Riven by political investigation, competition from TV and the realisation that the Golden Age had passed, Hollywood produced a series of withering self-portraits in the early 1950s that revealed, beneath the tinsel, a sordidness worthy of Dorian Gray. Full of insider gags, this fizzing melodrama from Vincente Minnelli touches more than a few raw nerves as it charts the decline and fall of movie mogul Jonathan Shields (Kirk Douglas) through the eyes of a writer (Dick Powell), a director (Barry Sullivan) and an actress (Lana Turner). Allegedly an amalgam of David O Selznick and Val Lewton, the character of Shields is made truly detestable by Douglas (in an Oscar-nominated role), who obviously relishes a part rejected by Clark Gable.

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.