Introducing Gay Film #4--1945's "Mildred Pierce!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

                             This photo was my first exposure to this film as a child, as it was used as an advertisement in TV Guide, when Channel 5, at 9PM would show "Movie Greats."  I got the idea it was about a woman contemplating jumping off the wharf, and I wanted to know what made her get to that point.  And I was only a child.  Now, my mother's name happened to be Mildred, so after this I began calling her "Mildred Pierce," and when I saw the movie sequence where Mildred opens all the restaurants saying "Mildred's," I wanted my mother to open restaurants.  Not because I wanted money, but because I wanted to see her name all over the place.

                           "Mildred Pierce" is the perfect follow-up to "Now, Voyager," because it reverses the conflict.  In the 1942 film, the mother is the villain, the daughter the victim.  In "Mildred Pierce," it is the daughter who is the villain--and what a villain! --and the mother is the victim.  But remember, darlings, since the role is played by Joan Crawford, she is almost a willing victim, being self-sacrificing and masochistic.  This is the ultimate Joan Crawford performance, and it is no surprise that she won the Oscar for "Best Actress Of 1945."  She deserved it too.

                              The film is perfect for exposing young gays to social class distinctions.  Now, I already had a sense of them myself, having grown up on the North Side of town, and away from that trashy Goat Alley.  But when Ann Blyth, as daughter Veda, speaks of Mrs. Biederhof as being "distinctly Middle Class," the film is off and running, because Veda really livens up this picture.  And then some.  To think Ann Blyth was only 16 when she did this role; I am surprised, being a minor, she was allowed to play it.  But she earned an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actress, as did Eve Arden, for her role as Ida Corwin, who is on to Veda from the start.  That is the problem.  Everyone is on to Veda except her mother; even Veda, in her own way, tries to tell her, but Mildred insists on being one of the great enablers, like Agnes Wickfield in "David Copperfield," of all time.  And where does it get her?

                             Well, that final shot, when Mildred and her ex-husband Bert (Bruce Bennett) leave the police station, with the two washerwomen shown scrubbing the floor, suggests this was also a morality tale, not to elevate one's social stature too much, and to never forget where one came from.

                               Zachary Scott and Jack Carson give two of their best performances ever, and even Butterfly McQueen turns up as Lottie, the maid.  Director Mchael Curitz knew how to assemble a great cast and put them through their paces

                              Yet, "Mildred Pierce" remains underrated in the "film noir" category.  Everyone is always screaming about "Double Indemnity," and you know what?  I think that one is overrated.  "Mildred Pierce has a compelling character and story, but most of all, the way Curitz uses light and shadows in the opening sequence at the beach house, when Mildred steps out of the darkness onto the wharf, and again, with the light on her at the beach house when she spots Monty and Veda, demonstrates he wanted to give this film a distinctly noir look, and he is so successful it outshines almost any film noir out there.

                               I don't want to give away too much of the plot, except to say it is framed around a murder mystery.  The James M. Cain novel on which it was based was not even this good.

                                "Mildred Pierce" is great for young gays, giving them a look into elegant, stylish dressy, and witty, bitchy epigrams.  I always loved the one about Mrs. Bieferhhof being "distinctly Middle Class."  Oh, and there is a lovely performance by Jo Ann Marlowe as younger daughter Kay, and a gorgeous music score by the brilliant Max Steiner.

                                      Warner Bros. made it; no surprise there.  And it was nominated for "Best Picture."  A shame it did not win.

                                         As Bette Davis said in "Now, Voyager," "A spinster aunt is an excellent person to select presents for young girls."  "Mildred Pierce" is the perfect film to set young gays on the path.

                                           But don't even think about getting away with murder.

                           "Oh, Mother, I'll be different.  I'll change!"                                                                                                     Yeah, right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!