Cinematheque: Vincente Minnelli

Shadows are lurking everywhere in this melancholy black-and-white melodrama. One of the greatest entries in the long, cynical tradition of Hollywood films about Hollywood, the film uses a Citizen Kane-like structure to tell the age-old story of personal sacrifice, greed and compromised artistic vision. Starring Kirk Douglas as the megalomaniac Hollywood producer and Lana Turner as the "beautiful" alcoholic actress. Academy Film Archive print! USA, 1952, 35mm, b/w, 118 min.