experiences the feeling of stardom she rejected for so many years because of her father. On opening night, the studio throws a huge party for her, however Jonathan is nowhere in sight. She goes to his mansion and thus greed is once again exposed.

The second example of greed represented through betrayal occurs when Georgia walks in the house and asks Jonathan to accept her love and not “shut her out.” She wraps her arms around him just as a shadow emerges and a woman named Lila excels down the large staircase and whispers, “I thought you were going to get rid of her quick” (The Bad and the Beautiful). This breaks Georgia’s heart. With Georgia’s stare of disappointment and shock, this scene includes Jonathan losing all sanity:

JONATHAN: You couldn’t stay where you were. You couldn’t enjoy what I made
possible for you. You rather have this? You’ve got it all laid out so you can wallow and pity for yourself. A betrayed woman. The wounded dove with all the dribble that goes with it. That’s going through your mind now. “He doesn’t love me at all. He was lying. All those lovely moments and those tender words. He’s lying. He’s cheap and cruel.” Well maybe I like to be cheap once in a while. Maybe everybody does. Or don’t you remember? Who gave you the right to dig into me and turn me inside out and decide what I’m like? How do you know how I feel about you… How deep it goes… Maybe I don’t want anyone to own me. You or anybody!

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Jonathan yells, “get out!” several times until he screams it at the top of his lungs. She is instantly betrayed by Jonathan. Georgia, befuddled now, is thrown into a nightmare, stumbling to her car and recklessly driving off. As she drives, she falls apart crying. She experiences everything from jealousy to sorrow, which circles her mind as rain violently pours onto the windshield, causing her to hydroplane into a spinning chaotic frenzy, leaving only but the image of her panicking, flashes of white and the thunderous cry of her scream. And then everything calms down, leaving her sobbing on the steering wheel.

Georgia’s story is a lot more complicated than Fred’s because it contains a historical connection as well as much psychological characterization. Like Hugo Shields, George Lorrison also represents the early Classical Hollywood in the manner of progression. When sound came into the “picture” in the late 20’s, many careers of silent film stars were ruined (Ames 41). In fact, many stars became alcoholics like John Barrymore and Gloria Swanson and suffered even more. Some even committed suicide like Peg Entwistle, who in 1932 jumped to her death from the “H” in the HOLLYWOODLAND sign (Anger 233). The failing career and alcoholism doomed John Barrymore and followed a generation with Diana (Naremore 118). This is perfectly shown allegorically in The Bad and the Beautiful with Georgia being forced to confront the idea of her becoming the very same image of her father. Jonathan comes into the picture and pulls her away from this desperation, however just as she makes a successful recovery and breakthrough, he shatters her world by rejecting her. However, without Jonathan, Georgia might have never amounted to anything and remained a drunk in solitude.

The third example of glamour is exemplified in James Lee Bartlow’s account of Jonathan. His glamour is in the form of Jonathan buying the rights to his best selling novel and offering him a chance to help out on the script for two weeks with all expenses paid. James Lee’s adorable southern wife Rosemary convinces James Lee to go, so both of them set off for Hollywood. Rosemary is hypnotized by the glamour of Hollywood, while James Lee is incredibly skeptical about it, and most importantly – Jonathan. After Jonathan convinces James Lee to stay permanently in Hollywood and write the adaptation of his novel, a different James Lee emerges. James Lee, while trying to work on the script, is interrupted by Rosemary continuously. Jonathan, after seeing that no progress is being made, secretly organizes Gaucho to escort the loveable Rosemary away for the weekend, while he takes James Lee up to his cabin and finish the script. Upon returning home from the cabin, tragedy occurs in the form of greed.

Greed is represented through betrayal by the discovery of a plane crash killing Rosemary and Gaucho. This acts as betrayal even though James Lee knows nothing of Jonathan’s involvement. Jonathan pulls James Lee out of grief and even molds him to resent Rosemary, since Jonathan has established the scenario of Rosemary and Gaucho as lovers. Jonathan keeps James Lee working and shooting begins with Von Ellstein directing the film. Everything falls apart on day four of shooting. Von Ellstein finishes shooting the big diner scene, however Jonathan feels that more could be shot:

JONATHAN: You call that directing?
VON ELLSTEIN: That is what I have been calling it for 32 years.
JONATHAN: Why there’s values and dimensions you haven’t begun to hit.
VON ELLSTEIN: Perhaps they’re not the values and dimensions I wish to hit. I would
make this scene a climax. I would make every scene in this picture a climax. If I did, I would be a bad director. And I like to think of myself as one of the best. A picture with all climaxes is like a necklace without a string – it all falls apart. You must build to big moments and sometimes you must build slowly.
JONATHAN: To be a director, you must have imagination.
VON ELLSTEIN: Whose imagination, Mr. Shields? Yours? Or mine? You see this
picture one way and I another. It will be done your way, but not by me and not by any director who respects himself. You know what you will have to do – you must direct this picture yourself. To direct a picture, a man needs humility.

