Mildred Pierce (1945)

Nighttime. The California coast. A classy, Deco-style beach house. A man in a tuxedo Stands in front of a mirror, holding a cigarette. Shots ring out. He drops dead. A gun is thrown down beside him. A car speeds away into the fog. So begins Michael Curtiz's classic film Mildred Pierce. Based on the novel by James M. Caine, the film tells the story of a divorced woman who is willing to do just about anything to provide her worthless daughter with a comfortable lifestyle. Mildred (Joan Crawford) is a divorced mother of two daughters - sweet tomboy Kay (Jo Ann Marlowe) and her twisted older sister Veda (Ann Blythe). Veda wants every good thing that money can buy, without actually having to work for it herself of course. Veda is shocked when Mildred takes a job as a waitress and bakes pies and cakes at home for extra income, but not too shocked to spend the money. With the help of an old friend and realtor, Wally Fay (Jack Carson), Mildred opens her own chain of restaurants, which makes her quite wealthy. When she gets romantically involved with Monte Beragon (Zachary Scott), a down-at-the-heels socialite, Veda is thrilled. Monte will give her access to the upper crust of society. You can probably see where all of this is heading. Veda tries it on with Monte, and Mildred catches them in flagrante dilecto. Mildred has a gun and the gun goes off, as guns do, and Monte falls down dead. Seems he's allergic to lead. Ah, but who made the gun go bang? That's the question. The police want to know. You probably do too, but I'm not telling.

Mildred Pierce is a wonderfully crafted piece of film noir, full of deep shadows and rainy streets. Numerous times the actors are completely blacked out, appearing as nothing more than silhouettes against a slightly lighter backdrop. Even the daytime scenes seem dense with shadows. The darkness limits our field of vision, forming the boundaries of the possible world, blocking off potential escape routes, and creating claustrophobic mood that heightens the tension and the desperation of the characters. Notice how the light and airy beach house becomes a labyrinth of shadows when the night rolls in. See how Curtiz barely lights the office of Inspector Peterson (Moroni Olsen). The scene where Mildred is waiting to be interviewed by the Inspector is one of my favorites. She sits in the echoing room in the middle of the night, the only sounds the ticking of the clock, the tapping of a typewriter, and the occasional rustle of a newspaper. Mildred's tension builds. So does ours. The buzzing of the intercom causes her to jump. I nearly jumped with it. I see now that HBO has done a remake of Mildred Piecrce starring Kate Winslett. I'm sure Winslett will be good, but she'll never be Crawford. And while the color ciematography is appropriately dark and moody, it cannot match the original with its velvety blacks and its all too numerous shades of gray.

Mildred Pierce is one of my all time favorite movies. It ranks right up there with Casablanca (also directed by Curtiz) and Citizen Kane. It's a early moral tale about how much overcompensating by parents who feel guilty about a broken home can damage children for life. At one point in the film Veda tells Mildred, "You made me what I am." She's right - partly. Mildred's obsession with having her daughters succeed didn't turn Veda into a heartless, social-climbing, money-grubbing monster. Kay, had she lived, wouldn't have turned out that way. Mildred only opened the door to that world. Veda ran through it with her eyes wide open.

Mildred Pierce is rated G and is available in moody black and white.