All By Myself (1982)

Synopsis
This documentary on Eartha Kitt features several of her songs (that of the title itself, "Solitude," "I Want to Be Evil" ) in performance, and brief chats with the singer as she recounts some of her worst and best periods, beginning with the fact that her mother quickly abandoned her, leading to a forlorn childhood growing up in South Carolina, and then many decades later, achieving success first in Europe and then in the U.S. Her collision-course political clashes with notables such as Lady Bird Johnson brought some blacklisting for awhile, but essentially she was not held down for long. When she mixes with celebrities and politicos at the Inaugural Ball for Ronald Reagan, or similar VIP events, Kitt exhibits a kind of false glitter that is at odds with some of the underlying tragedies of her life -- perhaps that is just another pitfall of a show-business career. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide