Torch Singer (1933)

TORCH SINGER is from 1933 and stars Claudette Colbert just before she broke into superstardom in 1934 with three landmark motion pictures IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, CLEOPATRA, and IMITATION OF LIFE. This film has, until recently, been seldom seen compared to her later films but this is an emotion-packed, beautifully acted film.I've always considered Claudette Colbert one of the two or three greatest actresses from the golden era of Hollywood and even this early in her career, she was flawless. Colbert stars as a chorus girl whose wealthy playboy of a boyfriend David Manners impulsively skips the country on her, unaware he is leaving her with child. Destitute, Colbert regretfully signs away her rights to the child at the Catholic charity hospital which apparently is affiliated with an orphanage. Now "free" of motherhood, Colbert climbs to metropolitan stardom as a torch singer in nightclubs, earning a bit of infamy as a playgirl via the press. At the radio station managed by her quasi-beau Ricardo Cortez, she stumbles upon a young woman set to star in a new children's show as "Aunt Jenny" who has a bout of enormous mike-fright who panics just before the broadcast. As a lark, Claudette steps up to the mike and wings it, beautifully ad-libbing her way through the fifteen minutes. Claudette as Aunt Jenny is a sensation, bringing in stacks of fan mail from children and high ratings. Initially bemused by her celebrity, she suddenly sobers when she realizes the show may be a means of reuniting with her now five-year-old daughter. And as it happens, her old boyfriend David Manners is back in town, determined to find the girlfriend he left behind.Although packaged in a "pre-code" DVD set, this movie isn't about sex, it's simply a blunt look at one unwed mother's life. It's a soap opera/"women's picture", and an extraordinary one. Other than Manners' cold aunt, there really are no villains here, just flawed people who make mistakes, just like real life. The whole cast is wonderful. I've never seen David Manners more appealing, nor Ricardo Cortez, who plays an atypically mild-mannered role. Lyda Roberti is a hoot as a young widow who befriends Claudette early in the film and there is nice work by a character actress as the compassionate Mother Superior who is in charge of admissions. The kids are adorable in this movie! Baby Leroy is Roberti's child and the little girl who plays Claudette's daughter Sally looks amazingly like one would think a baby of Claudette's would. There's also an enchanting scene in which Claudette meets with one young fan whom she hopes is her daughter who turns out to be a African-American child.I've been a Claudette Colbert fan for decades but have never seen this movie until this year. TORCH SINGER immediately goes on to my list of favorite Colbert films. There's not another actress from her era who could have so beautifully played this young woman so well, from her frightened abandonment to her devastating poverty to her sardonic partying to her bitter reunion with her ex-lover to her loving interaction with the children, Claudette is true and honest every moment and thoroughly believable. Many an Oscar has been given to much less impressive performances. TORCH SINGER is one of the best soap opera films ever made and that's largely due to Claudette Colbert's bravura performance.

Watched "Torch Singer" (1933) with Claudette Colbert last night. I've seen this a few times before, but not for some time. Along with Colbert, Ricardo Cortez, David Manners, and Lyda Roberti headline the cast. I watched it from the new release in the set "Universal Pre-Codes", a set interesting for the fact that NONE of them are Universal! Universal simply owns the lot now. "Torch Singer" was made at Paramount. Anyway, this one really shows how a budget that gets used up fast causes a ridiculously quick ending that nearly doesn't make sense! It's a pre-code in the real sense of the word: Colbert becomes pregnant, has a baby, the father is in China and doesn't know about the baby, neither is married, of course, etc. She moves in with another lady (Lyda Roberti) who has just had a baby similarly, and she stays there until Roberti loses her job and is forced to move out. Colbert now must give up the baby and make some kind of living. She becomes a torch singer, a famous one at that, and begins a romance with Ricardo Cortez. This goes on and on until David Manners shows up late in the film. He's the father of Colbert's baby. Now - - miracle of miracles - - he's also adopted HIS own baby in the interim. Of course, there's more to the story, with a radio program that helps Colbert find her baby and Manners and so forth - but, in the end all this happens and the film ends abruptly. What happened to Cortez???? Why was Lyda Roberti only in the film for two scenes? Why was David Manners not introduced until nearly the end? A botched job of editing, if you ask me. A botched job of supporting the finances obviously. This could have been a much, much better show than what finally ends up in the sprockets. It's certainly not bad. Nothing with Claudette Colbert is ever bad. She's wonderful. But - this show should have been much better.

This 1933 Paramount film, is a sophisticated and greatly acted drama, with the Depression as background and a powerful performance by the great comedienne and actress, Claudette Colbert, as a chic "fallen" woman. I'd even dare to say that this one pleased me even more than that other favorite 1934 tearjerker, "Imitation Of Life".Awesome Miss Colbert's costumes, designed by the best Hollywood costume designer of all time, Travis Banton, to "showcase" her "conversion", when she turns into the successful "Torch" Singer-Mimi Benton-of the Title.Great performance by latin-named, but European born, Ricardo Cortez, as Miss Colbert's lover and mentor and a good one too by David Manners, as the rich guy, who "unwantedly" & "unknowingly" disgraced Miss Colbert's life.Nice acting by beautiful Mildred Washington, who plays Miss Colbert's maid, and "punchy" Lyda Roberti, who plays an earthy woman who befriends Colbert in the beginning of the film. Ethel Griffies, gives a good "nasty" performance, as Manners' stiff-upper-lip, aristocratic, embittered aunt.Mention apart deserves Charley Grapewin as the mischievous sponsor of Miss Colbert's Radio Show. He delivers some great lines!I won't add anything more about the plot of the movie, 'cos you oughta watch it for yourselves! A must see for Pre-Code and 1930's film lovers!

An unwed TORCH SINGER uses her children's radio show to search for her illegitimate daughter.Claudette Colbert has a fine time in this Pre-Code melodrama playing a distraught female who covers up for the necessary separation from her child by embracing a life of empty decadence. While highly fanciful--the heroine is both sultry nightclub chanteuse and kindly kiddy radio hostess--the plot is still most enjoyable, with Colbert wringing every bit of pathos from her character's plight.Ricardo Cortez plays the refreshingly decent producer who assists Colbert to become a celebrity. David Manners ably plays her long-lost lover. Peppery Lydia Roberti is most enjoyable as a high-spirited young mother; her character is sorely missed when she disappears early in the film. Old Charley Grapewin adds some spark as the flirtatious breakfast cereal tycoon who sponsors Miss Colbert's radio show.A quartet of character actresses lend able support in small roles: Florence Roberts as a sympathetic nun; Virginia Hammond as Grapewin's suspicious wife; Mildred Washington as Miss Colbert's energetic maid; and aristocratic Ethel Griffies as Manners' inflexible aunt. Baby LeRoy, nemesis of W.C. Fields, appears in only one scene as Miss Roberti's infant son.Movie mavens will recognize unbilled Scots actress Margaret Mann as a nanny.