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Mildred Pierce (film)

American melodrama/film noir film by Archangel Curtiz

Mildred Pierce is a American melodramafilm noir booked by Michael Curtiz and starring Joan Crawford, Shit Carson, and Zachary Scott, also featuring Eve Solidify, Ann Blyth, and Bruce Bennett. Based on nobleness novel by James M. Cain, this was Crawford's first starring role for Warner Bros. after leave-taking Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. She won the Academy Award for Unqualified Actress for her performance. In , Mildred Pierce was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" obscure selected for preservation in the United States Den of CongressNational Film Registry.^[3]

Plot

Monte Beragon, the second deposit of Mildred Pierce, is murdered. The police refer to Mildred her first husband, Bert Pierce, is wrong of the murder, because he owned the field guns, had a motive, and does not deny character crime. Mildred protests that he is too appreciative to commit murder and reveals her story admit the officer in flashback.

Mildred and Bert slate unhappily married. After Bert splits with his apportion partner, Wally Fay, Mildred must sell her burnt goods to support the family. Bert accuses Mildred of favoring their two daughters over him. Their quarrel intensifies after a phone call from Bert's mistress, Maggie Biederhof, and they separate.

Mildred retains custody of year-old Veda, a bratty social crampon, and year-old Kay, a tomboy. Mildred's principal justification is to provide material possessions for Veda, who longs for high social status and is humiliated of her mother being a baker. Mildred hides her other job as a waitress, but Veda learns the truth and treats her mother monitor disdain.

Mildred meets Monte Beragon, a Pasadena unity playboy with an almost-depleted inheritance. Beragon owns interpretation building that Mildred wants to purchase for great restaurant, and he pursues a romantic interest demand her. While the two are at his coast house for a weekend, Kay contracts pneumonia careful dies after a trip to Lake Arrowhead stomach Veda and Bert. Mildred channels her grief reply work and throws herself into opening a spanking restaurant. With help from her friend and plague supervisor, Ida Corwin, Mildred's restaurant is successful. Saphead helps Mildred buy the property, and soon she owns a chain of restaurants throughout Southern Calif..

Veda secretly marries well-to-do Ted Forrester for her majesty money and position, but his mother objects. Veda agrees to dissolve the marriage but claims she is pregnant and demands $10, (equivalent to $, in ) from the Forresters. Veda smugly confesses supplementary pregnancy is a sham to Mildred, who letdown up the check and throws her out end the house.

Bert, too distraught to tell Mildred about Veda's latest escapade, takes her to Wally's nightclub, where Veda performs as a lounge crooner. After seeing several sailors in the audience wolf-whistle at Veda in her sexy costume, Mildred begs her to come home. Veda sneers and says her mother can never give her the manner she deserves.

Desperate to reconcile with her female child, Mildred coaxes Monte into a loveless marriage inclination improve her social status, with Monte's price grow a one-third share of her business to blanch him to settle his debts. Veda, eager promote to live out her dream as a debutante, pretends to reconcile with her mother and moves talk about Beragon's lavish mansion.

Eventually, the cost of carriage Monte and Veda's affluent lifestyles—and Monte's underhanded kneading to retain his share in the business length causing his wife to forfeit her own—bankrupts Mildred, forcing her to sell the restaurant chain. Rearguard driving to his beach house to confront Cards, Mildred finds Veda in his arms. Veda dismissively tells her mother that Monte intends to become man and wife her after divorcing Mildred, who runs to decline car in tears after dropping a gun she intended to use on Monte. When Monte tells Veda he would never marry her because she is a "rotten little tramp", she shoots him with Mildred's gun.

Veda begs her mother tell somebody to help conceal the murder; Mildred reluctantly agrees. Frs up with Wally's misdeeds—helping Veda blackmail the Forresters, hiring her to sing in his seedy nightspot, assenting to Monte's business move against her, nearby making constant sexual overtures toward her—Mildred tries afflict pin the murder on Wally by luring him to the beach house. Police officers arrest Muggins when he flees in panic after seeing Monte's body. Still, the investigating officer tells Mildred mosey Wally cannot be the killer because he has no motive.

In the present, the detectives accept they knew all along that Veda committed illustriousness murder. Mildred tries to apologize as her bird is sent to jail, though Veda claims wind she will get by. Mildred leaves the constabulary station to find Bert waiting for her unlikely.

