Torch Song (1953)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Charles Walters

Writers:

John Michael Hayes (writer)
Jan Lustig (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

23 October 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Music | Romance

Tagline:

Tough Baby - a wonderful love story with the star of "Sudden Fear" and for the FIRST TIME you'll see her in TECHNICOLOR!

Plot:

Jenny Stewart is a tough Broadway musical star who doesn't take criticism from anyone. Yet there is one individual...

Plot Keywords:

Unrequited Love | Chinese Man | Reference To Titian | Sister Sister Relationship | Autograph

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Joan Crawford	...	Jenny Stewart
Michael Wilding	...	Tye Graham
Gig Young	...	Cliff Willard
Marjorie Rambeau	...	Mrs. Stewart
Harry Morgan	...	Joe Denner (as Henry Morgan)
Dorothy Patrick	...	Martha
James Todd	...	Philip Norton
Eugene Loring	...	Gene, the Dance Director
Paul Guilfoyle	...	Monty Rolfe
Benny Rubin	...	Charles Maylor
Peter Chong	...	Peter
Maidie Norman	...	Anne
Nancy Gates	...	Celia Stewart
Chris Warfield	...	Chuck Peters
Rudy Render	...	Singer at Party
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mary Benoit	...	Woman in Audience (uncredited)
Steve Carruthers	...	Man in Audience (uncredited)
Adolph Deutsch	...	Conductor (uncredited)
Estelle Etterre	...	Woman in Audience (uncredited)
Bess Flowers	...	Woman at Rehearsal (uncredited)
Mimi Gibson	...	Susie (uncredited)
Sam Harris	...	Restaurant Patron (uncredited)
Peggy King	...	Cora (uncredited)
Mitchell Lewis	...	Bill the Doorman (uncredited)
Joan Maloney	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Frank Mazzola	...	Merle (uncredited)
Harold Miller	...	Party Guest / Man at Rehearsal (uncredited)
Paul Power	...	Man in Audience (uncredited)
John Rosser	...	Chauffeur (uncredited)
Reginald Simpson	...	Cab Driver (uncredited)
Gary Stewart	...	Eddie (uncredited)
Charles Walters	...	Ralph Ellis (uncredited)
Dick Winslow	...	Party Guest (uncredited)

Directed by
Charles Walters

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
John Michael Hayes		writer
Jan Lustig		writer
I.A.R. Wylie		story

Produced by
Henry Berman	....	producer
Sidney Franklin	....	producer (as Sidney Franklin Jr.)
Charles Schnee	....	producer

Original Music by
Adolph Deutsch

Cinematography by
Robert H. Planck

Film Editing by
Albert Akst

Art Direction by
Cedric Gibbons

Costume Design by
Helen Rose

Special Effects by
Warren Newcombe	....	special effects

Music Department
Walter Gross	....	composer: song "Tenderly"
Walter Gross	....	musician: piano
Fred Spielman	....	composer: song "You Won't Forget Me" (as Fritz Spielmann)
India Adams	....	singing voice: Joan Crawford (uncredited)

Other crew
Charles Walters	....	choreographer

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1953) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1972) (USA) (TV) (network premiere)
• Lovcen Film Distribucija (1954) (Yugoslavia) (theatrical)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.75 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:S | USA:Approved (PCA #16608) | Sweden:Btl

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

In her mother's apartment, Jenny Stewart (played by Joan Crawford) is listening as the phonograph plays one of her greatest hits: "Tenderly" (music by Walter Gross, lyrics by Jack Lawrence), which, in reality, was a great hit for Rosemary Clooney, via her 1952 Columbia single. As Jenny's platter spins, the voice of India Adams is heard, while Jenny reminisces about her early show-business career to her mother (portrayed Marjorie Rambeau). In Miss Crawford's own singing voice, she offers phrases of the classic ballad while the record plays.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the "Two-Faced Woman" song Joan Crawford's character starts out wearing a green dress. At the bottom of the stairs she turns and when the women start beating on the tables, Joan's dress becomes blue.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Jenny Stewart: Hold the record.

Movie Connections:

Featured in That's Entertainment! III (1994)

Soundtrack:

Blue Moon

"Art to you is the fruit in the slot machines!"

Fruity semi-musical in Technicolor starring Joan Crawford--returning to her old stomping grounds, M-G-M. Crawford didn't make many pictures in color, and she looks great in this, particularly in dark make-up for the Cotton Club-styled number "Two-Faced Woman" (for the capper, Crawford rips off her black wig, her flaming red hair wild underneath). The plot, taken from I.A.R. Wylie's short story "Why Should I Cry?", is pure hokum: tough-as-nails Broadway star drives everyone to the breaking point, but she meets her match in the new rehearsal pianist, a blind war veteran who has harbored a crush on the performer for many years. The scenes of Crawford's tyrannical Jenny Stewart bossing everyone around are a hoot (it resembles a song-and-dance variation on "Harriet Craig"!). Charles Walters ably directed (and also plays a dancer who, perhaps ironically, is brow-beaten by Joan), although he gets serious acting out of Crawford only once, in the film's final scene. She looks every inch the star, smoking furiously and showing lots o' leg, but her dancing barely passes muster and her vocals were dubbed. Still, not bad, with the compensation being some unintentional comedy (noticing the clock in her bedroom is an hour slow, Crawford angrily corrects the time, and then, as if ready to chew the timepiece out, she gives the clock a smirking once-over). Michael Wilding holds his own as the new man in her life, Gig Young has an obtuse role as Crawford's party pal, and Marjorie Rambeau plays Joan's mother of humble means (and received an Oscar nomination!). Some well-handled scenes, and one has to give points to the star for her courage: what other screen icon (besides Bette Davis, of course) would be so brave as to intentionally come across so steely cold? ** from ****