Saturday Night with Joan Crawford

[moira finnie]

Get out the shoulder pads and pencil in the big eyebrows tonight for a big dose of Joan Crawford relishing a walk on the noir side, as well as other strolls down the side streets of her career. Here's the lineup:

8pm EDT
Mildred Pierce (1945)
Critics seem a bit divided about Todd Haynes' 5 hr. mini-series on HBO premiering tomorrow. I'd like to see at least one of James M. Cain's books brought to the screen intact, but I do love the 2 hr. movie. Hope those with HBO who see this will weigh in too!

10pm EDT
Daisy Kenyon (1947)
Okay, it's not strictly a noir, but everybody in this one seems dogged by fate (especially when it is of their own making)

12am EDT
This Woman is Dangerous (1952)
This was new to me and I loved it in my guilty fashion, even though it is the beginning of the "dark years" for Joan's hair and makeup. Joan Crawford is the class and brains in a gang of thieves, but she is going blind and finds herself seeing things differently as the movie progresses. Okay, it's not top drawer Joanie, but is more A Woman's Face on Flamingo Road...again. This is Crawford's swan song at WB but there are some great scenes in this, such as the one below, when Crawford relives her time in stir for a moment. David Brian as Joan's looney gangster boyfriend is worse than usual in this movie, which may have been the reason the actor literally got religion. At times I thought that she was George to Brian's Lenny since she was the only one "who understood him." Gorgeous Philip Carey plays Brian's nasty bro (he is constantly filmed in half-light for some reason). He is married to Mari Aldon (if you see this actress get any close-ups, let me know. I don't think I could pick her out in a lineup, since she never seemed to get any camera time. Hmmm) Dennis Morgan (be still my foolish heart) has the thankless task of removing the scales from Joan's eyes (literally) and I suspect that he looks exhausted in this movie because he realizes that he is still playing a role very like the one he played with Bogie back in the The Return of Doctor X (1939) days. Dennis quit show biz some time after this. The final scene in an operating room is a corker!
[youtube][/youtube]

2am EDT
Goodbye My Fancy (1951):
Joan the Congresswoman goes back to college. Fay Kanin (Born Yesterday, Teacher's Pet) wrote this comedy-drama about McCarthyism, loyalty oaths and academia's vicious circles, but my memory of this one involves some snappy patter between the always welcome Eve Arden and Joan and romantic yearnings that really don't pan out, despite the presence of Frank Lovejoy and Robert Young as suitors. A very young Janice Rule is also in this movie. I read an interview with Fay Kanin once in which she claimed that Joan didn't get the gist of the script at all. Who knows, it might be worth a look, especially with Eve Arden along.

4am EDT
The Damned Don't Cry (1950)
A fave, even if it isn't perfect. We discussed it here before.

[Lzcutter]

I think Mildred Pierce may be my favorite Joan Crawford film. I enjoyed what Alec and Robert O had to say at the beginning of the film.

I, too, am curious about the HBO mini-series.

It's been ages since I've seen Daisy Kenyon. I'm looking forward to that one as well.

[moira finnie]

I just remembered reading an interview with James M. Cain in which he said that the Michael Curtiz Mildred Pierce was better than his book!

I missed the intro to this so didn't get to see the Baldwin-Osborne remarks. Did anyone say anything nice about Jack Carson or Zachary Scott?

Wish that Ann Blyth could be interviewed at the TCM Festival about this movie. Imagine seeing this on the big screen!

[Lzcutter]

M,
They talked mainly about Joan. I'm hoping they talk about Jack Carson in the outro.

I've always wondered, how did Zach Scott have a career?

[moira finnie]

I've always wondered, how did Zach Scott have a career?

By playing a caricature when needed. But I think he could be a pretty good actor, based on his oily creep in Mildred Pierce, Monte Beragon (which proved to be a trap for him), Renoir's The Southerner (1945) and Mask of Dimitrios (1944). I'd like to see the Bunuel film he made The Young One (1961) near the end of his career, but it's pretty rare.

He had a really good time for awhile at Warner's. Then he didn't. His family had money, funded theater in his home town of Austin and people who saw him on stage thought he was a better actor than they realized. Ronald Davis wrote a good bio of him called Zachary Scott: Hollywood's Sophisticated Cad a couple of years ago.

Wish TCM would make Jack Carson and Eve Arden the Stars of the Month someday, but it will never happen.

[Lzcutter]

Wish TCM would make Jack Carson and Eve Arden the Stars of the Month someday, but it will never happen.

Oh Moira, never say never.

After Joel McCrea is SOTM, I would love to help campaign for Jack Carson and Evie.

[klondike]

Hey, I'm loving it - and I'm staying tuned in 'til dawn's early light!
Can't get enough of Mother Pepsi, especially when she's steaming along with that my-lipstick's-fresh-don't-make-me-kill-ya smile, and her big, deep eyes are saying "I need love because I'm a survivor", even while she's mentally measuring the distance to the door.
What a broad!
Just one kvetch: couldn't they find room somewhere in the line-up for Trog ?!

