The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
Drama, Romance • 1h 58m
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Lana Turner, Kirk Douglas, Walter Pidgeon, Dick Powell, Barry Sullivan, Gloria Grahame, Leo G. Carroll, Gilbert Roland, Paul Stewart, Vanessa Brown, Elaine Stewart, Sammy White, Ivan Triesault, Lucy Knoch, Jay Adler, Stanley Andrews, Del Armstrong, Ben Astar, Barbara Billingsley, Madge Blake, Marshall Bradford, Paul Bradley, Hadda Brooks, Ralph Brooks, Robert Burton, Francis X. Bushman, Louis Calhern, Marietta Canty, Robert Carson, Beulah Christian, Janet Comerford, James Conaty, Jonathan Cott, Lillian Culver, Alexis Davidoff, Bob Davis, Sandy Descher, Helen Dickson, Phil Dunham, Steve Dunhill, Franklyn Farnum, James Farrar, Bess Flowers, Charles Fogel, George Ford, Steve Forrest, Kathleen Freeman, Rudy Germane, Frank Gerstle, Joe Gilbert, Ned Glass, James Gonzalez, Phyllis Graffeo, Herschel Graham, A. Cameron Grant, Marion Gray, William E. Green, Dabbs Greer, Robert Haines, Sam Harris, Dick Johnstone, Ted Jordan, Joseph Keane, Kenner G. Kemp, Peggy King, Mike Lally, Louise Lane, George J. Lewis, Wilbur Mack, Paul Marion, Paul Maxey, May McAvoy, Harold Miller, Hans Moebus, Patrick J. Molyneaux, Roger Moore, Ellanora Needles, Richard Norris, William H. O'Brien, Pat O'Malley, Christopher Olsen, Dorothy Patrick, William Phillips, Murray Pollack, Paul Power, Kathy Qualen, Anthony Redondo, Jeff Richards, Loretta Russell, Jeffrey Sayre, Frank J. Scannell, Perry Sheehan, George Sherwood, Reginald Simpson, Mabel Smaney, Norman Stevans, William Tannen, Dee Turnell, Harry Tyler, Kaaren Verne, Ray Walker, Harte Wayne, Lawrence A. Williams, Eric Wilton, Wilson Wood, Douglas Yorke, Helen Young
Best video release
Warner Archive, 2k + 4k scans
About the film
Told in flashback form, the film traces the rise and fall of a tough, ambitious Hollywood producer, Jonathan Shields, as seen through the eyes of various acquaintances, including a writer, James Lee Bartlow; a star, Georgia Lorrison; and a director, Fred Amiel. He is a hard-driving, ambitious man who ruthlessly uses everyone on the way to becoming one of Hollywood's top movie makers.
- Featured Lists
- National Film Registry
Year of Induction: 2002
- TSPDT
- 2026: #7562025: #7382024: #7392023: #7402022: #740
- Alternative Titles
- Memorial to a Bad Man, Tribute to a Badman
Director: Richard Brooks
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Arrow 4K Blu-ray > Criterion 4K Blu-ray > Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
1991 Orion LaserDisc vs 2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray
4K restoration from safety preservation elements
Director: Elaine May
Cinématographe 4K Blu-ray > MoC > Olive Films. From nicolas:
The master is good but it’s not that big an upgrade from the Olive Films disc and Vinegar Syndrome’ encode has some blocky highlights. A shame that they didn’t hire David Mackenzie here.
Cinématographe has unnecessary noise gating not present on the previous releases.
Director: Sidney Lumet
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
1.85:1: Kino Lorber 4K / Capelight 4K
1.66:1: Criterion 4K but low pass filtered
Comparison between the 4Ks, Criterion on the AR choice
Other discs have unnecessary filtering and sound worse, the difference isn't substantial but audible
Director: Dennis Hopper
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Flicker Alley 4K confirmed for 2027 https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24404584&postcount=1
MoC audio is better https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=225532&page=3
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Included in the Complete Kubrick box set with FiM encode of the same master from the Universal release without the filtering.
DTS:X mix on Universal 4K Blu-ray most closely approximates original surround mix
Criterion DVD and Universal 4K Blu-ray has additional features not found on the Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
WB 4K
Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab)
An undeniably significant improvement from the BD yet still severely flawed. See DFIC's review.
Director: Vincente Minnelli
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
4K restoration of the original 3D left eye and right eye camera negatives
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: Vincent Sherman
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: George Pal
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: Compton Bennett
4K restoration from original technicolor negatives
Director: Jack Conway
4K restoration from safety preservation elements
Director: Jack Conway
4K restoration from safety preservation elements
Director: William Dieterle
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
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