| | Susan Hayward has a signature role in I'll Cry Tomorrow, a pedal-to-the-metal look at the troubled times of singer Lillian Roth. Hayward snagged her fourth Oscar nomination for the part, which takes Roth from humble beginnings through great stardom and finally into a hell of alcoholism and recovery. The movie delivers on a couple of tendencies of its era (1956): a fresh frankness about addiction (The Man with the Golden Arm had come out the year before), plus some handy psychoanalyzing of the heroine--in this case, Roth's problems are laid at the feet of her pushy stage mother (Jo Van Fleet). With all the sturm und drang, there's not a lot of room for songs, but we do get to hear vintage tunes such as "Sing You Sinners" and "When the Red, Red, Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along." Hayward does her own singing, and she can best be described as a belter rather than a singer ("belter" describes her acting style, too). Also in the cast, portraying the men at various stages of Roth's life, are Ray Danton, Eddie Albert, and Richard Conte (trailing the aura of violent noir behind him); Daniel Mann directed, just after his duties on The Rose Tattoo. It's a slice of Fifties melodrama, the kind that hasn't aged particularly well, but if you appreciate Hayward's customary pull-it-from-the-guts style, you'll be engrossed. --Robert Horton More...
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