Torch Song Ideology

Yes, that is Miss Joan Crawford in black face (or "tribal make-up", as Debbie Reynolds called it in That's Entertainment III). And I don't need to tell the hard core Crawfordites out there that this shot is from the camptastic musical number "Two-Faced Woman" from Torch Song (you can see a bit of it near the end of the film's trailer). And don't ask me to theorize who thought that was a good idea in 1953 ... especially in Technicolor!

Torch Song was actually Joan's first Technicolor picture, and it will finally make its long-awaited DVD debut, along with four more of her classics, in the just announced "Joan Crawford Collection, Volume 2" from Warner Home Video. Each of the five films comes packed with bonus features like shorts and trailers, but Torch Song gets such extra-special goodies as a brand new featurette titled (get this) Tough Baby: Joan Crawford and Torch Song, an audio recording of Joan singing the songs (she was dubbed in the actual movie) and something that makes my head spin with the possibilities: a vintage PSA called At Home with Joan Crawford.

The other films included are Sadie McKee (co-starring her then-future husband Franchot Tone), Strange Cargo (Joan's eighth and final pairing with Clark Gable), A Woman's Face (playing a "horribly disfigured woman whose inner pain motivates her to life a life of evil" under the direction of George Cukor) and Flamingo Road (directed by Joan's Mildred Pierce helmer Michael Curtiz).

The box set will be released February 12. Click here to pre-orderfrom Amazon.com.

Links via Imdb.com, YouTube.com and DVDTimes.co.uk.