Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman (1947)
Overview
A nightclub singer uses alcohol in excess to sooth her painful life.
Cast
Susan Hayward
Angie Evans
Lee Bowman
Ken Conway
Marsha Hunt
Martha Gray
Eddie Albert
Steve Nelson
Carl Esmond
Dr. Lorenz
Carleton Young
Fred Elliott
Charles D. Brown
Mike Dawson
Robert Shayne
Mr. Gordon
- Similar Movies
- Reviews
CinemaSerf
A sort of role-reversal of "A Star is Born" as Susan Hayward portrays a successful nightclub singer who marries a struggling lyricist - Lee Bowman. When his career takes off, she becomes disheartened and turns to the bottle - putting herself and her young daughter at risk. Hayward is rather good in this - she is convincing as both a singer (thanks, largely, to the tones of Peg La Centra) and a drunk; and does engender a feeling of sympathy. Regrettably, the rest of the cast are unremarkable and the ending reduces her performance to little more than that of a pathetic failure. It's worth a watch, but only because you can see the star quality in Hayward's performance rather than anything peculiar to this story.
