I’ll Cry Tomorrow **** (1955, Susan Hayward, Richard Conte, Eddie Albert, Jo Van Fleet, Don Taylor, Ray Danton) – Classic Movie Review 5492

I’ll Cry Tomorrow (1955) is Susan Hayward’s fourth Oscar nomination, playing Lillian Roth, the real-life Thirties musical star who turns to the bottle and attempts suicide.

Director Daniel Mann’s 1955 movie I’ll Cry Tomorrow provides a great showcase for Susan Hayward, who won the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1956 and was Oscar nominated for her rousing, career-best performance as Lillian Roth, the real-life Thirties musical star who has mother and husband problems and turns to the bottle and attempts suicide.

Ray Danton plays her childhood sweetheart, David Tredman, who dies on the eve of their marriage; Don Taylor plays her short-lived husband Wallie; Richard Conte plays her abuser husband Tony Bardeman; Eddie Albert plays Burt McGuire, who helps her get back on her feet.

Susan Hayward is outstanding both as a success and later when she hits Skid Row, and sings the classic Broadway songs in fine style (a surprise from a non-musical performer), while Jo Van Fleet as her ambitious, domineering stage mother Katie is just as compelling, and the well-cast male stars give stalwart support.

Hayward sings for the first time on the screen with songs such as Sing, You Sinners, When the Red, Red Robin (Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin’ Along), and I’m Sitting on Top of the World.

Costumier Helen Rose won the film’s sole Oscar, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White, though Hayward as Best Actress, Cedric Gibbons, Malcolm Brown, Edwin B Willis and Hugh Hunt (for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White), and Arthur E Arling (for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White) were deservedly nominated. Ray Danton won the Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer – Male.

It was a big hit, costing $2,147,000 and earning $7,727,000, making a profit of $2,933,000.

Also in the cast are Jack Daley, Margo, Virginia Gregg, Don Barry, David Kasday, Ralph Edwards, Carole Ann Campbell, Peter Leeds, Tol Avery, Guy Wilkerson, Timothy Carey, Charles Tannen, Kenneth Patterson, Voltaire Perkins, George Lloyd, Nora Marlowe, Stanley Farrar, Harlan Warde, Peter Brocco, Robert Dix, Anthony Jochim, Ruth Storey, Kay English, Eve McVeagh, Gail Ganley, Robert Williams, Bob Hopkins, Vernon Rich, Herbert Lytton, Budd Buster, Cheerio Meredith, Veda Ann Borg, Kathy Garver and Nesdon Booth.

I’ll Cry Tomorrow is based on the 1954 autobiographical book by Lillian Roth, Mike Connolly and Gerold Frank. It runs 119 minutes, is an MGM movie, is written by Helen Deutsch and Jay Richard Kennedy, is shot by Arthur E Arling, is produced by Lawrence Weingarten and is scored by Alex North.

It was Hayward’s fourth Oscar nomination before she finally won Best Actress for I Want to Live! (1958). Her other nominations are for Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman (1947), My Foolish Heart (1949) and With a Song in My Heart (1952).

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5492

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com