[Lzcutter]

M,

Thanks for the heads up on Zach Scott. I think Mildred Pierce is the only film I can place him in. Guess I need to expand my horizons.

I may go for the films after Daisy Kenyon.

So, is Veda just one of the Bad Seed children or does she really have a motivation for her bad girl behavior.

But, you sure want to do a Cagney on her with a grapefruit by the end of the film. I just wish I understood what her motivation for all the bad behavior was.

[moira finnie]

Sometimes I think that Veda was never a real person, but was more of an expression of the Jungian animus in Mildred's personality, which drove her to pursue status and money, adopting aggressive behavior. When Kay died, Mildred lost her anima, that gentler, deeply feminine side of herself that longed to make a nest, and to express this longing with music lessons for one daughter and ballet for Kay. Kay was Mildred's soul, and without her, she lost her way, becoming hollow, investing herself in superficial things almost exclusively.

Other times I think that Veda really wasn't responsible for the way she was, as she points out to her mother at a key moment. Idleness, vanity, and pretension are all she has been encouraged to pursue. Did anyone ever suggest that Veda help with the dishes in the kitchen? That she learn to make pies? Or that she might learn some business savvy from her mother and Eve Arden? Or even Wally?

Overall, I still maintain the only guy Mildred really should have gotten involved with was Wally Fay, who in his own coarse way, was devoted to her. I suspect that the fast shuffle he gives Mildred when her business is overextended thanks to Monte was really his cry for attention. Despite his good intentions, what real good was Bruce Bennett to Mildred?

And what the heck did Mrs. Biederhof get out of all this? A bridge partner. Yeah, right.

[Lzcutter]

M,

I really like your analysis of Veda. From what I have read of the new version of Mildred Pierce, there's more motivation for Veda than in Curtiz's version. Guess we will see.

Veda in the kitchen doing the dishes, baking pies and doing the wash. I think Veda would have curled up and died rather than do, in her opinion, menial labor.

I do agree that Kay was the key to keeping Mildred tethered and when Kay died, Mildred came unbound.

[klondike]

I'm tempted to make a snide remark about the dummy hand, but even I have too much dignity for that . . .
Anyway, you're right: Joan should've just thanked BB for his co-parenting support, then waved him away to that proverbial bed he'd made for himself (he was overdue to get shot by bandits in the Mexican foothills anyway), and given Jolly Jack Carson a ring-a-ding for a late breakfast with bloody mary's somewhere, especially as she nearly got him railroaded for murder while trying to rescue her the night before . .
Real estate might never have been the same!

[Lzcutter]

Real estate might never have been the same!

Klon,

I don't think Southern California real estate ever recovered from Wally and Monte.

[moira finnie]

Robert Osborne and Alec Baldwin praised Jack Carson in the outro!! They pointed out that he never really stole a scene, (I'm not so sure about that), but had a kind of seamless humility and professional selflessness that probably kept him from the stardom he might have had.

"He's so smart it's a disease!"

[Lzcutter]

Robert Osborne and Alec Baldwin praised Jack Carson in the outro!!

And they mentioned Thelma Ritter as well! It's one of the reasons I really like Robert O and Alec on *The Essentials*. It's great to listen them to talk film, much more than some of the other co-hosts.

[mrsl]

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I didn't see Mildred Pierce tonight but I've seen it so many times, and I have it on tape that it wasn't necessary to see it again now. I'm anxiously waiiting for the mini series to start tomorrow (I already have it set to copy because I can't miss my Army Wives), but I think Kate Winslet is going to be fantastic in the part. She may not be as raw as Joan was, but I'm sure she will portray the bitchiness needed for the role. I've heard nothing but good things about it, and if Guy Pearce is playing the same part as Zach, he should be pretty amazing himself.

As for Veda, it's not hard to raise a spoiled brat. I saw it done many times years ago when all of my friends and I were young with little tykes, just give them all they want, deny yourself so they can have luxuries, and continue as they grow up through their teen years and beyond, always working 2 or 3 jobs to be able to please the little darlings. Kids who are raised that way rarely see how lucky they are, or what they are doing to their families. Kay [b]WAS[/b] tough and would probably have been able to handle any of the hard knocks that Veda and Mildred sent her way without complaining or realizing she was being shorted. It's just as well she was written off early or she would have taken some of Veda's attention away, which I guess is the reason for the illness. It also made it easier for Mildred to pile more and more onto Veda with only one mouth to feed. But as tough as little Kay was, Veda was tougher, and learned her little secrets early on. Even if Mildred had never made money, you can bet Veda would have gone far. Ann Blyth was the perfect choice for Veda with her sweet angel face and voice, masking a heart as hard as stone. I wonder if the part of Jack Carson will be as prominent in the mini as in the movie. He is needed to start her off with the idea of the restaurant, and how to get the money for it.

I'll be parked on my couch tomorrow night - I hope I'm not disappointed.
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