Susan Hayward is sensational in this no holes barred biography of tragic performer Lillian Roth. Miss Hayward also did her own singing which was much more in the style of Miss Roth than Doris Day was to Ruth Etting in "Love Me or Leave Me". Who won the Academy Award this year - could anyone have turned in a better performance than Susan Hayward????
As drednm says there was no care given to authenticity of the period (50s costumes, dates and events mixed up) but it didn't really matter - Susan Hayward was electrifying. Lillian Roth's book was very hard hitting (more awful than the film if that's possible) and the ending gave more detail about her time in AA. She toured Australia and was one of the first stars that actually stood up and said "I am an alcoholic and I want to help others".
"Broadway's Youngest Star" had a grueling childhood, pushed into show business by a relentless stage mother, Katie (Jo Van Fleet, matching Hayward's performance - she is marvellous!!!). She didn't enjoy a normal childhood. When she is an up and coming film star (Hayward makes a sensation entrance singing "Sing You Sinners") she meets childhood friend David (Ray Danton) once again. He is already sick but keeps the seriousness of it from Lillian and together they plan their future. Katie is livid that he has come between Lillian and the success that Katie craves. She tries all in her power to keep them apart, intercepting notes, forgetting to give messages. David dies while she is on a singing tour that he has organized and Lillian then spirals into a deep depression.
When the nurse, Ellen, gives her a drink to help her sleep, Lillian is on her way down, marrying Wallie (Don Taylor) while on a drunken bender - she doesn't even realize she is married!!! She then marries sadist Tony Bardeman (Richard Conte) who not only encourages her to drink but also beats her up as well. As Lillian Roth said in her book "when people questioned how she could marry him, she replied that she had hit rock bottom and didn't think she deserved any better".
In between times there are performances where she is too drunk to stand up and needs a chair to steady her on stage. She finally makes the break from Bardeman, hits skid row (Timothy Carey plays an uncredited part as a drunken derelict) then goes to live with her mother.
When a suicide attempt fails she goes to AA and after some harrowing scenes, drying out, going "cold turkey", she begins to live again, with the help of Burt McGuire (Eddie Albert) and Toni (Margo). The last scene is of her walking down the aisle to appear on "This is Your Life".
Highly Recommended.
As drednm says there was no care given to authenticity of the period (50s costumes, dates and events mixed up) but it didn't really matter - Susan Hayward was electrifying. Lillian Roth's book was very hard hitting (more awful than the film if that's possible) and the ending gave more detail about her time in AA. She toured Australia and was one of the first stars that actually stood up and said "I am an alcoholic and I want to help others".
"Broadway's Youngest Star" had a grueling childhood, pushed into show business by a relentless stage mother, Katie (Jo Van Fleet, matching Hayward's performance - she is marvellous!!!). She didn't enjoy a normal childhood. When she is an up and coming film star (Hayward makes a sensation entrance singing "Sing You Sinners") she meets childhood friend David (Ray Danton) once again. He is already sick but keeps the seriousness of it from Lillian and together they plan their future. Katie is livid that he has come between Lillian and the success that Katie craves. She tries all in her power to keep them apart, intercepting notes, forgetting to give messages. David dies while she is on a singing tour that he has organized and Lillian then spirals into a deep depression.
When the nurse, Ellen, gives her a drink to help her sleep, Lillian is on her way down, marrying Wallie (Don Taylor) while on a drunken bender - she doesn't even realize she is married!!! She then marries sadist Tony Bardeman (Richard Conte) who not only encourages her to drink but also beats her up as well. As Lillian Roth said in her book "when people questioned how she could marry him, she replied that she had hit rock bottom and didn't think she deserved any better".
In between times there are performances where she is too drunk to stand up and needs a chair to steady her on stage. She finally makes the break from Bardeman, hits skid row (Timothy Carey plays an uncredited part as a drunken derelict) then goes to live with her mother.
When a suicide attempt fails she goes to AA and after some harrowing scenes, drying out, going "cold turkey", she begins to live again, with the help of Burt McGuire (Eddie Albert) and Toni (Margo). The last scene is of her walking down the aisle to appear on "This is Your Life".
Highly Recommended.