Queen Bee
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Movie Reviews of Queen Bee
Movie Review: Joan at her bitchy best!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a must-have for every Joan Crawford fan. Her star was beginning to fall by this time but she does a bang-up acting job as the evil Eva Phillips. (One wonders if the character was given that name purposely - Eva, evil, get it?) Everyone else in the film, with the exception of John Ireland as the tormented Judson, pales in comparison with Joan. Certainly, the plot is pure soap opera (but if you know that at the outset and just take it for what it is, you'll find it enjoyable and a nice escape from reality).
Joan is in fine form as the Queen Bee in her little Southern mansion hive, ruling her unhappy family with an iron stinger. Particularly, the targets of Joan's ire are the other women of the mansion, whose men Joan is always determined to steal, as summed up in her classic line, "Any man's my man if I want it that way." And Joan usually succeeds in what she sets out to do. Plus, Joanie excels at emasculating the men of the mansion (such as her long-suffering husband Avery, who withdraws into an ocean of alchohol to escape his misery).
Of course, she eventually gets her comeuppance as punishment for all the unhappiness she's caused (a nice coda that doesn't happen nearly often enough to rotten people in real life).
Long story short, this DVD's very worthwhile. Joan fans get to see her in a superbly over-the-top performance, and it's a feel-good type story because Eva at long last gets exactly what she deserves, and the last laugh is on her. I won't give away the ending, but suffice it to say that if you like to see good triumph over evil, you'll be very pleased at how things turn out.
Movie Review: 50s Melodrama At Its Finest!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Being an unapologetic Joan Crawford fan, I could enjoy just about any cinematic drivel she has appeared in (and I'm sure I have). While Queen Bee isn't drivel, it's no Mildred Pierce either - - but I loved it all the same!
Joan plays Eva Phillips and although she is probably a good 10-15 years older than the scriptwriter envisioned, she still looks remarkable. She is married (unhappily as we will find out) to the alcoholic Avery, whom she stole away from the sweet Sue (played too briefly by Fay Wray).
The movie revolves around Eva and Avery's unhappy union, her chasing of Judson, who is enamored of her sister-in-law Carol and with whom she had an affair some years back, and Eva's annoyingly meek cousin Jennifer who has just arrived at their southern mansion. Soon, the fur is flying, Joan is wearing some fabulous Jean Louis designs and the witty barbs are everywhere.
The only weak part of the movie is Jennifer, who is so cowardly and timid, it's a hard sell to think that she's even remotely related to Eva. Seeing her cowering and tearing up over Eva raising her voice just makes me want to cheer when Eva finally slaps the daylights out of the girl.
But one weak character aside, the movie is a fun and exciting 1950s soap opera -- and seeing Eva take out her frustrations with a riding crop is worth the price of the movie itself!
Definitely a 5 star movie!!
Movie Review: Queen Joan at her finest!
Summary: 5 Stars
Queen Bee comes out of Joan's own world behind the camera, so her daughter Christina told us in the Gospel of dysfunctional diaries of kids, Mommie Dearest. Here Joan poses on steps and then descends, says things to people that render them speechless, powerless, and (on occasion) lifeless.
She sweeps things off mantle pieces with a riding crop, steps on plans others have for a new house, scars her husbad(before the film opens) and calls him "Beauty." Joan flirts with the doctor caring for her sick child, and enslaves an in-law, dominates a niece and makes everyone serve her in some capacity that takes up most of their lives. The finale is surreal and surefire entertainment.
Sometimes hilarious, always camp in the extreme, and yet you cannot take your eyes off Joan as she buzzes through lives and stings them to death.
Buy this one and thrill to the extrvagant things within the DVD's chapters.
Movie Review: CRAWFORD WAS NOT ACTING IN THIS MOVIE!
Summary: 5 Stars
As Christina Crawford said in her book, Crawford was not acting in this movie. This is the way she was in real life. I believe it. Crawford was a phony. But I love most of her films. This one is fun to watch simply because you know Crawford is at her evil best. When she tells Lucy Marlowe who plays her cousin Jen "don't oppose me. I don't like people who oppose me"....that was the real Joan Crawford, not EVA, from the film. Crawford had to be in control of everything. If you want to get a glimpse of what the REAL CRAWFORD was like, watch this film. Its campy fun and the production values are great. She is abetted with a fine supporting cast, especially the tragic figure of Betsy Palmer who is driven to suicide by Crawford.
The car accident scene at the end is totally unbelievable. Eva and her lover fighting over the wheel in a rainstorm causing them to crash??? Please!!!!!
Movie Review: JOAN -5, MOVIE-1
Summary: 5 Stars
This is not a classic 50's movie by a long shot, but it is a showcase/vehicle for noneother than Joan Crawford herself. She's in practically every scene and the film itself is her slave. As a neurotic, dominating manipulator she ruins everyone's life because she "can't help it". Her character, Eva, believes it's not her fault but everyone elses' that she's the way she is. As per her contract, Crawford is given the "star treatment" and her costumes border on gaudy drag queen ensembles. And her dialogue? "I don't know when I've been in such a temper!" she tosses off after demolishing a room with a riding crop in front of a horrified guest. Frankly, I like this movie. Crawford is ultra-camp any way you slice it and this movie is prime 50's Crawford.