Lizzie is a 1957 American film noir drama film directed by Hugo Haas. The film is based on the 1954 novel The Bird's Nest by Shirley Jackson and stars Eleanor Parker, Richard Boone and Joan Blondell. The popular songs "It's Not for Me to Say" and "Warm and Tender" were written for this film, and performed by Johnny Mathis, who played a piano player/singer in the film. (Both songs were subsequently included in Mathis' fifth album, Johnny's Greatest Hits). The film was produced by MGM Studios.

Lizzie
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Directed by	Hugo Haas
Screenplay by	Mel Dinelli
Based on	The Bird's Nest 1954 novel by Shirley Jackson
Produced by	Jerry Bresler
Starring	Eleanor Parker Richard Boone Joan Blondell
Cinematography	Paul Ivano
Edited by	Leon Barsha
Music by	Leith Stevens
Color process	Black and white
Production company	Bryna Productions
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date	April 4, 1957 (1957-04-04)
Running time	81 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$361,000[1]
Box office	$555,000[1]

Plot

Elizabeth (Eleanor Parker) has recurring headaches and is plagued with insomnia. She is receiving letters from a woman called Lizzie, but Elizabeth can't remember knowing anyone named Lizzie. When Elizabeth is under hypnosis, her psychiatrist, Dr. Wright (Richard Boone), discovers Elizabeth has three personalities: The shy Elizabeth, the Mr. Hyde-like Lizzie, and the kind, well-adjusted Beth, the woman she always should have been. It is up to Dr. Wright to help Elizabeth to become Beth completely.

Cast

• Eleanor Parker as Elizabeth Richmondt
• Richard Boone as Dr. Neal Wright
• Joan Blondell as Aunt Morgan
• Hugo Haas as Walter Brenner
• Ric Roman as Johnny Valenzo
• Dorothy Arnold as Elizabeth's mother
• Marion Ross as Ruth Seaton
• Johnny Mathis as Piano Singer

Production

Johnny Mathis made his film debut in Lizzie.. The second song he sings in the film, “It's Not for Me to Say," became one of his biggest hits.[2]

TCM.com reports that Lizzie's producers sued Fox to postpone release of the film The Three Faces of Eve, starring Joanne Woodward, because of the similarity of their plots. Fox did delay until early in 1957, after the publication of the biography on which The Three Faces of Eve was based.[2]

Reception

According to MGM records the film earned $280,000 in the US and Canada and $275,000 elsewhere, resulting in a loss of $154,000.[1]

Shirley Jackson, the author of the novel on which Lizzie was based, was reportedly unimpressed with the screenplay, writing "I have read the screen play and it sounds a little like Ma and Pa Kettle, or Abbott and Costello meet a multiple personality."[3] but when she saw the movie itself, she "thought it was extremely good, and enormously improved over the first script I saw."[4][5]

See also

• List of American films of 1957

References

External links

• Lizzie at IMDb
• Lizzie at AllMovie
• Lizzie at the TCM Movie Database
• Lizzie at the American Film Institute Catalog