Click here to watch scene

This scene shows how Jonathan’s greed is all that is left. He cannot allow anyone to have any status or be remotely correct about anything above himself. This also marks the only point when someone stands up to Jonathan. James Lee watches as Von Ellstein walks off the set and Jonathan takes over as director. He even remarks about how great the direction was until they all saw the finished product. Jonathan compliments the editor, the producers, the writer, the cameraman, the set designer, the costume designer, and composer, but announces, “the director shouldn’t have shot this picture, he should have shot himself. I have no tension, no timing, no pace” (The Bad and the Beautiful). He insists the picture be shelved, but discovers that not only did he go over budget, but everyone else around him invested everything in this picture. But once again, Jonathan’s ego causes the shelving of the picture and the studio collapses. He betrays everyone in the studio, forcing them out of work just to protect his own selfish ego. James Lee, in an attempt to cheer Jonathan up, invites him up to the lake so he can finish his new book. While Jonathan packs, they discuss the new book and main character, Sebastian. Jonathan claims, “Oh the things Gaucho could have done with that role. You know, he really was Sebastian. The guy with the world on a string. I begged him, ‘don’t take that plane, Gaucho,’ but no, not him. He” (The Bad and the Beautiful)… Jonathan freezes in mid-sentence when he realizes that he just unknowingly confessed. This is the ultimate betrayal. He slowly comes out of the bathroom with the look of sheer fright planted on his face. James Lee becomes angrier as Jonathan, with consistent arrogance, says, “Jim, I didn’t kill Rosemary. Gaucho didn’t kill her. She killed herself” (The Bad and the Beautiful). James Lee swiftly turns around and punches Jonathan in the face. Jonathan continues badgering James Lee that what happened was in the best interest to him and the picture. Even after he incessantly badgers James Lee, Jonathan continues pushing Bartlow further away from himself in order to build his ego further. James Lee walks off into the gloomy darkness alone.

James Lee’s story is historically relevant because it shows the perfect representation of the lone writer coming the collaborative force of Hollywood. A writer typically never is forced to make compromises when it comes to writing, however when under contract for a major motion picture studio, compromises are forced. This is shown in the scene when Jonathan and James Lee go to the cabin and work on the script. James Lee types page after page and Jonathan takes one of the pages and crosses out line by line. When James Lee questions the destruction of what he calls his best scene, Jonathan tells him they can show it visually. Showing rather than telling is one of the most complicated issues for a writer, and even worse for when the writer is working on something that solely relies on a visual medium. Again, when the studios began turning out Talkies, problems occurred. Dialogue became an important characteristic, so the studios began hiring novelists, playwrights and journalists to write the scripts (Ames 166). The image of being a writer in Hollywood was negative to other writers. Specifically, the most famous two writers from Hollywood were F. Scott Fitzgerald and William Faulkner, who both after a while with the studios began to loathe the process and treatment of story (Ames 166). Jonathan constantly uses the glamour of Hollywood to persuade James Lee. After a while, James Lee becomes dependent on Jonathan – that is until the discovery of Jonathan’s involvement in Rosemary’s death. That is the moment when James Lee tears the connection between Jonathan and himself. However, without Jonathan, James Lee would have never been inspired to write his second Pulitzer-wining novel, where he captures the essence of his late wife.

A scene actually cut from the original release: Jonathan accepts his Oscar for the film he hijacked.

