All by Myself: The Eartha Kitt Story

My review was written in February 1982 after a showing at Manhattan's RIzzoli screening room: "All by Myself" is a portrait film about singer-actress Eartha Kitt, which showcases the performer in effective renditions of several of her best songs but offers little insight into her life and career. Filmmaker Christian Blackwood observes and questions his star subject, but all the would-be cinema verite camera reveals is a performance.

Certainly the minimal factual material here would make an interesting dramatized biopic. Kitt's unloved childhood in the South -given away by her mother; fabulous success three decades ago in Europe and later the U. S. as a sexy cabaret singer; an important acting career in legit and films; well-publicized run-ins with political figures such as Lady Bird Johnson and subsequent career blacklisting problems.

Blackwood errs in genuflecting to his star: between the concert performances and rehearsal footage he spends too much time showing Eartha and her lovely daughter Kitt McDonald applying makeup and generally showing off for the camera.

When he tries to get tough, Blackwood asks insipid questions about her personal life, eliciting fatuous answers. After prying unsuccessfully into Eartha's love life and interracial marriage, he comes up with a howler of a revelation from the star, who says: "I fall in love with myself and want someone to share it with me".

Best segments deal with Kitt's visit to her childhood home in South Carolina, accompanied by tearful reminiscences of still troubling family problems. Shorn of her public posturing and acid tongue, Kitt comes closest to opening up to the camera in these moments.

However, nearly all the film's running time is devoted to her showing off. A Reagan Inaugural Ball held in NY spotlights her affectations, chatting with Joan Fontaine, Geoffrey Holder, Virginia Graham and others or giving the cold shoulder to comedy relief figure Mayor Ed Koch. A visit i to a new talent agency repping Kitt is played straight but wastes a reel with all concerned putting on a pleasant front for the camera. Similarly the star at home or teaching young dancers in Watts comes off as self-serving.

Beyond the wasted personal scenes (which have less impact overall than one of Kitt's poignant confessionals on the Merv Griffin talk show a decade ago), pic delivers sock vocals "I Want to Be Evil", "Solitude", Eric Carmen's title tune and others. Theatrical chances are slim, with specialized tv exposure a possibility.,

Eartha Kitt, portrait by herself indeed. We see Eartha with daughter Kit shapiro , we see her putting on her make-up to sing at the inoguration of president -to-be Ronald reagan. We see her visiting her birthplace and little shack where she was born as well as performing on a benefit-concert for children. We see her teaching poor black children dancing lessons.And in between that she's singing songs. I was never able to buy the official video, but I taped it from German TV. I don't think this documentary has been broadcast in many countries, as I know many Eartha Kitt-fans,like myself who never saw this film and really would like to get a DVD of it.As far as I know it's never been released on DVD !If so, please let me know ! Through the years my Kitt-video collection has been grown large. But this film All By Myself always has been special to me. As Eartha shows herself like she is in private too, and was not afraid to show herself without the heavy make-up she uses for shows, films and theatre performances.I've met Eartha several times and know from her that she wanted to make this docu because, as she put it - people had very weird ideas about what she was like. Of course we're now, in 2004, already 22 years past the release of this movie and also Eartha grew larger and luckily for us is still with us to perform for us, even after her car-accident. Still, if you get any chance to see this documentary don't hesitate to see it: you won't be sorry.