Torch Song (1953)

Director:

Charles Walters

Writers:

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

Release Date:

1 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:

Black Man | Sunday | Chinese Man | Audience | Love Triangle

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win

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)
Ralph Brooks	...	Party Guest (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	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Frank Mazzola	...	Merle (uncredited)
Harold Miller	...	Party Guest / Man at Rehearsal (uncredited)
Paul Power	...	Man in Audience (uncredited)
John Rosser	...	Chauffeur (uncredited)
Norma Jean Salina	...	Margaret (uncredited)
Reginald Simpson	...	Cab Driver (uncredited)
Donna Jean Stewart	...	Elsie (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
E. Preston Ames
Cedric Gibbons

Set Decoration by
Jack D. Moore
Edwin B. Willis

Costume Design by
Helen Rose

Makeup Department
Sydney Guilaroff	....	hair stylist
William Tuttle	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Jay Marchant	....	unit manager (uncredited)

Sound Department
Douglas Shearer	....	recording supervisor

Special Effects by
Warren Newcombe	....	special effects

Music Department
Walter Gross	....	musician: piano
Alexander Courage	....	composer: additional music (uncredited)
Alexander Courage	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Charles Walters	....	choreographer

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (controlled by Loew's Incorporated)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1953) (USA) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1953) (UK) (theatrical)
• Lovcen Film Distribucija (1954) (Yugoslavia) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1955) (France) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1972) (USA) (TV)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1990) (USA) (VHS)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1955) (Austria) (theatrical)

Other Companies

• Turner Entertainment  VHS package design

Also Known As:

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 | West Germany:12 (f) | Australia:G

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The music used for the opening dance sequence between Joan Crawford and Chuck Walters was recycled from the previous MGM film Royal Wedding (1951). It was Fred Astaire's dance music for "You're All the World to Me" (i.e., the "dancing-on-the-walls-and-ceiling" sequence).

Goofs:

Continuity: Jenny closes her eyes to find out what it's like for a blind person to light a cigarette. Meanwhile, the cigarette and cigarette lighter switch hands.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Jenny Stewart:Hold the record.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "The Carol Burnett Show: Episode #10.16" (1977)

Soundtrack:

You're All the World to Me

TORCH SONG (Charles Walters, 1953) **1/2

Sometimes the release on DVD of a particular film in which, ostensibly, I have very little interest makes me watch it regardless when it happens to get shown on TV – and this is just one such example. Actually, it forms part of a Box Set which does contain at least two enticing titles: Frank Borzage’s STRANGE CARGO (1940) and George Cukor’s A WOMAN’S FACE (1941).

Although hardly one of my personal favorites, Joan Crawford was one of Hollywood’s foremost leading ladies: starting out in the late Silent era, she epitomized the “woman’s pictures” in the 1930s and 1940, eventually winning an Oscar for Michael Curtiz’s superb noir-ish melodrama, MILDRED PIERCE (1945). By the time Crawford did TORCH SONG, she had been a freelancer for ten years and this marked a return to the studio which had discovered her, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Stories of entertainment divas alienating their loved ones through their constant tantrums were already clichéd by this time, I suppose, but this is nevertheless a watchable and, given that there are a few musical numbers, surprisingly painless diversion which has, somewhat unaccountably, earned a reputation of late as a camp classic. This may be down mostly to the fact that Crawford (whose singing voice is dubbed) does one of her routines, “Two-Faced Woman”, in blackface; incidentally, this song was originally meant for Vincente Minnelli’s THE BAND WAGON (1953) as a duet of sorts between Cyd Charisse and Oscar Levant! This is not to say that watching Crawford (in her late forties and her first full-length feature in Technicolor) showing off her legs at every available opportunity does not give rise to some amusement.

Crawford’s leading man here is Britain’s Michael Wilding as a blind pianist(!) and her no-nonsense mother is played by Marjorie Rambeau (who was, surprisingly enough, even nominated for an Oscar); the supporting cast is further filled out by rather thankless turns from Gig Young (as Crawford’s playboy companion) and Harry Morgan (as the theatrical impresario). Director/choreographer Charles Walters rounded out a good year for him with this movie – which had also included the Oscar-nominated LILI and Esther Williams’ most popular vehicle, DANGEROUS WHEN WET.