Kim Stanley (Oscar nominee, Best Actress, 1964, Séance on a Wet Afternoon) plays Emily Ann Faulkner, whose unhappy childhood was dominated by dreams of Hollywood stardom. Escaping a disastrous first marriage and fleeing motherhood by leaving her infant child with her mother, Emily strikes out for fame, and lands in the arms of an ex-prizefighter, Dutch Seymour (Lloyd Bridges), whom she marries and divorces. Love is just a step on the ladder to the top, and changing her name to Rita Shawn, the starlet also becomes the mistress of a studio executive. But fame, drugs or alcohol can't hold back the encroaching loneliness and feelings of emptiness in the actress's life. Director John Cromwell, best known for complex melodramas (Of Human Bondage, Since You Went Away), is in his element here, and Kim Stanley proves her credentials as a stage and screen star oft compared to Brando.
