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I have no doubt that this was both Susan Hayward's and Jo Van Fleet's finest performances. The two actresses show a profound understanding of the limits of a mother-daughter relationship, as well as a deep, gut-wrenching well of female emotion that, well, is hardly seen on screen. When Lillian runs into the hospital to find an empty bed where David was, and realizing that he is dead, collapses in tears: not overplayed, not hysterical, but as real a scene only a seasoned, highly professional actress could play.

The story is interesting, if not with a little over-indulgence, but it is, after all, a biography. I would pay any price to see Ms. Hayward play this role, with her tragically expressive eyes, her ethereal yet next-door qualities. She deserved an Oscar for this role.

I'll Cry Tomorrow (1955)

Well, never mind the famous Alcoholics Anonymous ending, Susan Hayward is just fabulous through and through. This is a drama based on real life singer Lillian Roth, and Hayward (who does her own singing) pulls off both the successful early years and the decline into drinking. It's lively and vivid and tragic.

Richard Conte is second billing, and a big name at this point in his career, but he's got a small, if important, role, perfectly suited to him. I just happened to see Conte and Hayward yesterday in a movie together, "House of Strangers" (from six years earlier). The relationship of their characters is more compact and complicated here, but in both cases Conte plays a cool type, smart and in control. But Conte here has two sides, is wonderfully manipulative, and ends up having his own demons that come from drinking too much.

Hayward often plays strong characters, and emotional ones, and yet her approach is grounded with an inner calm. I'm not sure why she wasn't a legendary star the way Bette Davis and Ingrid Bergman and Joan Crawford were, because she acts her heart out and has good, rich roles. It's no surprise she got an Oscar nomination for this performance, just as she did for an earlier amazing performance as an alcoholic, the terrific 1949 "My Foolish Heart" across from Dana Andrews, who is a more compelling actor overall than Conte. Hayward did finally win that big Best Actress award for her gutsy performance in "I Want to Live" (where director Robert Wise made everything look good as well as come alive).

Jo Van Vleet, who play's Lillian Roth's mother, is scary perfect as a controlling mother with seemingly good intentions. There's no shortage of movies about mothers who mess up their daughters by trying too hard ("Mommy Dearest" is the most famous, but it gets even more sordid in "Where Love Has Gone" with Hayward playing the mother).

There is a terrible colorized version of "I'll Cry Tomorrow" out there which is best to avoid--it's a simple color palette applied across the board, and everyone comes off uniform and pasty. It matters less what color her hair is when it's simply colorless. That colorized version is also cropped (pan and scan) to fit the 4:3 format of television, and the original is shot with some helpful moderately wide widescreen expansiveness, so the edges of faces don't get chopped. Arthur Arling's cinematography is very good in the way that all movies were at this point, but it isn't remarkable on its own terms. The soundtrack, by the way, is interesting to many because it has Hayward singing rather rich versions of some standards of Roth's.

I'll Cry Tomorrow was the title of the autobiography of Lillian Roth, former singing star of the Twenties and Early Thirties whose career like her contemporary Helen Morgan took a nose dive into the toilet. Unlike Morgan, Roth survived to tell about it and became one of the first name clients of Alcholics Anonymous.

That does seem like an oxymoron because as an organization AA does survive on the anonymity of its members. But Lillian Roth went public with her story as a warning to those becoming to dependent on alcohol.

Susan Hayward gave one of her best screen performances ever in essaying the part of Lillian Roth. In fact she does her own singing here and even made a record of four of the songs she sang in this film, When the Red Red Robin, Happiness Is Just a Thing Called Joe, Sing You Sinners, and Waltz Hugette. She had previously played singers in With a Song In My Heart and Smash-Up, but was dubbed by others.

Hayward was an amazing talent, even in some of her worst films she comes across like no other actress. Even Bette Davis who could chew scenery in a bad film to make it entertaining could never hold a candle to my fellow Brooklynite, Susan Hayward. That she could sing too, is no surprise to me.

