Review of Mildred Pierce (1945) by Ricardo O — 03 Dec 2010

"Personally, Veda's convinced me that alligators have the right idea. They eat their young.".

A man, who mutters the title character's name as his last word, is murdered at his beach house. The police pick up a woman named Mildred Pierce as she is the wife of the man who was murdered. She is then questioned by the police, and so ensues an extended flashback to what lead up to the murder of her husband. All is eventually revealed by the end, which includes tragedies, blackmail, and a daughter full of contempt for her mother. A pretty unpredictable ending as well.

This is a fantastic melodramatic film noir. Mildred Pierce is really well written with some excellent dialogue. Michael Curtiz's direction is fantastic and rivals his earlier masterpiece Casablanca. The b&w cinematography is exquisitely shot by Ernest Haller, who an Oscar for his work. The first and final scenes use shadows to great effect and the flashback scenes that take up most of the film are evenly lit but as the film progresses to the final scenes the shadows start to show more and more. The shadows even make it seem more like Mildred is the femme fatale of the story but the flashbacks reveal who the real femme fatale is, her ungrateful daughter Veda.

Joan Crawford is terrific and gives her signature performance. She holds the film together from beginning to end and it is in the end that she really earned her statuette as she brilliantly portrays Mildred as a pathetic person who will give everything just to keep her daughter from living a good life. But while Joan Crawford does get the deserved attention for her brilliant performance the supporting cast is great as well especially the other two female actresses: Eve Arden, who steals her scenes as Ida, Mildred's help with the restaurant; and Ann Blyth as Veda, the evil wench of a daughter who fails to appreciate all of the trouble her mother goes through to make her spoiled life better.

Like Casablanca, it blends different genres, this time around mixing the family drama and melodrama genres with film noir. And like Casablanca, it is deservedly hailed as a classic of cinema. Mildred Pierce is an exquisite piece of film. 10/10.