best Joan Crawford films

[children&art]

Posted: 3/19/06 at 12:12pm

i just saw a mini-interview with Ann Blythe on TCM about working with Joan Crawford on "Mildred Pierce". i admit i only know Crawford via Faye Dunaway in "Mommie Dearest".

looking at her credits on imdb.com i am surprised at the length and variety of her career.

i am interested in a couple of titles that sound very interesting, was wondering if any Crawford addicts could point me in the right direction on getting into her movies.

"Possessed" (1947), "Strait-Jacket" (1964), "Beserk" (196, and "Strange Cargo" (1940) all sound nifty. Thoughts?

[Jimmcf]

Posted: 3/19/06 at 1:42pm

Well, 'Mildred Pierce' is my personal favorite. 'Whatever Happened To Baby Jane' and 'The Women' are also great. But for sheer camp pleasure, I also love 'Queen Bee' 'Straight Jacket' 'Flamingo Road' 'The Damned Don't Cry' 'Johnny Guitar' 'Female On The Beach' and 'Torch Song', in which she does a Broadway number in blackface.

[Kringas]

Posted: 3/19/06 at 1:49pm

Definitely The Women.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/19/06 at 1:53pm

Speaking of Crawford, when I was trying to save a local theater from demolition by getting landmark status (we almost did until politics reared its ugly head)someone else in my group met her. He got a letter ( whhich he hopefully still has - I have a copy) on her letterhead basically saying the theater should be saved etc etc. She than signed it. Her J was bigger than John Hancock's J & you could ( unlike many celebrities) actually read her name

Love her in Johnny Guitar & Mommie

Updated On: 3/19/06 at 01:53 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/19/06 at 1:57pm

You loved her in "Mommie?"

[Jane2]

Posted: 3/19/06 at 1:59pm

My favorite is Mildred PIerce. "Vida, give me that check!!!"

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/19/06 at 2:02pm

Have not seen her in much. There are many classic films I have not seen

When her movies start popping up on TCM I will give them a look. I liked her as the blind woman in one segment of the Night Gallery pilot . It was not a movie but she wal still good in it

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/19/06 at 2:07pm

She wasn't in Mommie Dearest. You realize that, right?

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/19/06 at 2:10pm

You are correct. Why I thought she was in it I do not know. I was probably thinking the movie was about her . Oy vey

Other than that, I was right. Thanks for correcting me on a major faux pas

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/19/06 at 2:10pm

Mildred Pierce is her best film, and rightfully won her an Oscar. She was great at those "shop girl who makes good" roles, going all the way back to her early MGM days. She played many of them, and Mildred was the ultimate role for her. The whole picture is excellent, too, not just her.

Aside from that, Crystal in "The Women" is a juicy performance. I also like her a lot in Humoresque with John Garfield. And Joan and Lionel Barrymore are the real stand-outs in the all-star Best Picture "Grand Hotel."

EDIT: By the way, that "Night Gallery" episode was the pilot for the series, and Steven Spielberg made his directorial debut directing this segment of it! Can you imagine... your first gig as a director is with Joan Crawford?!?

Updated On: 3/19/06 at 02:10 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/19/06 at 2:11pm

And cogratulations to you for spelling faux pas correctly, though I will always love your "fuax puas."

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/19/06 at 2:16pm

Thanxs - he he

Updated On: 3/19/06 at 02:16 PM

[orion59]

Posted: 3/19/06 at 7:05pm

Straight Jacket is great for camp value. Joan, at about 60 years old, playing herself at 20 in the flashback scenes. Hilarious.

As far as truly great perfomances, those would be Mildred Pierce, Whatever Happened To Baby Jane and Rain

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 3/19/06 at 7:09pm

Why isn't Johnny Guitar on DVD yet?

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 3/19/06 at 7:11pm

Trog

Hands down

[luvliza89]

Posted: 3/19/06 at 7:20pm

Mildred Pierce.

I first watched that with my Mom. She told me not to get any ideas because she'd slap me up to next week if I pulled any of that "Vida ****", as she called it. Ah, parents.

[Glebb]

Posted: 3/19/06 at 7:43pm

Mildred Pierce
The Women
What Ever Happened To Baby Jane
Queen Bee

[broadway86]

Posted: 3/19/06 at 7:46pm

Mildred Pierce
The Women
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

[EvelynNesbit1906]

Posted: 3/25/06 at 1:19am

Trog seems to be an even greater "oh hell no" film for her than Strait-Jacket. I have only seen SJ but that clip on the Mildred Pierce DVD's JC documentary from Trog has my friends aghast, and this is AFTER screening Mommie Dearest.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 3/25/06 at 7:14am

There is no such thing as a "good movie". They are all evil and will consign you to the fires of hell.

I HATE MOVIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 3/25/06 at 7:59am

Humoresque

[RobbO]

Posted: 3/25/06 at 8:56am

trog

[lildogs]

Posted: 7/1/06 at 5:20pm

I have to be a little blasphemous and say that Mildred is not one of her best--she did make a great comeback with it and it got a lot of noms and her competition was pretty weak. I think she's actually very good in Strait Jacket--I got it so I could yuk it up, but she's so honest and has some truly poignant moments.

Strange Cargo is a great one--very well done and surprisingly profound.

The Women of course; she's only bested by Paulette in that one--but I probably only think that because I see myself as Paulette in that one, fox and all. Plus, I woulda kicked Sylvia's ass too.

She STEALS Grand Hotel from much better actors and looks like a million bucks.

And she deserved a nom for Baby Jane as well--but no way was Joan going into the supporting category!

And all I know about Torch Song is Carol Burnett's parody: "I'm a woman, just a woman, a woman who was born to love."

It's also funny to see in "That's Entertainment!" how they sort of make fun of her singing and dancing, forgetting that she beagn her career as a silent "musical" performer in "Our Dancing Daughters."

Berserk and Trog are definitely next on my list!

[jimnysf]

Posted: 7/1/06 at 6:44pm

Johnny Guitar



Strait Jacket



Torch Song


Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

[jimnysf]

Posted: 7/1/06 at 7:03pm

Those people who will be in the San Francisco Area might want to check out this double feature at the Castro Theatre on July 18th and 19th.

Johnny Guitar and Rancho Notorious.

Tu 8:45p; W 4:45p, 8:45p: Johnny Guitar
Directed by Nicholas Ray
Cast: Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge, Scott Brady 1954, 110 min

Ray’s flamboyant western pits tough-as-nails saloon proprietor Vienna (Joan Crawford) against shrill firebrand Emma Small (McCambridge) in a two-fisted cat fight for control of a frontier boom town. This baroque and deliriously stylized Western, along with Lang’s Rancho Notorious, proves it is possible to lift the genre into the realms of Freudian analysis, political polemic and even Greek tragedy. (Not on DVD)


Tu 7p; W (3p), 7p: Rancho Notorious
Directed by Fritz Lang
Cast: Marlene Dietrich, Arthur Kennedy, Mel Ferrer, Gloria Henry, William Frawley 1952, 89 min

Frontiersman Kennedy wanders the West obsessed with finding the culprits responsible for the brutal rape and murder of his fiancée. His quest leads him first to charismatic outlaw Ferrer, then to Chuck-a-Luck, a horse ranch/criminal hideout overseen by saloon chanteuse Marlene Dietrich. (Not on DVD)