The Goddess (1958) review

Three-part 'fictionalization' of the life of Marilyn Monroe, Ava Gardner or maybe a few other notable starlets: little Emily Ann Faulkner (Patty Duke) moves with her unstable mother Laureen (Betty Lou Holland) to live with Laureen's childless brother and his wife but dreams of going to L.A. to be a star - when she's older (Kim Stanley) she marries suicidal soldier John Tower (Steven Hill) and they have a child together that she abandons ... then finds herself in Hollywood, takes on the persona of "Rita Shawn," gets remarried to boxer Dutch (Lloyd Bridges), becomes a superstar but as years go by her mental health severely deteriorates.  It starts off as a flimsy Tennessee Williams imitation with the deep accents, Emily being boy crazy and Laureen turning to religion (she joins the Seventh-day Adventists), and then the rest of it is tedious to watch: Rita's a pathetic and unlikeable figure (who claims she's "lovesick" ... but that's the depression talking) that constantly changes her mind and has multiple emotional breakdowns, and the movie doesn't bother "showing" how popular she's become (with the exception of her state-of-the-art home) or even having a millisecond of joy for "making it."  It's quite an unpleasant view of stardom - which was apparently screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky's intention - and ruthlessly grim for a picture made in the late 1950's ... although it has developed a cult audience due to its "camp appeal."