Fascinating, flawed piece. Mankiewicz's attempt to do a cinematic All About Eve or his own version of The Bad and the Beautiful - it actually feels most like the latter, which was a version of Citizen Kane. This starts at a funeral of a movie star (Ava Gardner) and tells the story of her life, ish.
There's some memorable dialogue and acting and it was enjoyable, despite Mankiewicz's dodgy sexual politics - I know he used to root actresses with mental health issues eg Judy Garland.
It feels as though it needed an edit - the part played by Humphrey Bogart (who looks like he's dying) surely should have been combined with Edmund O'Brien and that character should surely be in love with Gardner and impregnate her.
There's not a lot of depth to Gardner's character, is there? She wants to fall in love before having sex. Marries an impotent man. Is there anything more?
Her character doesn't deserve to die. She is lonely. And gets shot because she has an affair. That feels so unfair. All the men live.
Key support roles feel undercast - Warren Stevens as Howard Hughes type, Marius Gordin as a Aly Khan type. (These roles feel as though they should be merged too). It takes some fun swipes at admittedly easy targets - film people, the idle rich, aristocrats.
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