Main Cast: Joan Crawford, Michael Wilding, Sr., Gig Young, Marjorie Rambeau, Henry Morgan
Release Year: 1953
Country: US
Run Time: 90 minutes
Plot
Joan Crawford's first Technicolor feature has come to be known as a textbook example of "high camp." Crawford stars as musical comedy luminary Jenny Stewart, who has been hardened by the worst life has to offer. Romance enters her life in the form of her new piano accompanist, blinded war-veteran Tye Graham (Michael Wilding). The fact that Graham refuses to kowtow to the temperamental Jenny's demands, coupled with the adversarial behavior of Graham's seeing-eye dog, makes the pianist all the more attractive to the lonely songstress. Torch Song is a favorite of bad-movie buffs and female impersonators the world over: Highlights include Crawford's blackface musical number, and the now-classic scene in which she simulates blindness to better understand the taciturn Graham. Director Charles Walters, a former choreographer, appears as Crawford's two-left-feet dancing partner in the opening scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
A prime example of the "incredibly-bad-but-enormously-entertaining" film, Torch Song is a hoot from start to finish and a favorite of bad film aficionados. Playing the kind of tough hardened dame that had become her trademark (she "has the mouth of an angel, but the words that come out are pure tramp," as one character says), Joan Crawford turns in the kind of over-the-top, ludicrous performance that is entirely removed from reality, yet maintains an undeniable fascination; one simply cannot look away. Much the same can be said of the entire film, which tends to elicit a "Did-they-really-say-that?" response from viewers. Filled with incredible, instantly quotable dialogue (such as Crawford snapping to the blind Michael Wilding, "Why don't you get yourself a seeing-eye girl," or criticizing a chorus boy who trips over her leg with "He gets paid a very handsome salary to dance around that leg!"), the script piles cliché upon cliché and sidesteps no opportunity to provide its star with a "big scene," no matter how poorly set up. Even the physical production provokes laughs, from the inch-thick make-up on the star to the faux-modern bedroom set. The piece-de-resistance, however, is the legendary "Two Faced Woman" number, featuring staggeringly inept choreography, gaudy costumes, an all-too-obviously dubbed Crawford and possibly the most embarrassing use of blackface ever in a major production. (Crawford's emotional outburst at the end of the number is in a class by itself.) Torch Song may not have turned out to be the kind of film its star intended it to be, but it is definitely a memorably experience. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Dorothy Patrick - Martha; James Todd - Philip Norton; Eugene Loring - Gene the Dance Director; Paul Guilfoyle - Monty Rolfe; Benny Rubin - Charlie Maylor; Peter Chong - Peter; Maide Norman - Anne; Chris Warfield - Chuck Peters; Rudy Render - Party Singer; Nancy Gates - Celia Stewart; Mimi Gibson - Susie; Peggy King - Cora; Mitchell Lewis - Bill the Doorman; Reginald Simpson - Cab Driver; Adolph Deutsch - Conductor; Charles Walters - Ralph Ellis; John Rosser - Chauffeur
Jenny Stewart (Crawford) is a tough Broadway musical star, alienating her colleagues with her neurotic demands for absolute perfection. Jenny takes offense when her new rehearsal pianist Tye Graham (Wilding) criticizes her song stylings and ruthless ways. Graham was blinded in WWII but fell in love with Jenny when he was a young reporter. Deep down, Jenny yearns for a real and lasting love but is disenchanted with the men around her such as Broadway parasite Cliff Willard (Gig Young). At her mother's (Marjorie Rambeau), she discovers an old newspaper clipping in which Tye reviewed one of her first shows and made it evident he loved her. Jenny realizes she is loved, goes to Tye, and they embrace. Cast includes Henry Morgan, Dorothy Patrick, Eugene Loring, Maidie Norman, and James Todd.
Reception
Otis Guernsey, Jr. in the New York Herald Tribune wrote, "Joan Crawford has another of her star-sized roles...she is vivid and irritable, volcanic and feminine...Here is Joan Crawford all over the screen, in command, in love and in color, a real movie star in what amounts to a carefully produced one-woman show."[1]
^ Quirk, Lawrence J.. The Films of Joan Crawford. The Citadel Press, 1968.
Torch Song premiere in Los Angeles, November 19, 1953
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