A heart wrenching tale, escalated to dizzying heights through the performance of Susan Hayward who leaves you under no illusion of the injustices her character Barbara Graham has to endure, and indeed did endure, with this being based on reality. Leaves you wondering how many others suffered a similar fate and whether anyone should suffer in this way at all, guilty or not.

"I Want To Live" is a powerful albeit fictional account of the Barbara Graham case. Graham was accused of murdering a Mrs. Monahan along with two male colleagues during a robbery. In the story, they had her take the rap for the murder, figuring a woman would never be given the death penalty. They figured wrong. Not only did she get it, but we see her get it in agonizing detail at the end of the film.

This was tough stuff for 1958. Susan Hayward does a great job, although I have to admit that my favorite performance of hers remains "I'll Cry Tomorrow." Nevertheless, she sinks her teeth into this role. There are different opinions among those posting reviews here about her acting. Granted, Hayward was of her time, and this is not the kind of performance one would see today. She was an overt actress where, for instance, Olivia de Havilland was more subtle. Nevertheless, she's excellent. She's playing Barbara Graham, a prostitute, drinker, and good time girl, and the performance fits that woman's tough character. Could Hayward overdo the histrionics? Sure, but she generally didn't with a good director, and she had one here in Robert Wise.

Barbara Graham in real life was on her fourth marriage and apparently involved sexually with her two compatriots - she was in the nude when she was arrested with them at their hotel. She also was a heroin addict. Though the film allows you to believe that she was present during the killing but didn't actually do it, the real Barbra Graham supposedly did confess to the warden of the prison.

No matter how you feel about the death penalty, or Barbara Graham's guilt or innocence, this film will have a powerful effect on you. You won't forget it.

Good cinema has rhythm. Most classic cinema moves to the flow of orchestral film music, but for a certain kind of picture in the mid-50s to mid-60s, the images would skip to the modish sounds of bossa nova and free jazz. This isn't the most melodic or listenable music ever created, and often it was used simply to be hip and different. However, I Want to Live! has a jazz score that runs right through the picture, regulating its pace and complementing its relentlessly gritty tone.

The picture opens in a jazz club, in a short sequence which has nothing to do with the plot, but sets the scene. From this point on, a musical feel pervades the picture. The director is Robert Wise, an exceptional but seldom recognised filmmaker whose pictures had always been sensitive to rhythm, and would later win Oscars for directing musicals. Wise was an expert when it came to matching music, image and performance. In an early scene with a party aboard a boat, we hear some staccato Latin American music. The frame seems excessively crowded and filled with movement, while the lighting gives numerous shades of grey. The whole thing appears natural, but also looks precisely choreographed to the rhythm of the scene. At other times we get a slow, moody melody, and here the tones are stark and the movements lethargic. Even in scenes without music, there is a complex and eerie sound design of closing doors, photographers' flashes, telephone rings and suchlike, not to mention the sharp vocal delivery. This rhythmic approach, which is always present but never seems overdone, adds character to each moment, gives abrupt changes between scenes, and makes the whole picture fast-moving. Some commentators on Wise's career try to draw a line separating films like this from West Side Story, Sound of Music and so forth, but Wise's style and intention is consistent.

But the central pillar in I Want to Live! is of course the captivating performance of Susan Hayward. Hayward's acting is the size of a house, and she absolutely dominates the screen. However it is the littlest things that make this performance work – a tiny flash of her eyes or shrug of her shoulders. These small things are what bring out our sympathy for the character, while it is the powerhouse acting that gives the picture its passion. So overpowering is Hayward, that every other performance becomes somewhat forgettable. Except that is for Simon Oakland, who is rather impressive in his film debut, with a role which is complex because there is often a discrepancy between what his character says and what he is really feeling. Lou Krugman is also very memorable in his small role as Jack Santo, simply because he comes across as genuinely menacing and sadistic. No-one else really stands out, but at least no-one is conspicuously bad, and besides it helps to have a supporting cast that is a little bland because you would not want anyone to upstage Hayward.

We will never know for sure, but it is now widely agreed that the real Barbara Graham was in fact guilty, and while this movie never openly commits itself either way, it makes every allowance for the likelihood of her being innocent. However, the point of I Want to Live! was probably not to exonerate Barbara Graham, it was instead to demonstrate the horror and inhumanity of the death penalty. What matters is that we are convinced of the humanity of the character, and the desolateness of the situation. The ins and outs of the case are never really clearly defined, whereas the tone and force of the picture most definitely is.