Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

AutCuddly Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

tchelitchew "Mildred Pierce" is simply one of the best films to ever emerge from the Hollywood studio system. With a truly extraordinary cast headed by the legendary Joan Crawford, "Mildred Pierce" is a deeply engrossing melodrama with strong shades of film noir. The riveting screenplay, gorgeous black and white photography and engrossing score all help make this masterwork essential viewing for fans of Hollywood's Golden Age.Joan Crawford is deeply affecting and totally convincing as Mildred Pierce. She provides her greatest performance here, earning every bit of her 1945 Oscar. Crawford was always a mesmerizing presence on screen, but it is in "Mildred Pierce" that her compelling on-screen persona truly reached its zenith. Her mixture of glamour, strength, and vulnerability is impossible to resist. This movie definitively proved that Crawford was not only a great star, but truly a great actress.Crawford is supported by an ensemble cast of top-notch performers. Ann Blyth is impossibly wicked as Mildred's cold-blooded, materialistic daughter Veda. Zachary Scott is tailor-made for the role of Monte Beragon, a sleazy, lecherous and rather wimpy cad who first seduces Mildred, then her daughter. Jack Carson and Eve Arden provide wonderfully acerbic comic relief, and their droll, whip-crack dialogue is another highlight of this magnificent film.Ranald MacDougall's screenplay enhances the James M. Cain source material, providing a heightened dramatic intensity and highly memorable dialogue. Max Steiner's typically superb score suits the drama perfectly. Ernest Haller's moody, visually stunning black-and-white cinematography earned him an Oscar nomination. There really are no weak points in this movie."Mildred Pierce" deserves to be remembered an essential piece of Hollywood cinema, and as Joan Crawford's crowning achievement. It is a must-see.

jacobs-greenwood Joan Crawford plays the title role, a mother who will do anything for her selfish daughter Veda, played by Ann Blyth. Mildred even goes into business, becoming a successful restaurant owner, but Veda is still ungrateful even as her mother has provided her opportunities in society.Jack Carson plays Wally Fay, a man Mildred manipulates; Zachary Scott is Monte Beragon, another who gets involved in a tragic love triangle of sorts with Crawford's and Blyth's characters. Eve Arden plays Ida Corwin, a friend of Mildred's who later becomes one of her employees, that gets to say some great sassy lines including "Personally, Veda's convinced me that alligators have the right idea. They eat their young."Eventually, the daughter gets herself in deep trouble and the mother's sacrifice is made even greater. Directed by Michael Curtiz, and based on the James M. Cain novel with a screenplay by Ranald MacDougall, this essential drama also features Bruce Bennett, Lee Patrick, Veda Ann Borg, and Butterfly McQueen (uncredited).Joan Crawford's Academy Award winning Best Actress performance on her first (!) of three nominations. Also Supporting Actress Oscar nominations for Arden (her only!) and Blyth (her only as well). The film, its B&W Cinematography, and MacDougall's (his only) screenplay were also nominated. Added to the National Film Registry in 1996.

James Hitchcock The film opens with a melodramatic flourish. A series of shots ring out and a man named Monte Beragon falls dead to the ground. The police bring his wife Mildred in for questioning, but inform her that she is not under suspicion because they believe that the murderer is her first husband, Bert Pierce, who has already confessed to the crime. Mildred, however, tells them that she does not believe Bert is the sort of person who could commit a murder. She then tells them her life story in flashback. We learn of how Mildred and Bert divorced after his becoming unemployed led to stresses in their marriage, of how she worked hard to support their two daughters, eventually building up her own successful catering business, and of how she came to marry Beragon, a man she never loved.The dramatic opening followed by a police interrogation recalls the conventions of film noir, but overall "Mildred Pierce" really belongs to another popular forties genre, the "women's picture". Such films were generally constructed around a strong female character, with the other main characters, especially male ones, defined in terms of their relationship to her. Mildred is a typical "women's picture" heroine, but a number of actresses, including Bette Davis and Barbara Stanwyck (both of whom tended to specialise in films of this nature) turned the role down, possibly because they did not want to play the mother of a teenage daughter. (Actresses of this period were often reluctant to be cast as mothers, even of young children, because they saw such roles as an indication that their days as a leading lady were over and that henceforward they only had "character" parts to look forward to). Joan Crawford, on the other hand, wanted the part desperately, and fought hard to get it, but was initially vetoed by director Michael Curtiz. Eventually, however, Curtiz relented and Crawford got the part, her first starring role for Warner Bros after leaving MGM.The film can be seen as an Aristotelian tragedy, that of a great woman brought down by a flaw in her character. Mildred possesses many of the attributes of greatness- intelligence, determination, business acumen- but the flaw that brings her down is her lack of parenting skills, especially as regards her elder daughter, Veda, whom she spoils outrageously. The younger girl, Kay, seems more down-to-earth, but after she dies suddenly Mildred spoils Veda all the more. As a result Veda grows up to be bad-tempered, snobbish, materialistic and ashamed of Mildred's lowly social origins, despite the sacrifices her mother has made on her behalf. Mildred's marriage to Beragon, who comes from a distinguished "old money" family and owns a large mansion, is largely motivated by a desire to be reconciled with Veda, from whom she has become estranged, by improving her social status. Despite his origins, however, Beragon himself is in financial difficulties which he hopes to alleviate by marrying a successful businesswoman.Crawford was right to fight so hard for this role; she clearly saw the dramatic possibilities of the script, gave one of the best performances of her career and was rewarded with her only "Best Actress" Academy Award. The other great performance comes from Ann Blyth as Veda, a character as different from Mildred as it is possible for mother and daughter to be. It is noteworthy that when the film was released in 1945 one critic referred to its "unconscionable length", even though it is less than two hours long. (Nowadays many film-makers do not consider even three hours "unconscionable"). Curtiz, however, handles his material well, and the dramatic tension never flags. The storyline may be a bit too melodramatic for some modern viewers, but in my view this remains one of the finest melodramas of the forties. 8/10

Alex da Silva Zachary Scott (Monte) is shot dead at the beginning of the film and the police make arrests. His wife Joan Crawford (Mildred) is one of those arrested and relates her story in flashback to Inspector Moroni Olsen (Peterson) but Olsen is playing a cat-and-mouse game with his interview technique in order to catch the killer.I liked this film. It has nice sets and a good story. You spend time double guessing where the story will go and sometimes you get it right. Sometimes you don't. The cast are all good portraying their characters how they need to be with the exception of the ridiculous comedy maid Butterfly McQueen (Lottie). She loses the film a mark and should have been completely deleted from the film. What an annoying voice! The film has a lesson for all - don't spoil your children. If you think they are turning into daughter Ann Blyth (Veda) kick them out immediately and cease communication. It's the only way.