I remember watching "Della" on late-night TV when I was a teenager. I did not realize it, in fact, WAS made for the small screen. Perhaps I found this film fascinating because my Mom's name was Della (and not such a common name).
There's just something about Joan Crawford that has always intrigued me. In this movie she carries herself regally throughout. She is simply beautiful, and her presence is impeccable. She plays a rather long-suffering, yet tough-as-nails mother to Diane Baker (who lives with a dark secret in a dark house).
Paul Burke does his best to challenge Miss Crawford, but her portrayal of Della is a superb, late entry for her talent. I wish more women would grow into their looks graciously the way Joan Crawford did. She's about 60 in this role, but she doesn't try to look 35...kudos to her choice wardrobe. I rather wish this 70-minute film would have indeed been made into a TV series as originally intended.
Even though later years would cast a pall on Joan's mothering skills (which to this day I doubt), in "Della" she is brazen at times and no-nonsense with her daughter Jenny, yet she conveys an extremely emotional, believable side to her love for her only child. I wonder if her tears in this movie are a mirror of her real life at that time.
It was only 11 years after the release of this film that I wrote to Joan and received an autographed book of hers (from her home in New York City). Even though Crawford had, to put it mildly, many more important and well-known movies, "Della" sticks with me as almost a final glimpse into the star quality and Hollywood glamour that in 1964 was nearly on the way out. I don't believe Joan Crawford fans would regret watching this and seeing a trooper of the studios put a professional spin on a mysterious, almost-surreal story.