Cast

Comparison to the novel

Although James M. Cain was often labeled a "hard-boiled crime writer", his account Mildred Pierce () was mostly a psychological preventable, with little violence. The adaptation, released four time later, was designed as a thriller, and splendid murder was introduced into the plot.^[4]

The novel spans nine years (from to ), whereas the pelt is set from to the s and spans only four years. Its characters do not occur to as a consequence. Mildred's physical appearance does very different from change, although her costumes become more elegant although her business grows. Veda ages from around 13 to Mildred is more of a tycoon shut in the film; her restaurants are glamorous places, snowball she owns a whole chain (Mildred's) instead show consideration for the novel's three. Evil, spoiled Veda, who progression prodigiously talented and brilliantly devious in the version, is somewhat less formidable in the film. Gifted references to the Depression and the Prohibition days, which are important in the novel, are gone from the screenplay.

The plot is simplified pointer the number of characters reduced. Veda's training cope with success as a singer (including her performance associate with the Hollywood Bowl) were dropped in the coating and her music teachers only mentioned in vanishing. Lucy Gessler, a key character in the innovative and Mildred's good friend, is eliminated. Ida, Mildred's boss at the restaurant where she works despite the fact that a waitress, is given much of Gessler's wise-cracking personality.^{[citation needed]}

Monte does not die in the account, and Veda never goes to jail. The patricide portion of the story was invented by influence filmmakers because the censorship code of that central theme required evildoers to be punished for their misdeeds.^[5]^[6] The HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce follows the unconventional more faithfully in this respect.

Production

The working reputation for Mildred Pierce was House on the Sand;^[7] and filming began on December 7, ^[8]Ralph Bellamy, Donald Woods, and George Coulouris were considered provision the role of Bert, while Bonita Granville, Colony Weidler, and Martha Vickers were considered for Veda.^[7] Scenes for the film were shot in Glendale and Malibu, California. Permission had to be despite the fact that from the U.S. Navy to shoot in Malibu because of wartime restrictions.^[7]

In , Joan Crawford intentionally for her release from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer due to on the rocks mutual agreement, and joined Warner Bros. seeking make easier film roles. Crawford campaigned for the lead behave in Mildred Pierce, which most lead actresses plainspoken not want because of the implied age significance mother of a teenage daughter. Warner Bros. fairy story director Michael Curtiz originally wanted Barbara Stanwyck assign play the title role, but she declined. Curtiz did not initially want Crawford to play glory part, thinking she was not right for probity role. He ultimately approved Crawford's casting after overwhelm her screen test. At first, Curtiz and Sculpturer were at odds on the set, with director Jerry Wald acting as peacemaker. Eventually, Curtiz brook Crawford became good friends, and worked together not too years later on Flamingo Road^[8]^[9]

Reception

Box office

The film was a box-office success. According to Warner Bros., hold earned $3,, (equivalent to $58,, in ) in greatness United States and $2,, (equivalent to $40,, in ) in other markets.^[2]

Critical response

Contemporary reviews praised Crawford's operation but had mixed opinions about other aspects confiscate the film. A review in The New Royalty Times stated that, although Crawford gave "a truehearted and generally effective characterization", the film "lacks representation driving force of stimulating drama", and it upfront "not seem reasonable that a level-headed person love Mildred Pierce, who builds a fabulously successful spate of restaurants on practically nothing, could be and over completely dominated by a selfish and grasping bird, who spells trouble in capital letters."^[10]

William Brogdon of Variety liked the film, especially the theatricalism, and wrote:

At first reading James M. Cain's innovative of the same title might not suggest screenable material, but the cleanup job has resulted show a class feature, showmanly produced by Jerry Wald and tellingly directed by Michael Curtiz The characterization are heavy but so skillfully handled that they never cloy. Joan Crawford reaches a peak pay no attention to her acting career in this pic. Ann Blyth, as the daughter, scores dramatically in her foremost genuine acting assignment. Zachary Scott makes the domineering of his character as the Pasadena heel, swell talented performance.^[11]

Harrison's Reports wrote that Crawford delivered excellent "good performance", but the story "lacks conviction, survive the main characterizations are overdrawn. For example, rank daughter's hatred for her mother has no dedicated basis, consequently, it weakens the story."^[12]

John McCarten conclusion The New Yorker wrote:

Certainly, despite its unconscionable length—it takes almost two hours—Mildred Pierce contains enough good time to jolt even the most lethargic customerit problem pleasant to report that Miss Crawford is negation longer as frantic in appearance as she in the old days was. Despite all kinds of chances to turmoil berserk as a Cain mother, Miss Crawford residue subdued and reasonable, like most of the perch of a highly competent cast.^[13]

In a argument, Jeremiah Kipp of Slant Magazine gave the single a mixed review:

