Rating: NR
Genre:
Drama
Release Date: 11/06/2007
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD1
Run Time: 119 Minutes
Flags: Questionable for Children
Distributor/Studio: Warner Home Video
Susan Hayward pulls out all the stops, and then some, in this cinemadaptation of singer
Lillian Roth's autobiography
I'll Cry Tomorrow. In as harshly realistic a manner as possible in the still censor-dominated Hollywood of 1955, the film recounts
Roth's rise to fame, her precipitous fall and her tearful comeback. The fact that
Roth loves not wisely but too well is only part of the problem (only two of her eight husbands are portrayed in the film); contributing factors to her self-destruction also included her witchlike "stage mother" (
Jo Van Fleet) and the pressures of fame and fortune. The principal reason for
Roth's fall from the height of fame to the depths of squalor and despair is booze -- at least until she begins to pull herself together with the help of Alcoholics-Anonymous representative Burt McGuire (
Eddie Albert). The story concludes with a testimonial staged in
Roth's honor on the TV series
This is Your Life (the original of which still exists in kinescope form). Having been personally coached by the real
Lillian Roth,
Susan Hayward does an excellent job of copying the singer's unique style. Though
Hayward did not win an Oscar for her performance, she did cop the "Best Actress" prize at the
Cannes Film Festival.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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