Monty @ 100: Forgotten gem "Wild River"

by Nathaniel R

Clift arrives in Tennessee, a Federal employee who the locals will not take well to.

When speaking about new movies, we often discuss the vagaries of film distribution and studio support both in terms of audience outreach and awards campaign. These things often effect how movies are received, for better and worse. Less discussed, probably because interest is always more niche when it comes to older films, is how important both continued availability and awards play, are to an enduring reputation, once a movie is "old". Some films are forgotten for a reason, but there are plenty that would be better regarded if they had remained readily available to the public. Such I'd argue is the case with Elia Kazan's Wild River...

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Susan Hayward in "I'll Cry Tomorrow"

SUSAN HAYWARD CENTENNIAL WEEK

"this story was filmed on location... inside a woman's soul!"
-I'll Cry Tomorrow's tagline.

by Eric Blume

I’ll Cry Tomorrow, a biopic of singer Lillian Roth, won Susan Hayward the fourth of her five Oscar nominations, in 1955.  The film starts with a young Lillian and her stage mother, played by Jo Van Fleet. Ten minutes in, though, Hayward gets a true star entrance belting out “Sing You Sinners” in a lengthy number with only four cuts.

It’s a fun introduction, partially because you try to place yourself in 1955, when part of the excitement (one guesses) was hearing Hayward sing for the first time, and it’s quite a boisterous number. Then Hayward was known mostly as a tragedienne (Hollywood star variety), it must have been a blast for audiences to see Hayward let loose (Hollywood star style) in a big production number where she gets to snarl and dance (Hollywood star style, as the musicality doesn’t come easily to her)... 

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