Double Bill: The Women & Mildred Pierce
classified PGPlease note: This was screened in Aug 2018
As a summer treat we’re delighted to present two Joan Crawford films for the price of one in this double bill of her most towering performances – in George Cukor’s 1939 comedy-drama The Women and Michael Curtiz’s 1945 classic noir Mildred Pierce.
The Women
Joan Crawford heads up an entire female cast of more than 130 speaking roles set in the glamorous apartments of high society in this acidic commentary on the pampered lives and power struggles of various rich, bored wives and other women they come into contact with. What do you get when you mix Hollywood's top actresses, an all-female cast and a biting script written by women? A cracking good time, as well as perhaps an understanding as to why feminism subsequently had to happen.
Mildred Pierce
Melodrama doesn't come with more conviction than this superbly nasty noir that played havoc with the era's American ideals of women, home, mom and her apple pie. After Bette Davis and Barbara Stanwyck turned the role down, Warner Bros tailored this classic tale of mother love and murder into a stunning comeback for Crawford, two years after MGM cut her loose as 'box office poison'. As Mildred, toiling her way from waitress to restauranteur to fulfill her spoiled daughter’s demands, the role won Crawford an Oscar® and still endures as her most popular picture.
Please note: there will be a 20 minute interval between the films.