La mentira de mentiras

What a total hoot this movie is... Joan Crawford, in FULL authority (matched only by her even more imperious turn in the later "Queen Bee") runs her ideal house and the people in it as though she were a puppeteer and her husband and servants are nothing more than marionettes at her disposal. The fun begins right off the bat as the staff trudges up and down her magnificent staircase and flutter about tending to her every whim. None of this is good enough for her, though. She takes turns knocking the wind out of each of their sails for things like taking too long, using the wrong steps and allowing unwanted flowers to enter her home. Her attention to detail and monstrous obsession with order HAD to influence the makers of the character-assassinating, but uproariously funny "Mommie Dearest". Every move Crawford makes in this film is calculated and played for maximum impact. Her expressions are tight and telling. It's impossible to take one's eyes off her...especially with her array of stylishly scary outfits and severely unflattering hair. There's a perverse thrill in watching Crawford browbeat Grandma Walton (Corby)! Battered husband Corey (often cast as dull or menacing men) is a perfect counterpart here with a rare chance to show off some of his charm and appeal. Watson adds some sly wisdom to the proceedings as Corey's boss's wife and McKinney stands up to Joan very well as a long-term maid. At 94 minutes, the film is PERFECT entertainment when one is in the mood for some campy, classic fun.

"Harriet Craig" started out as a stage success – obviously, it struck familiar chords – and saw at least one previous film version (Craig's Wife, starring Rosalind Russell). Remade in 1950 with Joan Crawford commandeering the part of the domestic despot, the movie takes on a dimension that helped define camp. It also offers an unadulterated middle-period glimpse of the controlling monsters she had begun (Mildred Pierce, Humoresque) and continued (Torch Song, Johnny Guitar, Queen Bee) to play on film. (And, if there is a sliver of verity in her adopted daughter Cristina's report from the front lines, such roles paralleled her off-screen personality).

It's a parable about the dangers of social ascendancy, an illustration of Thorstein Veblen's view of the affluent wife as agent of conspicuous consumption. Joan Crawford's Harriet Craig has it all: a husband in a grey flannel suit on his way up the corporate ladder (Wendell Corey), and so can buy her what she most desires: property and position. She's obsessed with who does and does not fit in with what she refers to as `our set' as she strikes poses in her perfect (and perfectly dull) upper-middle-class abode.

That her only interest in her husband is as a meal ticket is revealed by her avoiding her wifely obligations under the pretext that bearing children would be dangerous. But she's not content to leave him be, maybe to enjoy a little action on the side; what might the other members of their `set' think? She craves total control. When he's about to go out of town on a business trip, thus slithering out at least temporarily from under her oppressive thumb, she intervenes, lying to his boss that he's a compulsive gambler. Finally, of course, the worm turns.... But, in the closing shot, when Crawford regally ascends her curved staircase alone among the splendor of her possessions, you wonder who's really won after all.

This soapish melodrama remains surprisingly riveting. Perhaps it's the extra touch of authenticity Crawford brings to her portrayal (Mary Tyler Moore played a later version of this upscale shrew in Ordinary People; then of course there's always Martha Stewart). The movie preserves an uncanny sense of upward mobility in America, circa midcentury, a lugubrious self-importance that has not, alas, vanished from the land.

The line above is from the original advertising art, and it conveys the theme of HARRIET CRAIG very well. I have an issue with reviewers who are constantly comparing characters on the screen with the actors who portray them. Harriet Craig was a character, and that is all. There are parallels between the lives of the character and Joan Crawford herself, but one should not go so far as to say they are the same! Joan Crawford is a woman of many mysteries. Every account you could possibly read about her life is full of contradictions; was she good or was she bad, was the ruthless and cruel or was she generous and kind? She was probably all of these things and, like Harriet Craig, a complicated, non-conventional, and independent woman at war with the world.

