A great premise helps this film from the very start, and it's good to get a period idea of the film industry, no matter how glossed-over and fictionalized it can be.

I like the first segments, where the down-and-out Shields actually...
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A great premise helps this film from the very start, and it's good to get a period idea of the film industry, no matter how glossed-over and fictionalized it can be.

I like the first segments, where the down-and-out Shields actually worms his way into producing by losing money in a poker game, a great set-up for the cleverness and yet greasiness of the Douglas character. His con continues as he dares his B-movie exec to let him fail at a new movie. I find the Lana Turner segments less convincing though I like the portrayal of film-making details throughout.

Despite Minneli, a bunch of Oscars, and good actors, I find this movie a little flat scene-to-scene - the subject material could be more highly dramatized like "Citizen Kane" or "Sunset Boulevard" and be even more effective.