The 1950 film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz is "a timeless, unsentimental backstage epic that is more about the fear of aging and loss of power than the whizzbang life of the theater," write the critics.
Both Bette Davis as the reigning actress Margot Channing and Anne Baxter as a nice (or is she?) up-and-comer were nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for the film.