I was surprised when she actually died. My naive millennial ass thought a 50s film would find a cop-out and not serve to be as semi-documentary on the whole account - even (even?..) a noir.

A biopic about Barbara Graham, a woman put on death row for her alleged involvement of old widow during a robbery gone wrong, I Want to Live! stars Susan Hayward in the lead role, and she gives an excellent performance, well supported by director Robert Wise at what might be the height of his powers. He's not content to simply present the facts of the case, but adds a lot of interesting visuals, editing, ambiguity, and most of all, I think, real empathy for the character. You can almost forget the film is based on well-researched true events. Wise does a lot of juggling, starting as a jazzy Noir and ending up, in the third act, with a death row procedural that, three years after the events depicted, must have been fairly shocking to audiences. Now, the facts of the case forgotten, it still works as a story about the failings of the justice system, the role of the media in creating public opinion (both ways), and well, the death penalty given how systemically prejudicial the whole thing can be. As I've often said, I'm not much for biopics or "true events", but Wise and Hayward (and time) make me forget it is one.

Powerful, powerful film. One of the best acting performances ever by Susan Hayward