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MGM lavished considerably more money and attention on All the Fine Young Cannibals than the material deserves. This tawdry, unbelievable melodrama was given a handsome production and has a high, glossy sheen, but it's all in the service of a "nothing" script. The basic plot is a re-hash of every cliché the authors could tear from numerous steamy southern bodice-rippers, 50's jazz fables and upper class morality tales. The dialogue is banal and obvious, with "snappy" lines that the viewer knows are coming several minutes before they actually slither out of the actors' mouths. With material like this -- and with inept direction from Michael Anderson -- the actors are doomed. Natalie Wood does what she can, but it's nowhere near enough, and Susan Kohner's decision to give the part her all was not wise. (The scenes in which Kohner whips a bare-chested Robert Wagnerand attempts suicide are especially hard to take.) Wagner's performance is all on the surface; he practically seems to be holding up signs that say "sullen" or "vengeful" or "excited" throughout the movie. Only Pearl Bailey comes close to giving what might be called a decent performance, aided by the fact that she at least gets a chance to sing on occasion. Although Wood bounced back the next year with West Side Story and Splendor on the Grass, Bailey would be off the screen for a decade, until 1970's The Landlord.