Even though Jonathan is only shown through flashbacks, the focus really stays with him and in the way he reacts with the others rather than vice-versa, therefore a fourth example of glamour is necessary with his story. Although his story is told via everyone else’s view of him, he seems just as defined compared to the other three characters. By making films, Jonathan builds his ego (Hayes 125). However, one cannot dismiss his project as plain moneymaking films. There does exist an artistic merit to his madness (Ames 154). This is shown specifically with him shooting over-budget on James Lee’s film. Money is paper to Jonathan, but recognition and egoism are the most important qualities to him. He is willing to do whatever it takes in order to get what he wants (Hayes 125). His relationship with Georgia is a very complicated issue. There is no doubt of Jonathan’s obvious misogynism, however it is more in lieu of being threatened by women rather than feeling superior to them (Hayes 161). The problem is whether Jonathan truly has feelings for Georgia. His horrific performance along with the terrifying monologue he gives to Georgia in his home, suggests that he might have feelings for her, but no one can control him, not even himself, therefore he is forced to live unhappily with the mistakes he made. The chemistry between Georgia and Jonathan is the only real “glamour” representation of love in the film. Both Jonathan and Georgia are children of famous rejected Hollywood giants in the business. In a way, they both are living to a certain standard bestowed upon them by failure (Ames 156).

As each story is told, the betrayal gradually turns out greater consequences. From deception with Fred to death with Rosemary. The greed exhibited is his own in the film. Jonathan, alone symbolizes the figure every aspiring entertainer dreams of becoming. Now even though he contained an artistic vision, he controlled every aspect of his films because he was the producer, and as Martin Scorsese famously said, “every decision is shaped by the moneyman’s perception of what the audience wants” (Scorsese). Also, Jonathan is first introduced at his father’s funeral. In reference to his father, he tells Fred, “If my father died last year, I’d be a millionaire. A year from now, he’d put up a new studio for me to inherit. But this was the year, so I don’t have a dime” (The Bad and the Beautiful). Jonathan, at the end of the film, after wasting everything and shutting everyone out, finds himself in his father’s shoes (Hayes 119). He comes full circle to a life and a business with as the title suggests, the “bad” and the “beautiful.” If one loses everything on a Hollywood picture, it’s not over, because one can turn out a new film and make back the money lost. Unlike the movies they produce, there is no ending. And that driving force to make product after product in hopes for reciprocation of wealth and fame is greed.

The Bad and the Beautiful is also important in its own relation to future progression of not only Hollywood cinema, but international cinema as well. Just as this film broke away from many Classical Hollywood elements, it laid the groundwork for later rule-breaking modes such as the French New Wave. While Jean-Luc Godard was obsessing over Roberto Rossellini, Eric Rohmer with Howard Hawks and Claude Chabrol with Alfred Hitchcock, it was Cahiers Du Cinema writers Jean Douchet , Jean Domarchi and Jacques Doniol-Valcroze who gave The Bad and the Beautiful its deserved recognition (McElhaney 6). Traffaut and Godard criticized Minnelli for giving too much attention to the spectacle, however as Joe McElhaney beautifully puts it, “the films of Vincente Minnelli address fundamental issues in relation to the moving image and in relation to culture and to history” (McElhaney 5). For without Minnelli’s The Bad and the Beautiful, there would not have been a favorable continuation of movies about movies. Ironically, Godard wrote and directed Le Mepris (1963), a film about the process of filmmaking and the troubles surrounding a writer, director, actress, and producer (Naremore 46). Traffaut also dabbled into the triumphs and hardships of filmmaking in his film Day for Night (1974). So, it is abundantly clear of the influence Minnelli’s film had on many directors. From Godard and Traffaut in the 60’s and 70’s to the 80’s with Christopher Guest’s The Big Picture (1989), to the 90’s with the Coen Brothers’ Barton Fink (1991) and Robert Altman’s The Player (1992), all the way to present time with David Mamet’s State and Main (2000), Woody Allen’s Hollywood Ending (2002), and Guest’s For Your Consideration (2006), one thing is for certain,The Bad and the Beautiful’s idea of exploring and exploiting has become a fascination.

Bits of glamour and greed are shown at the end of the film when Jonathan’s call comes through, their final verdict shows no intention whatsoever to work with him again. All three leave Harry’s office and upon reaching the lobby, in the most redeeming fashion, Georgia slowly walks over to the phone and listens. The mere sound of Jonathan’s voice creates an emotional longing in Georgia’s eyes. Fred, then slowly leans his head over her shoulder to listen as well. And finally, James Lee hovers over the other shoulder. Right before the ending title card emerges, James Lee shows a look of interest. However, it is never answered in the film if they will accept the job or not. The film, against classical Hollywood style, does not conclude with a happy ending, but with a question left with a self-interpretation.

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