Robert De Niro heads a formidable all-star cast in a dreadfully protracted and dreary movie about Hollywood in the late Thirties. A few mock-Thirties film clips which one hopes are intentionally funny provide much-needed light relief from the gloomy central tale of a 'boy wonder' producer (modelled on Irving Thalberg) and his amour fou for some boring girl who happens to look like his late wife. Ingrid Boulting is a stunning looker as the girl, but so dire a performer, in this role at least, as to make no sense at all of Harold Pinter's enigmatic dialogue. More interesting is Theresa Russell, here in her first film role but clearly bound for stardom. De Niro delivers a rare lacklustre performance, but at least you can keep awake by spotting the stars: Robert Mitchum, Dana Andrews, Jack Nicholson, Anjelica Huston, Tony Curtis, Donald Pleasence, Jeanne Moreau, and Ray Milland among them. What a waste! You can only think studio boss Mitchum is describing this film at a preview when he says it 'needs about 20 minutes out of it. Otherwise, it just lies there and goes to sleep.'


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