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DVD Mildred Pierce
For a full dose of pure, unfiltered Joan Crawford, look no further than this slab of scorching film noir. Crawford is in her element as the heroine of James M. Cain's pulp-fiction classic, a ditched wife and mother who is forced to become a waitress. On the strength of Crawford's steely willpower (and maybe those intimidating wide-wing shoulder pads), she constructs an empire of eateries, only to be disappointed by her rotten daughter (Ann Blyth) and a ferret-faced new husband (Zachary Scott). Director Michael Curtiz (Casablanca) whips up a storm of atmosphere, and the script is a series of tartly written exchanges. The best lines go to perennial wisecracker Eve Arden, as Crawford's acid-tongued pal--she earned her only Oscar nomination for the role. Commenting on the ungrateful daughter, Arden says, "Alligators have the right idea. They eat their young." Crawford herself took home the best actress Oscar, and the film was a triumphant personal comeback: her longtime studio MGM had released her from her contract before Mildred Pierce came along. Is this great acting? (Pauline Kael called it "heavy breathing.") Whatever Joan Crawford is doing in this movie, it's movie presence at its most formidable. --Robert Horton
What more can be said about this great movie, definitely one of Crawford's best. Great melodrama, and superbly acted by the entire cast. Joan Crawford's turn as the selfless, ambitious single mom is quite convincing, and Ann Blyth's performance as her selfish, spoiled, and unfeeling daughter is truly gut wrenching to watch. As the story unfolds, you wonder why mom continues to jump through flaming hoops to please her witch of a daughter. Eve Arden is at her scene stealing best as Ida, her restaurant manager. She is truly a joy to watch, and I found myself wishing her role would have been larger.
This dvd also includes a documentary about the legendary Crawford, with interesting tidbits about the rift between Joan and Bette Davis, wonderfully narrated by Angelica Huston. The only sad part about the documentary was the inclusion of Christina Crawford's commentary about "Mommie Dearest." Brings the larger-than-life Crawford back down to earth. Truth, probably, but didn't seem to belong here. Definitely a worthwhile movie to own for all who love the classics. Highly recommend!!
great movie, lousy packaging
One of the great film noirs of all time. Joan Crawford is in her element as the long suffering mother of a rotten child who drips with contempt for her mother's job as a waitress. I could go on about this movie, but everyone who has heard of it or seen it can attest to its story of hard working mother trying her best to please her spoiled daughter to the point of divorcing her husband to ensure her ownership of a restuarant. Then her second marriage to a penniless and money grubbing twerp who thinks nothing of seducing her daughter, and of course exhausting all means including body and soul just to win the affections and respect from her ungrateful, ruthless daughter. My only complaint is what's with the shoddy cardboard cases? Warner Brothers thinks this is a good way to honor their star? Or are they too cheap to fork over the 50 cents for a sturdy, plastic case? All my movies from warner's from excalibur to billy jack to a cheap copy of Gone with the Wind is given the same ho-hum treatment. Shame on them! Mildred Pierce deserved better! Even 1.00 movies get better.
Joan's finest Hour!
Warner has done a wonderful job of restoring this magnificent melodrama, and whatever you think of Crawford, she was rarely given such a marvellous opportunity nor surrounded by so many great talents. Chief among these is director Michael Curtiz who proves yet again why he was one of the great directors of the era. His trade mark roving camera style which made Rick's cafe in CASABLANCA seem a real place that one wants to revisit over and over again, here creates an almost voyeurs view of events in 1940s LA, especially at Monty Berrigan's Beach House, a superb stylised set by the unsung genius of Hollywood Art Directors - Anton Grot. Add to all this, Steiner's magnificent score, Ernest Hallers deep focus photography and a witty, laconic script by Ranad MacDougall which offers so many memorable lines, and you have a defining example of Holywood's most glamorous noir style. Ann Blyth was nominated as Best Supporting Actress and should have won for her stomach-churning daughter-from-hell - and why she never got better parts afterwards is a mystery. Jack Carson is surprisingly effective as the oily Wally Fay [Carson was another wasted actor in Hollywood, rarely getting good roles), Eve Arden is sublime [she has so many great lines;e.g. as Jack Carson eyes her legs she says 'Leave SOMEthing on me!] and Zachary Scott is perfectly cast as the rich, slimy Monty Berrigan. Maybe it does water down the novel but it is so richly entertaining, who cares? Crawford seized this role (after arch-rival Bette Davis turned it down) and gives a superlative performance that is quintessential Crawford.
