Citizen Kane done MGM style as we look back at the life of a film producer (Kirk Douglas) through three people closest to him - a director (Barry Sullivan), star (Lana Turner), writer (Dick Powell). This is Dore Schary's MGM at it's best - a clever, smart film, with some handsome gloss, strong performances. I'm assuming a lot of credit goes to producer John Houseman, a man with a first class list of credits... including Citizen Kane.
Actually now I think about it there's several more similarities to Kane - an old haunted house with a broken down drunk girl living inside, the story of a Great Man, etc.
There's some key differences - we only have three flashbacks instead of five, which means that we get into the stories more; the subject of the film is alive at the beginning, not dead, which means there are more stakes in them establishing a relationship; the tone isn't as bleak.
Kirk Douglas is a bastard but not a complete bastard - yes he does some rough things but never that terrible: he develops a project with Sullivan and gets in another director; he falls for Turner but goes off with a floozy (Elaine Stewart); he pretends he didn't know Powell's wife (Gloria Grahame) was having an affair with a star (Gilbert Roland) when he did. I mean none of those are mortal sins, really... Well, says I anyway.
And as kindly mogul Walter Pigeon points out all the main characters got stuff out of their association with him: Douglas helped launch Sullivan as a director, made Turner a star, and helped Powell become one of the leading writers in Hollywood.
Each story has something interesting about it. Sullivan isn't that exciting an actor, but I loved how the filmmakers borrowed the real-life story of Val Lewton and Cat People. Turner is genuinely good as the hot mess of an actor who thinks she loves Douglas only to have him drive her away - it's one of her best ever parts. The Powell-Grahame relationship is genuinely interesting - he's this pipe smoking smug racist historian (okay I'm reading the racism into it but an old southern professor with a black maid... I don't think it's too much of a leap) with a trashy wife who gets very excited about the prospect of going Hollywood.
Gilbert Roland's character is a bit too much of a cliche - Latin lover. It's beautifully shot and scored, very well written. Vincente Minnelli does a strong job as director.
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