The invisible character
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The Bad and the Beautiful
One of the superior qualities of earlier American films is their adherence to a story. They don't meander in irreconcilable directions, following a whim or an ideology. They have such precise authenticity, that the stories appear simple enough. Only later on do we realize their complexity.
The other, equally superior, quality to these films is their lack of nihilism. Some characters do get what they deserve, but they all, in one way or another, become better at the end than what they were at the beginning.
Such is the intention of two films, with uncannily similar plots. Joseph L. Mankiewicz's A Letter to Three Wives is the story of three friends and an invisible fourth (we hear about her indirectly through the stories around the three as an "absent presence"), and Vincente Minnelli's The Bad and the Beautiful about a producer who affects the lives of three people.
There is a hint of film noir in both these films, in the set design, lighting and decor, and in the story itself, that we are constantly in a mild state of suspense throughout.
Of course, I also have to say that Lana Turner is one of my favorite actresses.