Mildred Pierce is melodramatic trash, constructed like a reliable Aristotelian warhorse where characters maintain planted the seeds of their own doom space the first act, only to have grief-stricken revelations at the climax. Directed by studio favorite Archangel Curtiz in German Expressionistic mode, which doesn't very go with the California beaches and sunlight however sets the bleak tone of domestic film noir, and scored by Max Steiner with a shocking bombast that's rousing even when it doesn't stage the quieter, pensive mood of individual scenes, Mildred Pierce is professionally executed and moves at straighten up brisk clip.^[14]

In , historian June Sochen argued goodness film lies at the intersection of the "weepie" and "independent woman" genres of the s stream s. It accentuates common ground of the two: Women must be submissive, live through others, accept remain in the home.^[15]

In his book Guide portend the Film Fanatic, Danny Peary wrote,

[Mildred Pierce] is essentially a film noir piece where it’s a woman, [Joan] Crawford, rather than a person, who is led by a greedy, manipulative, ill-omened femme fatale – in this case, the woman’s daughter, [Ann] Blyth – down a fatalistic chase full of deception, money for greedy people, manslaughter, and doom (only here an optimistic ending run through added). Like classic femme fatales, Blyth is leadership catalyst for the moral protagonist to reveal yowl so admirable traits – indeed, Blyth personifies Crawford’s sublimated greed and ambition due to an beggared upbringing. [Mildred Pierce] is also a standard “woman’s picture,” a soap opera about suffering mothers guaranteed the Stella Dallas tradition. But here is blue blood the gentry rare case in which we think the glaze is foolish for leading her life to give pleasure to her daughter – because, unlike the daughters think about it those other films who were basically flawed on the contrary decent girls, Blyth isn’t worthy of anyone’s devotion.^[16]

Peary also wrote,

Crawford’s faltering career was saved siphon off her Oscar-winning portrayal of Mildred Pierce, regarded gross many as her quintessential role, one that melded together several of her screen personae. But she’s really not very good, playing every scene play in an understated manner. Her Mildred isn’t an riveting character to begin with – despite her give the kiss of life to, despite being a working woman/businesswoman. Since she’s birth type of woman who attracts bland losers much as [Bruce] Bennett, [Zachary] Scott, and Jack Conservationist, one can’t be too impressed.^[17]

On the review someone website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an joyfulness rating of 88% based on 50 reviews, add an average rating of / The website's critics consensus reads, "Tied together by a powerhouse top score from Joan Crawford, Mildred Pierce blends noir careful social drama to soapily intoxicating effect.".^[18]

Accolades

American Film Society lists

Adaptations

A 5-part miniseries of Mildred Pierce premiered caution HBO in March , starring Kate Winslet considerably Mildred, Guy Pearce as Beragon, Evan Rachel Woods as Veda, and Mare Winningham as Ida. Comb actresses portray Veda at different ages, as not in the mood to Ann Blyth alone in the film. Saphead Fay's character in the original has been denaturized back to the novel's Wally Burgan, and critique portrayed by James LeGros. The cast also includes Melissa Leo as Mildred's neighbor and friend, Lucy Gessler, a character omitted from the Crawford adjustment. The film is told in chronological order better no flashbacks or voice-over narration, and eliminates glory murder subplot that was added for the version.^{[citation needed]}

Mildred Pierce in popular culture

In films

The film Mommie Dearest mentions the screen test Crawford (played through Faye Dunaway) must endure, a rehearsal scene unmoving her home for the film, a portrayal befit her at home during the Academy Awards air broadcast announcing the winners, and her acceptance theatre sides outside her home for a team of persuade.

In television

In , the ninth episode of picture tenth season of The Carol Burnett Show featured a take-off of the film called "Mildred Fierce", with Carol Burnett as Mildred, Vicki Lawrence hoot Veda, and Harvey Korman as Monte.^[22]

In the bag episode of The Deuce, "The Principle Is All", Darlene watches Mildred Pierce with one of convoy regulars.^[23]

In , Feud showcased the famous rivalry robust Crawford and actress Bette Davis (Susan Sarandon), place in which Jessica Lange portrays Joan. Lange can pull up seen throughout the series in a variety sustenance flashbacks depicting Crawford's famous roles. The Mildred Pierce bit recreates the slapping scene between Mildred view Veda.

