Shirley Booth is so convincing in this movie that it makes me think she was wasted in cinema because she was never given an opportunity to display her magnificent talent. She is completely heartbreaking in the movie and deservedly won the Oscar, over such heavyweights as Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. Burt Lancaster is great also but its Shirley's show all the way and she does not disappoint.

Shirley Booth was 54 when she won the Academy Award as Best Actress for her performance as Lola in the screen version of William Inge's "Come Back, Little Sheba". It was also her screen debut in a role that had previously won her a Tony on the stage and, quite frankly, she was magnificent. It launched her on a short-lived movie career and a slightly longer career on television. It's a fine film, well directed by Daniel Mann and adapted by Ketti Frings and it has three other good performances from Burt Lancaster as the alcoholic Doc, Terry Moore as the young lodger who, unwittingly, is the cause of Doc's hitting the bottle again and Richard Jaeckel as the athletic stud Moore is dallying with. Admittedly Lancaster, who at 39 was 15 years younger than Booth, isn't really right for his role, (he was too young for starters), but he handles it very effectively. Nevertheless, this is Booth's show. If she had never done anything else on screen she would still have earned her place in the pantheon of great performances.

Shirley Booth had already won a Tony for William Inge's focus on a married couple's problems when she made her film debut with the movie version (for which she won an Academy Award). "Come Back, Little Sheba" is a hard-hitting look at the couple's sexual frustration (apparently a common theme in Inge's works) and inability to be what was supposed to be the "proper" husband and wife. Although it has the feel of a play, there are some intense scenes. Along with Booth, Burt Lancaster turns in an outstanding performance, as expected.

All in all, a fine piece of work. It's a shame that Shirley Booth only starred in a few movies after this.