Visual Index ~ The Bad and the Beautiful
Thursday, August 22, 2013 at 9:28AM In Hit Me With Your Best Shot, an open source series if you will, movie-lovers are asked to select their choice for the pre-selected movie's finest visual moment. Movies are both communal and private experiences so its rewarding to look at them through multiple sets of eyes. This week's film is Vincente Minnelli's Hollywood-on-Hollywood drama The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) which holds the odd distinction of winning the most Oscars ever (5) without a corresponding nomination in the Best Picture category. (The Academy was weird about the Movies About Movies genre that year since they practically ignored the all time classic Singin' in the Rain) The most deserved of TBATB's historic five Oscars was surely for its stunning black & white cinematography by Robert Surtees, an enduring presence in Oscar's roll call from the mid 40s through the late 70s.
I think you'll really like these nine pieces on the movie (on seven different shots)... even if you haven't seen it! Click on any of these "Best Shots" to read why it was selected by these movie lovers.
Antagony & Ecstasy
We Recycle Movies
Minnesota Gneiss - FIRST TIME BEST SHOT'ER !
I Want to Believe
Film Actually
The Film Experience
Allison Tooey
Dancin' Dan
The Film's The Thing
NEXT WEDNESDAY NIGHT AUGUST 27th
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) available on Netflix Instant Watch, so please consider joining us. All you need is a pair of eyeballs, movie love, screen capture capability, and a web place to post your choice for the chosen film's very best image.
Reader Comments (11)
here's my shot:
http://thefilmsthething.blogspot.com/2013/08/hollywoods-twisted-relationship.html
seems dancin' dan and i have similar tastes!
OMG that shot of Elaine Stewart on the stairs... She's so ravishing and SO bitchy ("I thought you were swell") that I looked her up on IMDB right then and there. I was slightly shocked to find she didn't become a huge star after that. Loved reading all of these entries!
^I KNOW, right? I had never seen Gloria Grahame before this movie so I had no idea what she looked like. So when the dark lady appeared on the steps and said "I thought you were *swell*," I was instantly sure that this was the lady who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar.
And then she never appeared again in the film! I got despondent when I realized that GG was Rosemary instead. If the Film Bitch Awards had been around back in the 50s, you can bet that I would be campaigning hard for Elaine Stewart in Best Cameo.
This selection of shots does not bode well for Miss Grahame in the Smackdown...
Paul, I'm a huge, huge Gloria Grahame fan, but I have to admit that I was kind of baffled that *this* was the role she won an Academy Award for. Don't get me wrong, she's fine, but nowhere near as incredible as she is in "In A Lonely Place," "Crossfire," or "The Big Heat." I know the Academy wasn't as big on honoring Noir performances as they should have been, but still.
Sadly, I have to agree, Anne Marie. I adore GG, but this role/performance doesn't compare to her work in Oklahoma and It's a Wonderful Life either.
I'm late I'm late I'm late!!
(First time participating!)
http://minnesotagneissblog.blogspot.com/2013/08/lights-camera-action-best-shot-in-bad.html
I love love love Gloria Grahame, my dear suicide blonde, but I have to agree with everyone else. She deserved awards recognition for several others roles before her one in THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL.
paul - you said it. I was so surprised to not see her show up until the one hour and 22 minute mark or so... and then that's all there is to her role? and she beat Hagen? what a world what a world
I was all set to do one of these, then I let someone shame me out of my pick (which was the same as Dancin' Dan and The Film's The Thing) and didn't do it. Damn shame, as I would have been in good company. Ah well, at least it was well represented.
Poli -- who shamed you out of your pick. No shame there! The more the merrier with this series.