Joan Crawford as an axe murderer? Sign me up. I’m there. That is obviously the type of sentiment that William Castle was trying to exploit when he cast the aging star in Strait-Jacket in 1964. Castle was infamous for marketing his movies with corny gimmicks. Macabre (1958) was released with a $1,000 life insurance policy [...]
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? is a modern classic. While didn’t exactly start the psychological horror genre, it definitely pushed it in a new direction, creating suspense and claustrophobia by setting the story almost entirely in a single location, a technique Roman Polanski would adopt shortly after in Repulsion and Rosemary’s Baby. Another subtext [...]
Autumn Leaves does not enjoy even a fraction of the acclaim thrown at the film that director Robert Aldrich later made by Joan Crawford, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? In fact, this earlier film has never been released on DVD and the VHS is long out of print. It seems it is best known [...]
I have never been found of the Western as a genre, but I really liked Nicolas Ray’s directorial debut, They Live By Night, when I saw it recently, and I always like Joan Crawford in everything not matter how bad it is, so decided to watch this. Crawford often played strong, independent women who had [...]
Although Sudden Fear does not have the reputation of some of the film noir efforts by directors such as John Huston, it is a wonderful example of the genre, with excellent performances by Joan Crawford, Goria Grahame, and a very young Jack Palance, as well as genre-defining lighting and on-location San Francisco camera work by [...]
In 1973, the publicist John Springer organized a series of talks at New York’s Town Hall called “Legendary Ladies,” honoring Bette Davis, Myrna Loy, Rosalind Russell, and others. In Joan Crawford’s appearance, the retired actress said that the only film she regretted making was This Woman Is Dangerous, and she said this with the shlockfest [...]
I saw this film once last year, when I was on a Joan Crawford kick. Now I am trying to see every Otto Preminger film that I can find. It is strange how you can see the same film in a different way when you watch it for different reasons. As a Crawford vehicle, this [...]
In Possessed Joan Crawford gives a strong and unsettling performance as a nurse who is obsessed with a former lover, David (Van Heflin), and can’t let go even after she marries the her employer (Raymond Massey), who had hired her to take care of his mentally unstable wife. When David begins dating her new daughter-in-law, [...]
While Grand Hotel and the rarely seen Letty Lynton are the best examples of the first stage of Joan Crawford’s career (or her talkies anyway), this film is the best example of the second phase of her career, after she was fired from MGM and had to strike out on her own. The sheer glamour [...]
When I watched this, I had no idea that this was a remake of a 1938 Swedish film starring Ingrid Bergman. It was not till I found out this out afterward that the Swedish setting made sense, although it still didn’t work. Although none of the actors are actually Swedish, some of them seem more [...]
I have been watching a lot of Joan Crawford movies, trying to pinpoint the point in her very long filmography when she went from being a glamour girl on the studio contract to a dramatic actress able to tackle juicy dramatic roles. I had thought that A Woman’s Face provided the actress with her first [...]
This is a film I have wanted to see for a long time, and seeing François Ozon’s 8 Femmes recently made me finally seek out a copy of it. Although he reportedly did not care much for this label, George Cukor was known as a “women’s director” due to his numerous collaborations with Katharine Hepburn [...]
After watching Dishonored Lady (1947) the other day, I was reading a little about its background and found out about Letty Lynton, an obscure early Joan Crawford film. The details of the legal battle over the film, which has made it the hardest-to-find Crawford film, are long and complicated, but also fascinating. A brief summary: [...]
Actor: Joan Crawford
Strait-Jacket (1964)
Joan Crawford as an axe murderer? Sign me up. I’m there. That is obviously the type of sentiment that William Castle was trying to exploit when he cast the aging star in Strait-Jacket in 1964. Castle was infamous for marketing his movies with corny gimmicks. Macabre (1958) was released with a $1,000 life insurance policy [...]
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? is a modern classic. While didn’t exactly start the psychological horror genre, it definitely pushed it in a new direction, creating suspense and claustrophobia by setting the story almost entirely in a single location, a technique Roman Polanski would adopt shortly after in Repulsion and Rosemary’s Baby. Another subtext [...]
Autumn Leaves (1956)
Autumn Leaves does not enjoy even a fraction of the acclaim thrown at the film that director Robert Aldrich later made by Joan Crawford, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? In fact, this earlier film has never been released on DVD and the VHS is long out of print. It seems it is best known [...]
Johnny Guitar (1954)
I have never been found of the Western as a genre, but I really liked Nicolas Ray’s directorial debut, They Live By Night, when I saw it recently, and I always like Joan Crawford in everything not matter how bad it is, so decided to watch this. Crawford often played strong, independent women who had [...]
Sudden Fear (1952)
Although Sudden Fear does not have the reputation of some of the film noir efforts by directors such as John Huston, it is a wonderful example of the genre, with excellent performances by Joan Crawford, Goria Grahame, and a very young Jack Palance, as well as genre-defining lighting and on-location San Francisco camera work by [...]
This Woman Is Dangerous (1952)
In 1973, the publicist John Springer organized a series of talks at New York’s Town Hall called “Legendary Ladies,” honoring Bette Davis, Myrna Loy, Rosalind Russell, and others. In Joan Crawford’s appearance, the retired actress said that the only film she regretted making was This Woman Is Dangerous, and she said this with the shlockfest [...]
Daisy Kenyon (1947)
I saw this film once last year, when I was on a Joan Crawford kick. Now I am trying to see every Otto Preminger film that I can find. It is strange how you can see the same film in a different way when you watch it for different reasons. As a Crawford vehicle, this [...]
Possessed (1947)
In Possessed Joan Crawford gives a strong and unsettling performance as a nurse who is obsessed with a former lover, David (Van Heflin), and can’t let go even after she marries the her employer (Raymond Massey), who had hired her to take care of his mentally unstable wife. When David begins dating her new daughter-in-law, [...]
Mildred Pierce (1945)
While Grand Hotel and the rarely seen Letty Lynton are the best examples of the first stage of Joan Crawford’s career (or her talkies anyway), this film is the best example of the second phase of her career, after she was fired from MGM and had to strike out on her own. The sheer glamour [...]
A Woman’s Face (1941)
When I watched this, I had no idea that this was a remake of a 1938 Swedish film starring Ingrid Bergman. It was not till I found out this out afterward that the Swedish setting made sense, although it still didn’t work. Although none of the actors are actually Swedish, some of them seem more [...]
Strange Cargo (1940)
I have been watching a lot of Joan Crawford movies, trying to pinpoint the point in her very long filmography when she went from being a glamour girl on the studio contract to a dramatic actress able to tackle juicy dramatic roles. I had thought that A Woman’s Face provided the actress with her first [...]
The Women (1939)
This is a film I have wanted to see for a long time, and seeing François Ozon’s 8 Femmes recently made me finally seek out a copy of it. Although he reportedly did not care much for this label, George Cukor was known as a “women’s director” due to his numerous collaborations with Katharine Hepburn [...]
Letty Lynton (1932)
After watching Dishonored Lady (1947) the other day, I was reading a little about its background and found out about Letty Lynton, an obscure early Joan Crawford film. The details of the legal battle over the film, which has made it the hardest-to-find Crawford film, are long and complicated, but also fascinating. A brief summary: [...]