Tired Old Queen at the Movies: 'Torch Song' (1953)

This week, Steve Hayes reviews Joan Crawford's 1953 musical, "Torch Song."

The Tired Old Queen Says: MGM pulled out all the stops in 1953 to welcome Joan Crawford back to her home studio. Since musicals were by that time their bread and butter, who better to put into a lavish, Technicolor musical than the woman who'd first won their hearts as the "Charleston Queen" back in the late '20s? The movie was called "Torch Song," and they hired veteran musical director Charles Walters to take Joan through the ropes and gave her the full MGM glamor treatment. But a lot of water had passed under the bridge since her Charleston days, let alone since she'd last stepped foot on a sound stage at MGM. Although fresh from a huge success in the independent thriller "Sudden Fear," Joan was now in her early 50s and a mass of insecurities. The character she played in "Torch Song," a famous but difficult Broadway musical star, who fights and alienates everyone around her out of fear of being rejected and abandoned, wasn't too far from the actress herself and she was feeling particularly vulnerable. The film was a failure at the box office, but it's Joan at her bitchy best. It's brash, vulgar and totally compelling. The scene where Joan does a number in black-face has to be seen to be believed. It's pure Crawford, pure Hollywood, pure hokum, and simply Fabulous!