This is where the comparison ends. The character in the film is a compulsive liar and manipulator. Harriet Craig lies about anything and everything in the spider's web she builds around her. Joan Crawford's performance is fierce and chilling in its complexity. This is a woman of astounding talent, playing a character worthy of that talent. This is one of only a handful of roles Crawford ever played that allowed her to really act, which she does so well you will forget all about those other "great" actresses which usually claim all the credit.

If 1950 was not such a tough year, I'm convinced Joan would have received an Oscar nomination for the performance. The film itself was worthy of a nomination and, as the advertising art claimed, was "one of the five best pictures of the year." I think it is comparable in quality to ALL ABOUT EVE and SUNSET BLVD., and certainly Crawford's performance is on par with the leads in those films, and one of the best of her career! One last final note: a feminist take on HARRIET CRAIG may emphasize that Harriet was just a woman trying to survive the sexist times...but Wendell Corey was such a good and nice husband, believing in their equality, that I don't buy it. Harriet was a woman hurt by her times and unfortunately taking out her mistrust of men on her innocent and good husband, as well as others around her. Harriet was, in the end, a victim of her own prejudice, and selfish, compulsive lies.

What a movie, starring Joan Crawford at her most imperious. She demands everything in her house, including her servants, her relatives, and her good-natured husband, Wendell Corey, who barely escapes becoming Richard Cory, be exactly the way she wants it. Crawford is She Who Must Be Obeyed. She's devious. She lies to everyone shamelessly, blasphemously. She browbeats subordinates. She's as convincing as a psychopath. I would have laughed all the way through but my mirth was subdued by the activation of latent memories of my own marriage.

Crawford is perfect in the part. She was at an age at which she was given dark eyebrows the width of a highway dividing line and a severe hair do that brought out the chrome steel of her unforgiving features. It's her best performance, although not in the way she or director Vincent Sherman intended.

I wonder if it would ever have been made if "Leave Her To Heaven", a much more subtle film, hadn't been such a success. And I think Crawford's performance here may have been the dam that begat "Mommie Dearest." In these kinds of movies, Crawford was always either the victim of spite and contempt, as in "Mildred Pierce", or the purveyor of it. She purveys it magnificently.

I love this movie, and own a copy of it. It's what I would call a melodrama, but has great characters, good pacing and a tightly-written script. In addition, George Duning's music score is beautiful and haunting. Joan Crawford dominates the movie, and her performance is over the top at times, but I think the other actors hold their own very well -- Ms. Crawford does not overpower them. The other characters -- Wendell Corey as the naive and deluded husband, Lucile Watson as the boss's shrewd but likable wife, and Viola Roach (I think) as the Craigs' housekeeper are all well-fleshed-out characters, and the performances are excellent. I don't think there's an actor in the whole movie who isn't memorable.

The lengths to which Harriet goes to insure the perfection of her home are comical, at times. She scolds Mrs. Harold (sp?), the housekeeper, for not remembering to close the drapes after 11:00 every morning. When she and Clare, her cousin, are out of town visiting Harriet's mother, Harriet has Clare calling everybody under the sun in her neighborhood to find out why there's nobody home. Clare tells Harriet that when she got no answer at the Craig number, she even had the operator check the number to be sure the phone wasn't out of order! There are many memorable scenes in this film, but some that I thought were particularly good were the scenes where Harriet visits her mentally ill mother in a sanitarium. Harriet simply cannot penetrate the state of oblivion that her mother dwells in to block out the world, and she's at a loss to know what to do, or how to communicate with her mother. Ms. Crawford does a good job of conveying her sadness and frustration. It is a poignant scene, serving to humanize Harriet and point up the fact that she does have genuine feelings for someone. Afterward, she confides her worries to the doctor, played by Katherine Warren, and the conversation between the two women is very revealing. I also enjoyed the scene where she and Mrs. Harold lock horns about the running of the house – Mrs. Harold isn't intimidated by Harriet, and gives as good as she gets.

This is a great vehicle for Joan Crawford, Wendell Corey, and in fact, everybody in the movie. Give it a look!