The Damned Don't Cry
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Movie Reviews of The Damned Don't Cry
Movie Review: "You're asking for trouble, aren't you?"
Summary: 4 Stars
THE DAMNED DON'T CRY reunited Joan Crawford with her "Mildred Pierce" producer Jerry Wald. In another of her trademark noir roles, Ms Crawford played a woman who climbs up from the gutter only to discover that life is far more dangerous at the top.
Ethel Whitehead (Joan Crawford) is a frumpy working-class housewife with an unappreciative husband (Richard Egan). When their son is killed by a speeding car, Ethel packs her bags and leaves for a better life. Ethel's desire to have money and power only lands her in the unsavoury clutches of dangerous mobster George Castleman (David Brian).
This is one of my favourite Crawford vehicles. She's ideally cast as Ethel Whitehead/Lorna Hansen Forbes, a woman caught up in the glamour of wealth but careless in the choice of men she keeps company with. This film was based on a story by Gertrude Walker (and loosely modelled after notorious 1940s gangland moll Virginia Hill's relationship with Bugsy Siegel).
Crawford preferred working with male actors who weren't as famous as she was, and in THE DAMNED DON'T CRY, the main leads are taken by B-movie players David Brian, Steve Cochran and Kent Smith--each manages to hold his own with 'La Crawford'. Selena Royle ("The Harvey Girls") also has a good role as Ethel's influential society friend Patricia Longworth.
This is classic Film Noir, with it's moody shadowed lighting, killer gowns and zingy dialogue. Certainly this captures Joan Crawford at the height of her glamour, and fans wouldn't have it any other way.
The DVD includes the featurette "The Crawford Formula: Real and Reel", audio commentary with director Vincent Sherman, and the trailer. (Single-sided, dual-layer disc).
Movie Review: Nicely-Photographed Noir-Melodrama
Summary: 4 Stars
For me, the best part about this film was the exceptional lighting which made this a great movie to see on DVD. The great black-and-white photography reminded of films like "The Sweet Smell Of Success" and "To Kill A Mockingbird." The camera-work in this movie does not take a backseat to those great films, believe me.
Story-wise, it's a somewhat-familiar Joan Crawford movie with a bit more emphasis on the melodrama than the film noir, a la Mildred Pierce. That's a compliment because "Mildred" was a well-crafted story and so is this. It's an effective mixture of drama and noir. However, unlike "Mildred," this Crawford character ("Ethel" a.k.a "Mrs. Forvbes") has a worldly edge to her with a chip on her big shoulders. It's tough to sympathize with her in this story, frankly.
Kent Smith plays her naive, wimpy dupe for much of the film but when David Brian enters the scene, the movie really picks up. Gangster Brian is nobody's patsy and he's fascinating, portraying the most intense character in the story.
This is another one of the fine classic movies that never got a VHS showing but finally got a break with a 2005 DVD release, which is all the better since the camera-work is deserving of the nice look this transfer gives it. Once more, another impressive movie from 1950, one of the better years Hollywood ever had.
Movie Review: Those Lips! Those Eyes!
Summary: 4 Stars
Crawford's back and Jerry Wald's got her, in this Warner Bros. attempt to recapture some of that MILDRED PIERCE prole-mom-suffers-her-way-to-the-heights-where-all-is-ashes-ashes magic. The literate screenplay's an asset (Jerome Weidman, almost forgotten today, was a popular novelist from the 40s through the 60s, and one can hear his voice in some of the snappy dialogue on display here). No star ever worked harder than Joan, and sometimes the effort shows on screen; her role's carefully constructed to put her through most of her paces, and the diva's rapidly-changing personae can grow wearying. A beautiful transfer, the disc's worth its price for La Crawford's accents alone, ranging from simple workaday drone to gum-snapping hardboiled "model", eventually reaching the zenith of MGM refined speech -- in her society incarnation, Joan broadens more "A"s than Greer Garson ever dreamt of. As usual with WB noir, wonderful black-and-white cinematography, nice supporting work (Selena Royle's particularly interesting), and, front and center, the lipsticked-smeared mask of tragedy that was Joan Crawford. Equally riveting, wonderful, and ridiculous, she's the most genuine zircon ever to strut her stuff in front of a camera. Great fun.Movie Review: A little gem from the Crawford vaults
Summary: 4 Stars
Good Joan Crawford film, from the latter part of her strong Warner Brothers period. This one is more of a gangster picture than the rich, melodramatic "women's pictures" Crawford mostly made during this time, but there are certainly elements of the latter on display here, too.
It's funny, as I was watching this, I said to myself, "darn, this reminds me of the plot of Warren Beatty's 'Bugsy' movie of several years back." And, of course, as I discovered in one of the DVD's special features, this movie was inspired by exactly that: the story of gangster Bugsy Siegel and his created-from-whole-cloth rich socialite companion, Virginia Hill.
"The Damned Don't Cry" features a clean, sharp image on DVD. There's also a short but informative special feature (which I referred to above) consisting of interviews with director Vincent Sherman and several film scholars/enthusiasts, who offer interesting takes on the film. Other extras include the film's trailer and a movie-length commentary by director Sherman.
Entertaining, tough, and in many ways modern for its time, "The Damned Don't Cry" is well worth any film enthusiast's time.
Movie Review: FROM RAGS TO RICHES.....AND BACK AGAIN....
Summary: 4 Stars
After the tragic death of her little boy, blue collar wife Ethel Whitehead (Crawford) flees her working-class existence for the big city---and the big time. First comes a sleazy "modeling" job then she's the mistress of a syndicate boss (David Brian) after pushing a poor CPA (Kent Smith) into the rackets with her. Soon, she's "Lorna Hansen Forbes", a "Texas oil heiress", the darling of high society thanks to Brian. But soon she's over her head in crime and murder. Not to mention falling for handsome Steve Cochran, who's trying to take over the racket from Brian. While Brian was born to play a gangster, this is Crawford's vehicle all the way. She essays the transition from blue collar to glamorous doll with typical Crawford aplomb. And she does sport some beautiful 1950 fashions. For Crawford fans this is a treat and she has solid support from Brian, Smith and Cochran as well. The DVD has a Crawford "Real to Reel" documentary and commentary from director Vincent Sherman, who directed both Crawford and Bette Davis films during his career. Worth adding to a collection if you're a film buff and a Crawford fan.