On listening to Ms. Crawford's recording sessions included with the extras on the TORCH SONG dvd, I wondered all the more why they didn't use her own voice in the movie. She always had a pleasant singing voice and it would have made the musical numbers much more plausible. India Adams had a terrific voice but it didn't match well with Joan's speaking voice. I thought Joan sounded really nice on the outtakes.
shareI've also heard those recordings and decided that she was fine, but she kept interrupting to start all over.
Her perfectionism shows throughout this picture with incredibly unpleasant results. She must've been at her meticulous worst making for a scary performance and rigid, lifeless and very "mean" film.
The best word to describe this is "turgid". inflated, overblown, or pompous; bombastic as well as swollen; distended; tumid.
The sad thing is, this was Joan at what she thought was her best! She had a huge amount of control over this production and used it to churn out a hard, crusty slice of cheese. Joan must've been severely disappointed with the film's reception and box office performance, but she remained defensive of the film to the end of her life. I read somewhere that she was pleased with Carol Burnett's spoof called "Mildred Fierce", but thought Carol's spoof of "Torchy Song" mean-spirited.
I think seeing the spoof made her finally see the original for what it was: the most rigid, unrealistic, hard and absolutely frightening performance of a major film star EVER! I can't think of any other performance that comes close.
I don't think I could ever sit through this one again without morphine.
Because you wouldn't eat your beets, Aunt Nellie is working the streets!
Crawford was likely dubbed because her character, Jenny Stewart, was a great Broadway star. Crawford's voice was decent but she didn't have that belting Broadway voice that the character needed to be believable. I also imagine that because she was so meticulous and had to have everything perfect, recording would have taken forever.
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