Review of Mildred Pierce

"Mildred Pierce" is a strange mix of women's picture and film noir. In typical noir fashion, the film begins with a murder and flashes back to the events that led up to it. It also has the standard issue noir look; veteran director Michael Curtiz knew his way around a movie set, and gives his film a moody, shadowy look perfectly at home among the "Maltese Falcon's" and "Double Indemnity's" of the decade. But the story is pure melodrama, full of motherly suffering and gauzy swoonings. If you crossed Douglas Sirk with Raymond Chandler, you might get something like this.

Joan Crawford is wonderful in the title role, and the movie clearly exists to showcase the talents of its star. Ann Blyth is nearly demonic as Mildred's spoiled-brat daughter, Veda. And Eve Arden plays the only kind of character she was ever allowed to play, that of the acerbic, wise-cracking best friend. The men in the film are nearly an afterthought, interesting seeing as this movie came out during WWII. This is yet another of those films from the same time period that offered a hypothetical warning about what would happen to the homefront if women carried on in the roles traditionally reserved for men. Mildred enters the world of business but gets slapped down the moment she becomes successful. Feminist film theorists love this movie; in fact, I saw it in a feminist film class.

Grade: A-