Review of Torch Song (1953) by William D — 05 Mar 2012

After earning her third (and last) Oscar nomination for "Sudden Fear" (1952), Joan Crawford tried her hand at something radical: her first Technicolor film and her first musical in about 20 years. The results are decidedly mixed and at times downright weird.

In middle age, Crawford's face grew more stark, with eyebrows that seemed to have a life of their own. In black and white photography with moody lighting, this can come across statuesque and haunting. In Technicolor with overly bright lighting (one of the numerous disasters in "Torch Song" is the lighting), it looks garish and even frightening. It's this fierce Crawford look that launched a million drag performances and will launch a million more. It's with "Torch Song" that Crawford becomes campy. And she doesn't appear to know it.

Her character, a lonely, middle-aged, tough-as-nails Broadway star, seems to be a parody of Crawford, but the only one who is not in on the joke is Crawford herself.

Through the whole first two-thirds of the film, Crawford's portrayal of this man-eater made of granite is so over the top that it produces no emotional effect. It just seems cold and phony. And uninteresting. Even a little depressing.

But in the final scenes something remarkable happens. The character starts to admit her weaknesses and her love for her new pianist, who -- get this -- is blind. Remarkably, this bizarre movie finds its footing at the tail end, and these two characters reveal to each other how much they've been hiding from the world. He turns out to be as hidden behind a shell as she is, afraid to be rejected by women because he's blind.

But this touching finale can't quite save this weird movie from itself. I keep remembering the unbelievable number with Crawford performing in blackface. Yes, blackface.