| Torch Song | |
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Original theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Charles Walters |
| Produced by | Henry Berman Sidney Franklin, Jr. Charles Schnee |
| Written by | I.A.R. Wylie John Michael Hayes Jan Lustig |
| Starring | Joan Crawford Michael Wilding Gig Young Marjorie Rambeau |
| Music by | Adolph Deutsch |
| Cinematography | Robert H. Planck |
| Editing by | Albert Akst |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | October 23, 1953 |
| Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Torch Song is a 1953 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer feature film starring Joan Crawford and Michael Wilding in a story about a Broadway star and her rehearsal pianist. The screenplay by John Michael Hayes and Jan Lustig was based upon the story "Why Should I Cry?" by I.A.R. Wylie. The film was directed by Charles Walters and produced by Sidney Franklin, Henry Berman, and Charles Schnee.
The cast includes Harry Morgan (billed as "Henry Morgan"), Gig Young, Marjorie Rambeau, Dorothy Patrick, Eugene Loring, Maidie Norman and James Todd.
Torch Song has gained note for the musical number Two-Faced Woman from The Band Wagon in which Crawford, in blackface, lip-syncs to the voice of India Adams while writhing with male dancers. The film marked Crawford's return to MGM after a ten-year absence. Her original recordings for the soundtrack, which were not used in the film, have survived and been included in home video releases.
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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 the home of her mother (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.
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] Crawford's dancing drew raves, thus reminding critics and audiences that she still had it as a dancer and showed her legs were still in great shape. Torch Song was regarded as a return to form for Joan Crawford, who when the picture was released, was fresh off an Academy Award nod for her superb performance in Sudden Fear, the previous year.
Marjorie Rambeau was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role at the 26th Academy Awards.
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