Ric-7 Everything in the prior comments on this film-- It's all true, and then some. Rating this film is difficult. It's so bad it is fun. High camp at its extreme. Joan has more poses than a bodybuilder and more faces than a totem pole. The signing is dubbed, the dialog is from outer space, and the plot developments beggar description: The Blind Rehearsal Pianist, Joan in Black Face, . . .As you sit there, watching in amused disbelief, random thoughts occur, such as wondering how this film would have been with Bette Davis. Or imagining Joan in "Hello Dolly!" My rating is based on my enjoyment of the film--it is a hoot. But also an overripe mess. I love it.

Michael_Elliott Torch Song (1953) ** (out of 4) Notorious musical about Broadway star Jenny Stewart (Joan Crawford) who is pretty much evil to anyone she meets. She's very demanding and doesn't really care about another human's feelings but she gets a taste of her own medicine when blind pianist Tye Graham (Michael Wilding) stands up to her. TORCH SONG isn't very well-known to the majority of people out there but over the past decades it has built up a rather strong cult following and after seeing the film it's very easy to see why. This here is certainly one of the strangest films that you're ever going to see and it's weirdness is something that's usually used for horror and exploitation movies. You certainly don't expect to see this type of camp in a musical and certainly not with someone like Crawford. It's worth noting that this was Crawford's return to MGM after a ten-year period and it was also her first Technicolor film since the awful 1939 film THE ICE FOLLIES OF 1939. With that said, it looks like the studio would have came up with something better as I really don't know what anyone was thinking with this picture. On a technical side the entire thing looks rather cheap and ugly at times. This is especially true during the "Two-Faced Woman" sequence. The most notorious aspect is seeing Crawford in blackface but just look at how poorly shot this sequence is. When the camera moves in on Crawford coming out it appears as if the camera is moving on an incredibly bumpy road. Another problem is that the over-the-top performance of the actress certainly isn't among her best. Crawford was a genius at playing women who needed to be put in their place but she's just too wild here and quite often we're given some rather unintentionally funny scenes. I thought Wilding was the best thing about the picture as he was very believable in the role but what happens at the end was just too much. Gig Young and Harry Morgan are also on hand. TORCH SONG is going to appeal to those who enjoy bad movies as there's enough strange moments here to really make it stand out.

marcslope That's a couplet from a production number in which Miss Joan Crawford declares, in Technicolor blackface, "I can't help being a two-faced woman." She overestimates herself: In this peerlessly ripe '50s melodrama she has one face, glaring, glaring. She's a harder-than-nails Broadway singer-dancer (dubbed, and clearly no Terpsichorean natural) who shouts down anyone opposed to her in the tiniest way, and then smokes countless cigarettes, glowers, and downs alcohol to betray her neuroses. She's inexplicably adored by her blind rehearsal accompanist (Michael Wilding, who got some terrible parts at MGM), who at least doesn't have to witness her terrifying eyebrows or orange hair, and who's in turn pursued by a nice blonde musician who's obviously a much better match for him. What's surprising and endlessly entertaining about this not-quite-musical is how willing, and even eager, La Crawford is to play up to her public's worst estimation of her. She'll play unsympathetic up to the armpits, as long as they sense that underneath is the heart of a real woman who merely needs to be dominated by a devoted male. None of the characters makes much sense--Marjorie Rambeau, Oscar-nominated as her mother, is either cold and grasping or warm and sympathetic depending on the moment in the plot--but the dialog has some sarcastic snap to it, and it's fun to watch Crawford go through her purification-through-humiliation paces. There's a brilliant Carol Burnett parody of this called "Torchy Song," but the original is even more giggle-inducing.

preppy-3 **PLOT SPOILERS** Just hilarious. Joan Crawford plays hard-boiled bitchy singer/actress Jenny Stewart. She treats everybody like dirt--but that's cause she's (sigh) lonely. Only piano player Tye Graham (Michael Wilding) sees right through her. And--oh yes--he's BLIND!!!! Oh the irony! Naturally she hates him then falls in love with him. It leads up to a totally predictable twist at the end that leads to a happy ending that will have you screaming for insulin! Crawford made plenty of bad films in her career--but none was as much fun as this one! She overacts even more than usual (believe it or not) and bulldozes her way through the film. It's a terrible film with a truly rotten script but Crawford is so over the top it's hard to not enjoy. Her "singing" numbers are unbelievable. When she "sang" her first number "Follow Me" I broke out laughing! It is SO obviously not her voice and Crawford's overdone acting during it is just incredible. Still she DOES lip sync well. The high point (so to speak) is the song and dance of "Two Face Woman" with Joan AND the entire chorus in black face! It's just too jaw-droppingly silly to take seriously. And when Joan tears off the black wig at the end to show that blazing red hair it hits new heights of camp! The rest of the cast falls by the wayside of Crawford's histrionics. Poor Gig Young barely registers. Wilding is actually pretty good--his nice underacting actually compliments Joan's overacting very well. Marjorie Rambeau (playing Joan's mother) is very good also and was actually nominated for a Best Supporting Actress for this. Also Joan's "clumsy" dance partner is director Charles Walters.This is most definitely not a good picture but it's in blazing Technicolor, has a hilariously stupid story and has Joan going full blast! A must see for camp followers. I can only seriously give it a 7 though. Yeah it's fun but it's SO stupid!