Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
Running time: 69 minutes
The Girl Who Had Everything (1953)
“As a pouty Kentucky belle with a penchant for bourbon and dangerous liaisons, Elizabeth Taylor packs power as well as pulchritude in this star-packed remake of the classic melodrama A Free Soul. She plays Jean Latimer, whose father Steve (William Powell in one of his final film roles) is a brilliant yet hard-drinking trial lawyer who has gotten rich defending mobsters and has determined to steer his smart but headstrong daughter away from the darker side. Though the elder Latimer tries his best to intervene, Jean falls hard for one of his shady clients (Fernando Lamas), a path that leads not only to a family rift as well as courtroom fireworks. Gig Young and James Whitmore co-star.” [From the DVD]
Cast
Jean Latimer: Elizabeth Taylor
Victor Ramondi: Fernando Lamas
Steve Latimer: William Powell
Vance Court: Gig Young
Charles “Chico” Menlow: James Whitmore
John Ashmond: Robert Burton
Julian: William Walker
Crew
Director: Richard Thorpe
Producer: Armand Deutsch
Screenwriter: Art Cohn
Based on the Novel “A Free Soul” by: Adela Rogers St. Johns, and the Subsequent Play by: Willard Mack
Cinematographer: Paul Vogel
Art Directors: Cedric Gibbons and Randall Duell
Musical Score: André Previn
Editor: Ben Lewis
Costumes: Helen Rose
Did You Know?
The Girl Who Had Everything was a tight 69-minute remake of the 1931 pre-Code drama A Free Soul, starring Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, Lionel Barrymore, and Clark Gable. The screenplay for the remake was written by Art Cohn, Mike Todd’s friend and biographer (The Nine Lives of Michael Todd).
Elizabeth was pregnant with her first child, Michael Wilding, Jr., during the filming of The Girl Who Had Everything. Some clever camerawork was done to conceal her pregnancy.