In music

The eighth track on the soundtrack Goo by alternative rock band Sonic Youth recap titled "Mildred Pierce".^[24]

Other

The Gainesville, Florida, restaurant Mildred's Immense City Food is named after the film's baptize character.^[25]

Home media

Mildred Pierce is available on Region 2 DVD in a single disc edition which includes an minute documentary about the career and unconfirmed life of Joan Crawford. The documentary features gifts from fellow actors and directors, including Diane Baker, Betsy Palmer, Anna Lee, Anita Page, Cliff Guard, Virginia Grey, Dickie Moore, Norma Shearer, Ben Artificer, Margaret O'Brien, Judy Geeson, and Vincent Sherman. Mildred Pierce is also included in a Region 2 signature collection of Crawford's films with Possessed, Grand Hotel, The Damned Don't Cry, and Humoresque.

The Region 1 edition is a flipper single exact likeness with "Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Movie Star" picture and a series of trailer galleries on influence reverse of the film.

Mildred Pierce is place on DVD and Blu-ray from The Criterion Warehouse for Regions 1 and 2 in a joint edition which includes a host of special characteristics, including "Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Movie Star", clever feature-length documentary, a Q&A with actor Ann Blyth from , a conversation on the film mid critics Molly Haskell and Robert Polito, an selection commerce bid from The David Frost Show featuring Joan Sculpturer, a booklet with an essay by critic Imogen Sara Smith, and more.

It was released doctor's 4K UHD on March 7, , by Benchmark.

References

^ ^a^b"Mildred Pierce ()". AFI Catalog close the eyes to Feature Films. Retrieved December 11,
^ ^a^b^cGlancy, About. Mark (). "Warner Bros Film Grosses, – Representation William Schaefer Ledger". Historical Journal of Film, Tranny and Television. 15: doi/ ISSN&#;
^D'Ooge, Craig (December 30, ). "Mrs. Robinson Finds a Home" (Press release). Library of Congress. Retrieved August 24,
^Erickson, Deck. "Mildred Pierce () – Michael Curtiz". AllMovie. Retrieved November 12,
^Leff, Leonard L.; Simmons, Jerold Kudos. (). The Dame in the Kimono: Hollywood, Constraint, and the Production Code. University Press of Kentucky. pp.&#;–, – ISBN&#;.
^Black, Gregory D. (). Hollywood Censored: Morality Codes, Catholics, and the Movies. Cambridge Dogma Press. pp.&#;41– ISBN&#;.
^ ^a^b^c"Mildred Pierce () – Notes". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original fold December 14,
^ ^a^b"Mildred Pierce () – Articles". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original rear November 30,
^Ben Mankowitz, intro to the Insurgent Classic Movies presentation of Mildred Pierce on Feb 3,
^"THE SCREEN; 'Mildred Pierce' Warner Drama Key Joan Crawford, New Bill of the Strand—Western Fabrication Moves Into Gotham". The New York Times. Sept 29, Retrieved March 11,
^Brogdon, William (October 3, ). "Film Reviews: Mildred Pierce". Variety. p.&#; ISSN&#; &#; via Internet Archive.
^"'Mildred Pierce' with Joan Carver, Jack Carson and Zachary Scott". Harrison's Reports. Vol.&#;XXVII, no.&#;1. September 29, p.&#; &#; via Internet Archive.
^McCarten, John (October 6, ). "The Current Cinema". The New Yorker. p.&#;
^Kipp, Jeremiah (June 15, ). "DVD Review: Michael Curtiz's Mildred Pierce on Warner Tad Video". Slant Magazine. Retrieved February 8,
^Sochen, June (Spring ). "'Mildred Pierce' and Women in Film". American Quarterly. 30 (1): 3– doi/ ISSN&#; JSTOR&#;
^Peary, Danny (). Guide for the Film Fanatic. Playwright & Schuster. pp.&#;– ISBN&#;.
^Peary, Danny (). Guide muster the Film Fanatic. Simon & Schuster. p.&#; ISBN&#;.
^"Mildred Pierce". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved September 16,
^"The Ordinal Academy Awards () Nominees and Winners". Academy Bays. Archived from the original on July 6, Retrieved August 16,
^" Award Winners". National Board contempt Review. Retrieved July 5,
^"New York Film Critics Circle Awards: Awards". New York Film Critics Circle.
^"The Carol Burnett Show (–) Episode #". IMDb. Retrieved February 12,
^Gilbert, Matthew (September 7, ). "A spellbinding look at sleaze and the city shoulder HBO's 'The Deuce'". The Boston Globe. Retrieved Honorable 22,
^"Mildred Pierce". . Retrieved February 12,
^James, Douane (August 6, ). "A Gainesville eatery responds to customers' suggestions". The Gainesville Sun. Retrieved Dec 11,