Mildred Pierce (A- or 3.5/4 stars)
'Mildred Pierce' (directed by Michael Curtiz) - also known as the star vehicle that won Joan Crawford her Academy Award - is a film noir/soap opera hybrid of the highest order. The film opens with stunner of a scene as playboy-turned-abusive husband Monte Beragon (Zachary Scott) is shot to death in a lonely beach house. The titular Mildred Pierce (Crawford), his wife, flees the scene of the murder in the rain & and briefly considers leaping off of a bridge to her death. Did she commit murder? Well, there are several suspects: Mildred, her 1st husband (Bruce Bennett), her friend/business associate, Ida (Eve Arden), & Monte's real estate partner, Wally (Jack Carson); who Mildred tries to frame for the killing. Cue the flashbacks.
We go back in time to Mildred's 1st unhappy marriage & her obsession with providing her daughters Veda & Kay (Ann Blyth, Jo Ann Marlowe) with the best of everything. Following her divorce and, trying to prove she can be independent, Mildred ekes out a living as a lowly waitress, a job which thoroughly embarrasses the spoiled rotten Veda. Eventually, Mildred builds a restaurant empire, yet no matter how hard she tries, she can't impress Veda. The restaurant rests on Monte's property and, well, a bizarre love triangle forms btwn. him, Mildred ... and Veda. Veda's deviousness grows, and still, a forgiving Mildred keeps enabling her daughter's putrid behavior; always trying to win her love. Love entanglements, betrayal & murder ensue.
Thanks to a famous source novel, this movie is brilliant in its complex plotting, memorable characters, crackling dialogue & a superbly dark mood. Joan Crawford is simply great in this, playing a very flawed, yet very interesting character. Box office draws Bette Davis {Crawford's rival} & Barbara Stanwyck {Crawford's friend} turned down this role, so it is ironic that "box office poison" Joan Crawford took on this role and made the film a huge box office success; turning her reputation on its head. It's also nice to see Joan Crawford - given her reputation - be viewed as a sort of victim in this movie, and not the 'heavy'; that would be her heartless, amoral daughter played by Ann Blyth ... a monster in every sense of the word. Blyth excels, here.
'Mildred Pierce' also has a fabulous noir ambiance about it, with Ernest Haller's evocative black-&-white cinematography, sleek set designs, Max Steiner's romantic, yet nervy music score, & some fabulous costumes that Crawford, in particular, gets to wear. You know, I just love that Crawford finally won an Oscar; and that it was for such a meaty role that gave her the chance to run a gamut of emotions. I wouldn't call 'Mildred Pierce' an all-time "great", but the heedless, impulsive nature of the story - murder, lust, treachery, swings of fortune, melodrama - makes for a fairly rip-roaring entertainment.
We go back in time to Mildred's 1st unhappy marriage & her obsession with providing her daughters Veda & Kay (Ann Blyth, Jo Ann Marlowe) with the best of everything. Following her divorce and, trying to prove she can be independent, Mildred ekes out a living as a lowly waitress, a job which thoroughly embarrasses the spoiled rotten Veda. Eventually, Mildred builds a restaurant empire, yet no matter how hard she tries, she can't impress Veda. The restaurant rests on Monte's property and, well, a bizarre love triangle forms btwn. him, Mildred ... and Veda. Veda's deviousness grows, and still, a forgiving Mildred keeps enabling her daughter's putrid behavior; always trying to win her love. Love entanglements, betrayal & murder ensue.
Thanks to a famous source novel, this movie is brilliant in its complex plotting, memorable characters, crackling dialogue & a superbly dark mood. Joan Crawford is simply great in this, playing a very flawed, yet very interesting character. Box office draws Bette Davis {Crawford's rival} & Barbara Stanwyck {Crawford's friend} turned down this role, so it is ironic that "box office poison" Joan Crawford took on this role and made the film a huge box office success; turning her reputation on its head. It's also nice to see Joan Crawford - given her reputation - be viewed as a sort of victim in this movie, and not the 'heavy'; that would be her heartless, amoral daughter played by Ann Blyth ... a monster in every sense of the word. Blyth excels, here.
'Mildred Pierce' also has a fabulous noir ambiance about it, with Ernest Haller's evocative black-&-white cinematography, sleek set designs, Max Steiner's romantic, yet nervy music score, & some fabulous costumes that Crawford, in particular, gets to wear. You know, I just love that Crawford finally won an Oscar; and that it was for such a meaty role that gave her the chance to run a gamut of emotions. I wouldn't call 'Mildred Pierce' an all-time "great", but the heedless, impulsive nature of the story - murder, lust, treachery, swings of fortune, melodrama - makes for a fairly rip-roaring entertainment.