Elia Kazan

Cotton-mill owner Archie Meighan, married to nineteen-year-old "Baby Doll", looks forward to the day his wife turns twenty and will finally allow him to sleep with her. But he has competition in the form of sly business competitor Silva Vacarro, who covets both Archie's cotton mill AND his young and beautiful wife.

Larry Rhodes is a hobo with a powerful personality and a mean streak as wide as the Mississippi River. He is 'discovered' by Marcia Jeffries, who christens him "Lonesome" Rhodes, and makes him the star of her morning radio show, "A Face in the Crowd." Listeners are enthralled by his down-home, folksy charm, and after developing a large following, Rhodes begins a journey to national fame and TV stardom. A powerful business tycoon realizes that he can...

Deanie is a beautiful and sensitive teenager who would do whatever her mother and her 1928 Kansas hometown find proper. Her boyfriend, Bud, has intense desires for Deanie and the two are very much in love. But, sexual pressures in society creates a rift in their relationship. She restrains herself while Bud acts on them, but with another girl. Bud's actions drive Deanie to madness. She is committed into an institution while Bud reluctantly obeys his...