Probably Lillian Roth's best known screen roles are in Cecil B. DeMille's Madam Satan, in the Marx Brothers comedy, Animal Crackers and in the first screen version of the Vagabond King. The first two are out, I wish the third was also, a print might no longer exist.

Jo Van Fleet played Hayward's mother, the Jewish stage mother from the lower depths. Van Fleet gave one of her most acclaimed performances here. Her Jewish New York accent is the only clue to Lillian's ethnic background. It's a sad portrayal of a woman who both lived vicariously through her daughter and is pushing her because she wants her not to have as tough a life as she had.

Richard Conte, Ray Danton, Don Taylor, and Eddie Albert all play men in in Roth's life and though the protagonist is a woman, each of the guys makes an indelible image. Ray Danton plays her boyhood fiancé who dies young and helps start Lillian's downward spiral. In that Roth's story was very similar to that other star of the Twenties Marilyn Miller who lost a husband early and never recovered from it. That's all depicted in the Marilyn Miller biographical film, Look for the Silver Lining from 20th Century Fox a few years before this.

Hayward got a deserved Oscar nomination for this part, but lost to Anna Magnani. That was a year for substance abuse because Frank Sinatra got a nomination for playing a junkie in The Man With the Golden Arm. Both Sue and Frank went through gut wrenching withdrawal scenes in both films.

I'll Cry Tomorrow is always listed among the five best films of Susan Hayward's. It's some people's personal favorite and while mine happens to be I Want to Live, this one is right up there.

This film was the 4th nominated performance for Susan Hayward portraying the true life story of Lillian Ross. Ms. Hayward a 20th star was on loan out to MGM to play this role a role coveted by many including Jane Wyman. This is the first of 3 films Susan Hayward starred in directed by Daniel Mann whom Susan Hayward proclaimed her favorite director.

Jo Van Fleet, Ray Danton, Richard Conte et al fill out a superb cast but it is Ms. Hayward's commanding performance that grabs the viewer and doesn't let go. Hayward was a favorite to win the Oscar but lost to another Daniel Mann directed star Anna Magnani in Paramount's The Rose Tattoo.(Mann had quite a record directing strong actresses Shirley Booth in Paramount's Come Back Little Sheba and Elizabeth Taylor in MGM's Butterfield 8 won Oscars directed by Daniel Mann.Mann directed Paul Muni in the superb Columbia film The Last Angry Man, and of course directed Hayward in I'll Cry Tomorrow. 5 Nominated Performances 3 of which won Oscars! Quite a track record

Ms. Hayward deemed this film her favorite of the many fine films she starred in, and Mr. Mann her favorite Director.

One of the best pictures ever made showcasing the talent of the brilliant Susan Hayward.

Miss Hayward was never better as Lillian Roth. Her drunk scenes are unbelievably realistic. Just ask any alcoholic.

Susan Hayward was equally matched by the terrific supporting performance of Jo Van Fleet as her mother. Van Fleet would win the coveted Oscar that same year (1955) for "East of Eden." I'll never understand why. She was far better as Katie Roth.

Hayward, who did her own singing, did very well. It is even said that Lillian Roth tried to emulate Hayward, when trying to make a comeback.

The film co-stars Ray Danton as Hayward's ill-fated fiancé, whose death from an apparent rapidly growing brain tumor, sets Roth on a downward spiral. Don Taylor, who would later become a director, is effective as Wallie, the guy who Roth marries when she is dead drunk. Richard Conte steals the show as the brutal Tony, who takes Roth for a ride, before she dumps him in California.

Eddie Albert, in one of his greatest roles, is terrific as Burt McGuire from AA. A recovering alcoholic, still hesitant about life, he acted beautifully in some memorable scenes.

Hayward's singing and dancing, especially in the number, Sing You Sinners from the Vagabond King, is marvelously staged.

Susan Hayward began her long trek in playing troubled women in the 1947 hit Smash-Up: The Story of A Woman. Both she and Eddie Albert got great experience for their parts, 8 years later, in this fabulous movie.