A searching Hollywood self-examination: the drama of a talented teenage singing star almost destroyed by the studio system, its standards and its demands. Director Robert Mulligan, who made To Kill a Mockingbird, conducts us chillingly through Daisy's life, from success to disillusionment to rebellion. Natalie Wood gives one of her best performances, and Robert Redford is seen in an early film role as the actor she marries. The screenplay tends to hover around the grave of the Hollywood of 1936 without ever getting out its shovel and really digging in. But a few film moguls may still turn in theirs.

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