Mother/Daughter Murder Mystery

A great film noir, the story of Mildred Pierce has everything from romance, intrigue, betrayal, and a family with scores to settle. Based on a novel of the same name by James M. Cain, the drama unfolds over a course of four years and is almost a deadly soap opera in movie form.

The film starts showing Mildred Pierce (Joan Crawford ) talking to police about the murder of her husband. It then flashbacks to her life as an unhappy housewife, raising her two daughters Veda (Ann Blyth ) and Kay (Jo Ann Marlowe ) with her unemployed husband Bert (Bruce Bennett ). When Mildred discovers Bert is having an affair with Maggie Biederhof (Lee Patrick ), she divorces him and keeps custody of the two girls. Her eldest daughter, Veda, complains about how they now do not have the financial security her father once provided and Mildred works as a waitress. Veda discovers this and after telling her mother waitressing is beneath her, Mildred opens up a small restaurant. As her restaurant empire grows, real estate agent Wally Fay (Jack Carson ) gives her advice and makes unsuccessful attempts for her affects. Wally introduces her to Monte Baragon (Zachary Scott ) who sells her property help the restaurant chain grow.

Kay, Mildred's sweet daughter, dies of pneumonia, leaving her crushed. Meanwhile, Veda pretends to be having the baby of wealthy Ted Forrester to extort money out of him. Mildred tears up the check and after a fight with Veda, the girl runs off to be a singer in a nightclub. Veda will only return to her mother if Mildred can give her life in the absolute lap of luxury so Mildred marries Monte in exchange for handing over a third of her businesses to him. Monte sells the third of Mildred's business, leaving her bankrupt and it becomes apparent to Mildred that her daughter has seduced her husband. When Mildred confronts Monte and Veda at his beach house, a shot is fired, but who is the killer?

Butterfly McQueen and Eve Arden both appear in the film, adding to the stellar cast. Shirley Temple was one of the actresses considered for the part of Veda Pierce Forrester and the part of Mildred Pierce was offered to Bette Davis, Rosalind Russell and Barbara Stanwyck before given to Joan Crawford. She won the Academy Award for her performance in this film. You can read more about the film itself using this reference guide from filmreference.com, here at filmsite.org, or this article from a website devoted to Joan Crawford.

There are several different reviews of this film, but as with Witness for the Prosecution , I wouldn't read them until after watching the film because they may contain spoilers. There is a great article on the film written by Slate magazine. Other reviews can be read here, thanks to classicmoviefavorites, and here from moviezeal.com. A few other opinions on the film come from The Film Noir Net and the Movie Setal Blogspot. All in all, Mildred Pierce is a great noir film with tons of supsense, thrill, and a whodunnit that will keep you guessing.

Grace and Beauty

I would like to congratulate the venerable actress Greer Garson a happy 104 birthday since it was on this day in 1904 she was born. Greer won the 1943 Oscar for her lead role in I would like to congratulate the venerable actress Greer Garson a happy 103 birthday since it was on this day in 1904 she was born. Greer won the 1943 Oscar for her lead role in Mrs. Miniver and still holds the Guinness Book World Record for the longest Oscar acceptance speech. In 1942, she tied Bette Davis's record for being nominated for having five Best Actress nominees in five years. Greer also gained acclaim for her roles in Madame Curie, Mrs. Parkington, and The Valley of Decision. Younger generations might remember Greer better as the narrator of the claymation film The Little Drummer Boy. 

She was considered for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, but lost out the famed Vivien Leigh. Tutored by none other than Laurence Olivier during her theatre days in London, Greer was set up from the beginning to be a great actress. Greer also enjoyed many successful acting partnerships with Clark Gable and Walter Pidgeon.

My personal favorite role of Greer's is as Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice. Intellectual and witty, Greer was a perfect fit for the role of Elizabeth Bennett. Greer's portrayal of the role is my second favorite, only to Jennifer Ehle in the masterful BBC mini-series. Greer captures the essence of Jane Austen's Elizabeth Bennett wonderful, from her simplest expressions to her delivery of the lines taken from Jane Austen's masterpiece and written into script form by Aldous Huxley. Laurence Olivier stars opposite Greer as Mr. Darcy, and the film features an all-star cast, including Mary Boland, Edna May Oliver, Ann Rutherford, and Edmund Gwenn. Ironically, it was Vivien Leigh who was passed over for Greer's role of Elizabeth Bennett.

Greer Garson is truly a Hollywood actress who those of today should aspire to emulate. She was a shining example of grace, beauty, and elegance in her time and devoted to the craft of acting. 

She Did It The Hard Way

I hate to do two Bette Davis posts in one week, especially one right after another, but a stamp is being released in Boston to honor Davis. CNN did the story on the stamp, which features Davis dressed as Margo Channing from All About Eve. Channing is one of Davis’s most memorable roles. The article outlines Davis’s film and even discusses the Kim Carne’s song “Bette Davis Eyes” that the actress inspired. Davis’s trademark were her large, expressive eyes and the fact that she could say more with a mere look from them than most actors do the entire time they practice their craft.

Davis contributed a lot in her time, helping sell war bonds during World War II, organizing the “Hollywood Canteen” that entertained troops, raised her three children as a single mother, and was first female president of the Academy. Her roles remain timeless and her spirit still lives on through her work. She has a reputation for being cantankerous but her talent and grace has earned her a place among the greatest of Hollywood's stars. Bette was a woman who truly did it the hard way.

All About Acting Over Forty

If you have not seen All About Eve, I implore you, drop everything you’re doing and go rent it now! It is one of my personal favorites and perhaps one of Bette Davis’s best performances, though you’re free to debate me on that. It remains the Most Nominated Film by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It won six Oscars for Best Supporting Actor, Best Costume Design, Best Director, Best Picture, Best Sound, and Best Screenplay. There isn’t much that can you can say about the greatness of this film that has not already been said. So why talk about it, you might ask?


Since Women’s Lib in the Seventies, there has been much talk about female empowerment, breaking the glass ceiling, and how women sabotage other women. Also, everyone knows about how a Hollywood actress’s roles are cut in half once she turns 40 since most films want young, beautiful women as their leading ladies. After 40, women seem resigned to the roles of either mom, grandma, or cougar. All About Eve is a movie that deals with all of these themes and ideas that still plague actresses and career women in modern days, with the added twist that All About Eve was made in 1950. Being very young, when I think of the Fifties, I think of the Leave It To Beaver and Donna Reed Show reruns I’ve seen. Or something reminiscent of Al’s Diner in Happy Days. The Fifties is not an era one typically associates with ideas of women taking charge of their lives, careers, and especially their men. The film seems completely ahead of its time to me. It amazes me how the lessons learned from still apply today and how the struggles in the movie are still prevalent in today’s Hollywood.

The entire film is a satire of struggling women in theatre. Bette Davis’s brusque, been-around-the-block-before character of Margo Channing is an aging starlet in a world where roles go to young women. Celeste Holm is Karen Richards, Margo’s friend and wife of a playwright who wrote a play especially for Margo in younger days. Anne Baxter plays up-and-comer Eve Harrington who maniacally weasels her way into Margo’s good graces and then steals away her career. Even Marilyn Monroe makes a cameo in a role that soon comes to echo her own rise to stardom, an ingénue who has to use her body to get things done and has the caricature of a dumb blonde. The characters still apply today in modern Hollywood and many actresses face the same struggles as Margo Channing although perhaps not with as much wit.

If you want to further explore what it means to be an actress over forty, I recommend checking out Invisible Women, which tries to find out what is responsible for the phenomena of aging actress disappearing off the screen.