To include something by Joan Crawford in our festival. This film not only won Crawford an Academy Award but is also generally spoken of as some of her best work.
Specs:
Almost 2 hours, black and white, available on dvd
Our family'a average rating on a scale of 1-10:
7.13
More about the film and our reaction to it:
The film was quite good - a murder mystery wrapped up in a melodramatic tale that is a bit like a modern soap opera. Crawford plays the title character, who is a sympathetic, hard-working divorced mother. She gets ahead and manages to succeed fiscally, though she makes a mess of her personal life.
A murder opens the movie, and then the story unfolds through narrative as told by Mildred. I don't want to give any plot points away because the relationships and the mystery all unfold slowly and very well to create the tension in the film. However, parents should know that in addition to all the regular Hollywood stuff of the era (drinking, smoking, cheating, not to mention the underlying murder). . . there are disturbing themes regarding the older child's retrenched worship of money and status, and her clashes with her mother. It is a very interesting storyline and likely to provoke strong reactions. Also, the death of a child is an upsetting moment.
There's no doubt the picture belongs to Crawford, but there are other wonderful performances - notably Jack Carson as a real estate agent/friend who is smarmy but basically a good guy and Eve Arden who plays a supportive friend and business associate of Mildred's who has unfortunately too small a role. Mildred's messed up daughter is played well by Ann Blythe in a "love to hate her" role. Butterfly McQueen is also there providing some needed comic relief.
My older son noticed that the character Mildred is a bit like Scarlett O'Hara in that they were both strong women who worked hard to become successful. I thought that was a great insight. In fact, they are alike in another way - they both destroyed their personal lives in the attempt: Scarlett trying to desperately to win Ashley's love and Mildred trying against reason to give her already spoiled daughter every material thing she wants.
I had never seen a Crawford movie before and was truly impressed with her. She is very lovely. She has a businesslike charm and moves with a fluid grace that is easy to watch. Anyone wishing to know more about her (beneath the caricature), should see this movie. At the time of this film, she was a well-established actress (some might say already a has-been), and her "look" fully developed (the lips, the strong shoulders, the swept up hair, the long-lashed eyes), but she was still natural and, frankly, beautiful beyond what I was expecting. I was not anticipating her to be so fluid and believable.
On the dvd is an excellent special feature about the actress. Years have passed since Mommy Dearest took hold of the world's imagination and maybe there are people out there unfamiliar with Joan's daughter Christina's book detailing her unhappy childhood and shocking life with her mother. The special feature attempts to shed light on "who was Joan Crawford" and it neither ignores the negatives (like her obsessive tendencies, preoccupation with image and career, controlling temperament, and her poor (to abusive) parenting skills) nor paints her only with that brush. It seems to me that Joan, in addition to suffering from alcoholism, most certainly grappled with other personality disorders (maybe OCD). and clearly had a fair amount of personal troubles to struggle against.
But her career, in context, is fascinating. In early Hollywood, she most admirably worked very hard as a chorus girl, took on roles that would get her noticed and paid attention to publicity and image. She got to know, and took a special interest in, the behind-the-scenes team and paid close attention to the technical end of pictures - the lighting, the editing, the directing. These are qualities that tend to play-in to the idea of her being "a control freak", but had she been a man doing the same, chances are they would have been qualities that lead to her being called "a director." I wonder if a woman with Joan's same drive and interest -- in today's Hollywood -- with greater opportunities available to her, might be pour her energy into channels that could keep her grounded and healthy, unlike what happened to Joan?
As far as her image goes, I've always pictured Crawford in her later days with the crazy hair-horns, thick drawn eyebrows, oddly accentuated lips, etc. I picture her as intense, stiff and set, but in the clips from these early days she is anything but. She has tremendous energy and a great looseness in her movements. She was a perfect flapper type - though maybe too intelligent for that archetype. She clearly was always driven and has an odd duality about her that makes her look both relaxed and attentive at the same time. She seemed even then, ready to have it all -- and to fight to keep it.
Iconic shot:
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