The Damned Don't Cry
by Vincent Sherman
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: David Brian, Hugh Sanders, Joan Crawford, Kent Smith, Steve CochranDirector: Vincent Sherman
Brand: Warner Brothers
Cinematographer: Ted D. McCord
Editor: Rudi Fehr
Producer: Jerry Wald
Writer: Gertrude Walker
Writer: Harold Medford
Writer: Jerome Weidman
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 103 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-06-14
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Movie Reviews of The Damned Don't Cry
Movie Review: Joan Crawford's signature over-the-top anthem
Summary: 5 Stars
Joan is first seen in "The Damned Don't Cry" wearing one of her long, trademark and dramatic mink coats which probably has the biggest and the grandest cuffs ever seen in a motion picture. As usual, she looked stunning and glamorous and beautiful and classic - totally in line with the picture that has become almost synonymous with her name.
I have always loved this movie because it is 100% pure Joan Crawford. From the moment her name is shown above the title to the final scene when she gives her last lines with such passion, this viewer is captivated and amazed and totally in love with this movie and its star. Joan was totally dramatic during the entire movie. Even when Ethel is told about her son's death, Joan doesn't play it down. Instead the tears come instantaneously like clockwork.
Joan absolutely plays 3 different and very diverse roles in this movie and in a way it's like watching 3 different movies. She should have been nominated for an Oscar because no one else could have pulled off what she did.
When the film starts out, Ethel Whitehead (Joan) is the harried, sweet and determined mother and housewife. She is believable because she is not unlike all of our mothers. She wants to give her son the best of everything and when he is killed in a tragic accident Ethel decides to leave her hubby because as she puts it so eloquently "I'm leaving because I haven't anything to hold me here anymore." She says this without a drop of makeup on, yet Joan still looks so youthful and attractive because her natural beauty really shines. Incidentally, I loved the part when Joan was getting out of the car, back from the funeral all dressed in black. The only thing that could've topped this was if she wore a veil.
After Ethel leaves she gets a job as a walking mannequin and reinvents herself. This time she is the tough, takes no prisoners, lone vixen who will stop at nothing to live her life to the fullest. I think this is the parts of the movie that I enjoyed the most because Joan was so on the money. It was like this was the role and these were the scenes that she was born the play.
Finally, after changing her name to Lorna Hansen Forbes and closely cropping her long hair, Ethel is now a woman of society, courtesy of the gangster that she's stringing along, George Castleman (David Brian). When Ethel is sent to check up on Nick Prenta (Steve Cochran) (another gangster that Castleman wants to rub out) all isn't copasetic because Ethel falls in love with him.
The movie ends with a dramatic shoot-out and a rather degrading and violent scene. But, in the end, Ethel wants nothing more than to return to her roots and her life. The question is, can she still go back?
What I have always loved about this movie are all of the men. They are all so attractive and masculine and manly and the total embodiment of the perfect Joan Crawford leading man. And as usual all of the men were desperately vying for Joan's attentions and affections and each guy had to be at least 10 or 15 years younger than Joan.
The Damned Don't Cry (April 7, 1950) (Studio: Warners)
Runtime Listing: 103 mins
Color/BW: Black and White
(Joan Played: Ethel Whitehead aka Lorna Hansen Forbes)
Brief Synopsis:
The murder of gangster Nick Prenta touches off an investigation of mysterious socialite Lorna Hansen Forbes, who seems to have no past, and has now disappeared. In flashback, we see the woman's anonymous roots; her poor working-class marriage, which ends in tragedy and her determination to find "better things." Soon finding that sex appeal is her only salable commodity, she climbs from man to man toward the center of a nationwide crime syndicate...a very perilous position.
Joan's brief comments on this film: ...was a big mistake. Old-time Crawford melodrama.
Anyone who appreciates fashion and style will adore all of Joan's dresses and accessories and outfits she wore in this. Because this was another form of life imitating art. And that hat that she wore (with those huge flowers on it) when she visited Castleman's office was just so over-the-top. Ethel/Lorna was pure glamour not unlike Joan Crawford.
The DVD came out in 2005 as both a stand-alone DVD and as an inclusion with Joan's first boxed set. The picture and sound quality is excellent (that's one thing Warner Bros./Turner always does well). The DVD includes the original trailer as well as a new featurette (it's roughly 14 minutes long) and commentary by Vincent Sherman (the director who has since passed away). I have been told that "The Damned Don't Cry" will also be released onto blu-ray by 2011, where, it most assuredly deserves a home.
What's so special about "The Damned Don't Cry" is that it is a totally universal story. OK the script is over-the-top and somewhat dated and Joan played it to the hilt (that's why we love her) but in essence it is that proverbial story of happiness. Ethel just wanted happiness and acceptance. She was desperately afraid of being alone and of being forgotten. And because of this, Ethel used all of her roughness and toughness as a mask to hide her vulnerability and sensitivity. It wasn't until the final scenes that we got a real good look at Ethel and this was a rare role that Joan allowed the viewers a glimpse of what makes her (actress and movie character respectively) heart beat. Joan plays the victim and the victor but she is always still a lady, a lady who wants something more than life has thrown her way.
Summary of The Damned Don't Cry
It's a man's world. And Ethel Whitehead learns there's only one way for a woman to survive in it: be as tempting as a cupcake and as tough as a 75-cent steak. In the first of three collaborations with director Vincent Sherman Joan Crawford brings hard-boiled glamour and simmering passion to the role of Ethel who moves from the wrong side of the tracks to a mobster's mansion to high society one man at a time. Some of those men love her. Some use her. And one a high-rolling racketeer abuses her. When the racketeer murders his rival in Ethel's swanky living room she flees a sure murder rap right back to the poverty she thought she had escaped. And this time there may not be a man to pick up the pieces of her shattered life.Running Time: 103 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 012569683648Similar DVD Movies
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