‘Twenties torch singer Helen Morgan finds voice, stardom and (like so many others of her ilk) misery with a mobster in this slick, heavily fictionalized bio-pic. On its surface, smartly put together, director Michael Curtiz almost back to form after losing a couple of steps in early WideScreen efforts, and consistently stunning work from lighting cameraman Ted McCord, but Ann Blyth is all sharp angles & squared jaw, an unlikely Helen Morgan going thru standard dramatic struggles with men & alcohol. Paul Newman the mob guy she can’t shake; Richard Carlson the classy nice guy who’s married; Prohibition-Era booze the easy crutch. Even on its own terms, nothing convinces. Period details are way off and the musical side of things, with Gogi Grant handling the Morgan vocals, sounding like cast-offs from Judy Garland’s A STAR IS BORN. (The real Morgan had a distinctively warm, tangy voice, unexpectedly high-flying, with unique vowels & overtones to die for.*) Top with a particularly bathetic ending and Paul Newman consistently mispronouncing Florenz Ziegfeld as Florenz Ziegfield and you’ve got one big missed opportunity.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: *From 1936 and the only SHOW BOAT that matters, just nine years after Morgan opened in it. The film has been restored for DVD, but here’s a taste of four legends sharing the screen in CAN’T HELP LOVIN’ DAT MAN - Morgan; Irene Dunne, who toured the show back in ‘29; Paul Robeson, who played it in England; and Hattie McDaniel, who didn’t, but should have. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPR3X9AjhaU
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