I'll Cry Tomorrow (1955)

Director:

Daniel Mann

Writers:

Lillian Roth (book) and
Mike Connolly (book) ...

Release Date:

25 December 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | Music

Tagline:

Filmed on location; inside a woman's soul.

Plot:

Deprived of a normal childhood by her ambitious mother, Katie (Jo Van Fleet), Lillian Roth (Susan Hayward)...

Plot Keywords:

Dread | Based On Autobiography | Entertainer | Fame | Grief

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 1 win & 5 nominations

Cast

Susan Hayward	...	Lillian Roth
Richard Conte	...	Tony Bardeman
Eddie Albert	...	Burt McGuire
Jo Van Fleet	...	Katie Roth
Don Taylor	...	Wallie
Ray Danton	...	David Tredman
Margo	...	Selma
Virginia Gregg	...	Ellen
Don 'Red' Barry	...	Jerry (as Don Barry)
David Kasday	...	David as a child
Carole Ann Campbell	...	Lillian as a child
Peter Leeds	...	Richard Elstead
Tol Avery	...	Joe - drunk party guest
Anthony Jochim	...	Paul (butler)
Jack Daley	...	Cab driver

Runtime:

117 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Canada:PA (Ontario) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Lillian Roth was disappointed that MGM did not ask her to sing for Susan Hayward on the soundtrack. Concurrently with the movie's release, Epic Records issued an album of Lillian reprising tunes associated with her eminent career in vaudeville, on Broadway and in Hollywood. The LP used the same title -- "I'll Cry Tomorrow" -- as Miss Roth's 1954 autobiography (co-written with Mike Connolly and Gerold Frank, plus the 1955 biopic. Lillian did not sing the film's promotional theme song (music by Alex North, lyrics by Johnny Mercer), a mournful ballad sung by Susan Hayward, backed by Johnny Green and His Quartette, initially issued on a 45 by MGM Records.

Goofs:

Continuity: Lillian sits at a desk and begins to write a suicide note on a pad of paper. When she rises from the desk to walk to the window the pad of paper, as well as the pen, are nowhere in sight.

Quotes:

[alcoholic Lillian is desperate for a drink - mother drops the glass bottle on the floor, shattering it]
Lillian Roth: OH! Look what ya did! And ya DID IT ON PURPOSE! You're still trying to make me do what you want, to be what you want! I can't be anything except what I am! Look, look what did you drop that bottle for? What are you trying to do, drive me crazy? Go on, GET THE BOTTLE! GET IT NOW!
Katie Roth: All right! All right! All right, it's my fault, huh? I made you become an actress, you didn't want to, all right. I've been a bad mother, you had to support me, all right! All right! ALL RIGHT, EVERYTHING! Just this, and for once in your life you're gonna hear it...
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in An Early Frost (1985) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Sing You Sinners

A movie overflowed with drama

"I'll Cry Tomorrow" aptly depicts the main problem of movie and singing stars: They work unnaturally hard, dismissing relationships and family, and deal with their problems "tomorrow". Lillian Roth dealt with these problems with alcohol.

The problem with "I'll Cry Tomorrow," however, is its indulgence in its storyline. The bulk of the second half of the movie is just showing Roth drunk and making a fool of herself. The filmmakers are trying to generate so much sympathy for Roth that none is generated at all because of the film; only when the audience member sits down and thinks, "Well, wasn't she a victim of show business (and life in general)."

The parts are most often overacted, though Susan Hayward's performed well overall. The plot, however, is not focused on any segment of Roth's life nor any aspect -- just her alcoholism. I don't know, perhaps "Lillian Roth" is synonymous with alcoholism, but even at that, the movie shouldn't just show her getting drunk 24/7. The angle that the filmmakers are going for, as far as I can tell, is how life as a star has affected her personal life. At the very beginning, we are warned by the confrontation between David and Lillian's mother that a normal life with a family and a husband can and will never coincide with the life of a star.

But once she turns into an alcoholic, the story ceases to consider anything previous. The movie just doesn't know when to stop. It feels that it has to fit in so much in so little time. So it doesn't bother to truly connect the points of her life. It just keeps going and going and going and going... "Hey, if we show x number of scenes with Hayward drunk, then maybe she'll win an Oscar!" It falls into a trap that all biopics fall into -- not knowing what to keep in and what to leave out.