Torch Song (film)

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.

Plot

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...
Read More