The DVD is nicely done. Warner had the original nitrate camera negative for this film, and the digital frame-by-frame picture restoration is outstanding. The sound track has also been cleaned up, and is a treat for the ear! Buy it NOW before it gets discontinued, and see what style is all about.
Showered with Oscars, this wonderfully bitchy (and witty) comedy written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz concerns an aging theater star (Bette Davis) whose life is being supplanted by a wolf-in-sheep's-clothing ingenue (Anne Baxter) whom she helped. This is a film for a viewer to take in like a box of chocolates, packed with scene-for-scene delights that make the entire story even better than it really is. The film also gives deviously talented actors such as George Sanders and Thelma Ritter a chance to speak dazzling lines; Davis bites into her role and never lets go. A classic from Mankiewicz, a legendary screenwriter and the brilliant director of A Letter to Three Wives, The Barefoot Contessa, and Sleuth. --Tom KeoghMore Info about this DVD Director(s): Joseph L. Mankiewicz DVD Release Date: Released the 14 January 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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This silky smooth film noir pits gruff police detective Dana Andrews, stiff and blunt in his street-bred manners, against a cultured columnist and acidic wit (Clifton Webb at his prissiest) in a battle of wits during a murder investigation. The cop is a romantic hiding under a hard-boiled exterior who falls in love with the beautiful victim through the portrait that hangs in her apartment. Gene Tierney, whose heart-shaped face mixes the exotic with the girl next door, brings the poise and calm of a model to her role as the object of every man's gaze and the target of a killer. Laura, handsomely shot in dreamy black and white, is the first and best of Otto Preminger's cool, controlled murder mysteries. In the gritty world of film noir it remains the most refined and elegant example... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Gene Tierney - Dana Andrews Director(s): Rouben Mamoulian - Otto Preminger DVD Release Date: Released the 15 March 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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George Cukor, Hollywood's legendary "woman's director," had his hands full with the all-female cast of this 1939 film adaptation of the Clare Boothe play. The story finds a group of catty, competitive friends destroying reputations at social gatherings. The dialogue sparkles, Joan Crawford's performance as a husband stealer is still a classic, the film looks wonderful in Cukor's hands, and the Technicolor fashion-show scene is a one-of-a-kind Hollywood experience. --Tom KeoghMore Info about this DVD Actor(s): Norma Shearer - Joan Crawford - Rosalind Russell Director(s): George Cukor DVD Release Date: Released the 02 July 2002 This item is currently not available.
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It's brash! It's grotesque! It's a blistering display of psychological terrorism! One of the blackest comedies ever made, this 1962 thriller rejuvenated the careers of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford and played heavily on their own Hollywood legends, incorporating film clips from their earlier stardom to add depth and realism to a severely twisted tale of sibling rivalry. Davis plays the former child star turned wrinkled hag Jane Hudson, whose sister Blanche (Crawford) eclipsed her star in Hollywood, and has been paying for it ever since. Now confined to a wheelchair, Blanche is held prisoner in the musty mansion she shares with Jane, who terrorizes Blanche with maniacal control (and dead rats for dinner), and embarks on an absurd campaign to revive her career, curly-haired wig and all. A... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Bette Davis - Joan Crawford Director(s): Robert Aldrich DVD Release Date: Released the 25 September 1997 Usually ships in 1 to 2 weeks
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Billy Wilder's noir-comic classic about death and decay in Hollywood remains as pungent as ever in its power to provoke shock, laughter, and gasps of astonishment. Joe Gillis (William Holden), a broke and cynical young screenwriter, is attempting to ditch a pair of repo men late one afternoon when he pulls off L.A.'s storied Sunset Boulevard and into the driveway of a seedy mansion belonging to Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), a forgotten silent movie luminary whose brilliant acting career withered with the coming of talkies. The demented old movie queen lives in the past, assisted by her devoted (but intimidating) butler, Max (played by Erich von Stroheim, the legendary director of Greed and Swanson's own lost epic, Queen Kelly). Norma dreams of making a comeback in a remake... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Billy Wilder DVD Release Date: Released the 26 November 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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