Mildred Pierce (DVD)

John,

Will, Chris, and I saw this in a noir class. The problem is, is "Mildred Pierce" really a noir or simply a melodrama?

Eddie

It is simply a great movie.

Sure, as I said in the review, a noir melodrama. Most noir films are pretty melodramatic; but most melodramas are not really noir. Clear as mud, I know.

John

As I watched Mildred Pierce, I don't recall thinking of it as either noir or melodrama. It was only afterward, when I started thinking about what I had seen, that I began mulling this over.

In fact, I scribbled a review and wrote, "Director Curtiz manages to finesse the film between its dark, noir quality and its melodrama to present an intriguing and enthralling story."

You'd almost think I knew what I was talking about. I don't, but it was a clever way to say I liked the movie. The fact is, it's an engaging film, regardless of classifications.

The only issue I really have is with Warners sticking movies they've already released, which I already have, into a box collection. The nice thing about their Errol Flynn set was that I had none of the films. So it was worth picking up. In the Joan Crawford case, as with Bette Davis, I have several of the movies in their collection ... so why get the set?

Grumble, grumble ... Whatever. I like this movie. When Crawford was good, she was really good. As was Curtiz. (Though I've just read Flynn's autobiography, My Wicked, Wicked Ways - highly recommended - and it sounds like Mr. Curtiz was quite the s.o.b. At least in Flynn's opinion.)

"...it sounds like Mr. Curtiz was quite the s.o.b. At least in Flynn's opinion." --goatboy

That seems to have been the general opinion of almost everyone who worked with him. He was apparently the quintessential taskmaster. Leonard Maltin writes of him, "An efficient craftsman generally disliked by both casts and crews, he was a film 'commandant' in the mold of other dictatorial Prussian types such as Otto Preminger and Erich von Stroheim."

John