Harrison's Reports (1955)

204 HARRISON'S REPORTS December 17, 1955 "I'll Cry Tomorrow" with Susan Hayward, Richard Conte and Eddie Albert (MGM, no rel. date set; time, 117 min.) This drama undoubtedly will prove to be a boxoffice success, for it is biographical ot the highly publicized rise and fall of Lillian Roth who, at the height of her singing career, took to drink and for sixteen years lived in a nightmare world of alcoholism. Millions of TV viewers have heard a sketchy account of her story on the "This Is Your Life" program and many of them no doubt will be eager to see it dramatized fully on the screen. It is, of course, a tragic and sordid story, but it is powerfully dramatic in a number of the situations, mainly because of the very fine performance of Susan Hayward, who portrays Miss Roth. Her depiction of a vivacious woman who gradually becomes a chronic dipsomaniac and eventually sinks to the depths of degradation as a common drunkard in skid-row bars is so vivid that it makes one wince. And the delirium tremens she suffers because of her inability to curb her frenzied desire for drink are so starkly realistic that they are enough to make one take the pledge. It is unfortunate that Miss Hayward's strong performance is not matched by the screenplay, which has a number of glaring weaknesses, particularly in connection with two of her marriages. In the case of Don Taylor, for example, she initially meets him for a few fleeting seconds as an admiring fan, yet when she bumps into him many months later she greets him like a long lost friend and marries him during a weekend drinking bout. Logically, she should not have even remembered him. The same holds true in the case of Richard Conte, whom she meets briefly at a cocktail party. She makes a luncheon date with him for the following day and, when he fails to show up, she drowns her sorrow in excessive drinking and, many months later, when he drops in on her for a second meeting, she falls into his arms and marries him immediately. This association is completely lacking in conviction, for there had been no romantic by-play between them in the relatively few moments they had known each other. The story is filled with other weaknesses, such as characterizations that are not clearly defined, and it is hampered also by choppy editing. It should be pointed out that, though the story is fundamentally factual, certain events and characters are fictional, and certain facts have been omitted. This may cause some disappointment among those who see it and know the true story, as outlined on the TV program. All in all, however, the fine quality of Miss Hayward's performance compensates for much of the film's deficiencies. The black-and-white photography is very good. The story opens in the days of Miss Roth's childhood and depicts how her mother, played by Jo Van Fleet, pushed her into a stage career. With the passing years, she became an acknowledged singing star, still dominated subtly by her mother, who resented her romance with Ray Denton out of fear that marriage would put an end to her career. Danton's untimely death, shortly before the day set for their marriage, depresses the singer and causes her to quarrel with her mother. A nurse gives her a drink to calm her nerves, and she falls into the habit of using the stuff to help her sleep. Before long she finds that drink gives her self-confidence and she always keeps a bottle handy. She meets up with Don Taylor and marries him during a drinking bout, but the marriage, not helped by their excessive drinking, proves a bust within a few months and ends in divorce. While still at the height of her career, she meets and marries Conte, who turns out to be a sadistic brute who lives off her money and keeps her intoxicated until she is penniless. She escapes from him and, with her career on the downgrade and her need for alcohol growing, begins to pawn her few possessions to buy liquor. In due time she becomes a drunken character in second-rate bars while living in low-grade hotels. Having become a hopeless alcoholic, she is taken in hand by her heartbroken mother, now reduced to poverty. When she finds herself on the verge of committing suicide because of her frenzied craving for drink, she finally turns to Alcoholics Anonymous for aid. There, through the help and guidance of Eddie Albert, a former alcoholic himself, she undergoes a painful cure, regains her health and begins a comeback in show business. She falls in love with Albert and marries him, and several years later she agrees to have her story told on the "This Is Your Life" program in the hope that it may perhaps help others. The picture ends on a highly dramatic note as she prepares to face the TV audience. It was produced by Lawrence Weingarten, and directed by Daniel Mann, from a screenplay by Helen Deutsch and Jay Richard Kennedy, based on the book by Miss Roth, Mike Connolly and Ceroid Frank. Adult fare. "The Benny Goodman Story" with Steve Allen and Donna Reed ( Univ.'Int'l, February; time, 116 min.) Supposedly biographical of the career of Benny Goodman, this Technicolor musical should prove to be a top box-office attraction, for, as the "King of Swing," this famous clarinetist's music has been delighting lovers of popular tunes for more than twenty years. Those who see the picture will not want for the famed and familiar Goodman arrangements, for it offers no less than twenty-nine hit songs, all of which have been newly recorded by Goodman for the film's sound track. Steve Allen, the well known TV actor who portrays Goodman, gives a very credible performance in his first screen effort and makes the soft-spoken character sympathetic and likeable. His fingering of the clarinet is so well synchronized with the music that one believes he is actually playing the instrument. This reviewer does not know if the story is biographically accurate, but what is offered is a warm and appealing tale of Goodman's rise from the "other side of the tracks," and of his pleasing romance with a beautiful socialite, winningly played by Donna Reed. The important thing about this picture, however, is the music, which will keep audiences tapping their feet throughout the proceedings. Among those who were associated with Goodman's career and who appear and perform in the picture are such famed musicians as Ben Pollack, Edward "Kid" Ory, Gene Krupa, Teddy Wilson, Iionel Hampton, Harry James, Ziggy Elman and singer Martha Tilton. The production values are fine and so is the photography: — The story opens with Goodman as a 10-year-old boy, the youngest of three brothers, living with his family in a Chicago tenement district. He takes musical lessons on the clarinet and masters the instrument so well that he obtains a job with a band at the age of sixteen. Within several years, Goodman (now played by Allen) finds himself playing in Ben Pollack's band in California. Through the interest of Herbert Anderson, a young socialite and jazz devotee, the band moves to a New York engagement. There, Goodman meets Anderson once again, along with Donna Reed, Anderson's pretty sister. He reveals to them his hopes of leading his own band with his own type of music, but Donna expresses a preference for the classics. In due time he manages to form a band and appears with moderate success on a Saturday night NBC radio program. When the show loses its sponsor, he takes the band on a cross-country tour that proves a disappointment until he opens in Los Angeles, where a jammed dance-hall gives the band an incredible ovation. This is followed by many other successes, topped by a sensational engagement at the New York Paramount Theatre. Meanwhile Donna, who had become a "swing" enthusiast, falls in love with Goodman, but their romance is hampered by the objections of Bert Gersten, his mother, who felt that their difference in social positions would make for an unsuccessful marriage. Rather than defy his mother, Donna decides to break up the romance. But when Goodman is booked into Carnegie Hall, his mother realizes the error of her objections and personally sees to it that Donna is seated next to her when he makes his debut, at which time she gives her blessing to the marriage. It was produced by Aaron Rosenberg, and directed by Valentine Davies from his own screenplay. Family.