Once-celebrated soap opera regarding hustler and maybe-murderess Barbara Graham, who got the gas chamber. Susan Hayward won the Best Actress Oscar, but for what? Spitting out lines like "It's nothing PERSONAL!", "I'm not your MAID!" or "Take it, it's all I've GOT!" (always with the inflection on the last word). It's a piece of non-acting, really, in the same dated vein as Joan Crawford in "Mildred Pierce"--which also got awards! The score is heavy on the bongos; it's jazzy all right, too jazzy. It provides all the nervy emotions that the screenplay couldn't put into words, but who wants the background score to do all the work? The direction is textbook, all the way up until the final moments, which aren't exactly subtle but do provide some much-needed tension. Graham gets a send-off, and for once the movie doesn't deteriorate into camp. **1/2 from ****
Review of I Want to Live!
