Film Forum

(1945) Oscar winner Joan Crawford’s daughter-Ann-Blyth-loving Mildred relentlessly moves from housewife to waitress to restaurant mogul, en route dumping husband Bruce Bennett and acquiring sleazeball playboy Zachary Scott – or does she? Adapted from James M. Cain’s steamy classic. 35mm. Approx. 109 min.

Reviews

“More authentic suggestions of sex than one hopes to see in American films.”
– James Agee

“The Warners version stretched audience expectations about what was decent, and how an abandoned wife might have to look after herself. There were women alone and broken homes after the war, as well as optimism renewed; and sometimes one became the other over a weekend. Mildred Pierce opened two months after Hiroshima. People make fun of Crawford nowadays, but she knew what a crisis was and how important the role was. She understood Mildred.”
– David Thomson, Warner Bros: The Making of an American Movie Studio

"It’s hard to imagine a better role for Joan Crawford, who chomps her way to her most iconic moments and deservedly won an Oscar. She brings a new psychological depth to the screen.” - Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out