The Helen Morgan Story

The Helen Morgan Story
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Michael Curtiz
Produced by	Martin Rackin
Written by	Nelson Gidding Stephen Longstreet Dean Riesner Oscar Saul
Starring	Ann Blyth Paul Newman Richard Carlson
Cinematography	Ted D. McCord
Edited by	Frank Bracht
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	5 October 1957
Running time	118 min.
Country	United States
Language	English

The Helen Morgan Story, released in the UK as Both Ends of the Candle, is a 1957 American biographical film directed by Michael Curtiz starring Ann Blyth and Paul Newman.

The screenplay by Oscar Saul, Dean Riesner, Stephen Longstreet, and Nelson Gidding is based on the life and career of torch singer/actress Helen Morgan, with fictional touches liberally added for dramatic purposes. Months before being released into a feature-length film, The Helen Morgan Story was produced as a live television drama on Playhouse 90, with Polly Bergen as Morgan. This turned out to be Blyth's final film role.

Helen Morgan begins her career as a Chicago carnival dancer. She catches the eye of fast-talking, double-dealing Larry Maddux, whose promotion catapults her to fame as a Broadway performer in Show Boat and a headliner in her own nightclub.

Morgan anguishes over her romantic relationship with Maddux and one with Russell Wade, a wealthy, married attorney. When she realizes the caddish Maddux merely has been using her to support the upscale lifestyle he has come to enjoy, she turns to drink. She loses the bulk of her money to the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Wall Street Crash of 1929, hits rock bottom, and is hospitalized in the alcoholic ward in Bellevue.