wayne arthur (ussclaudejones) Because of hearing about this film for decades, it seemed like it was a Joan Crawford type drama, which is not my cup of tea. But after forcing myself to view it I was pleasantly surprised as it is a great film. And this movie in my opinion made me realize one thing. That it wasn't the actors acting in older movies that seemed corny, it was the screenplay writing, sort of the same thing like in "The Postman Always Rings Twice." These actors in the movie were superb. But every now and then the actor's would kinda say things too perfectly. It's like the screenplay writer's thought that we couldn't figure it out. I also went into the movie with a preconceived idea of who the killer was and was kinda surprised with the twists and turns, so that made it better as I was right, then wrong, then right. But this was my problem, anyone watching the movie not knowing any history of the movie won't have that problem.

James Hitchcock The film opens with a melodramatic flourish. A series of shots ring out and a man named Monte Beragon falls dead to the ground. The police bring his wife Mildred in for questioning, but inform her that she is not under suspicion because they believe that the murderer is her first husband, Bert Pierce, who has already confessed to the crime. Mildred, however, tells them that she does not believe Bert is the sort of person who could commit a murder. She then tells them her life story in flashback. We learn of how Mildred and Bert divorced after his becoming unemployed led to stresses in their marriage, of how she worked hard to support their two daughters, eventually building up her own successful catering business, and of how she came to marry Beragon, a man she never loved.The dramatic opening followed by a police interrogation recalls the conventions of film noir, but overall "Mildred Pierce" really belongs to another popular forties genre, the "women's picture". Such films were generally constructed around a strong female character, with the other main characters, especially male ones, defined in terms of their relationship to her. Mildred is a typical "women's picture" heroine, but a number of actresses, including Bette Davis and Barbara Stanwyck (both of whom tended to specialise in films of this nature) turned the role down, possibly because they did not want to play the mother of a teenage daughter. (Actresses of this period were often reluctant to be cast as mothers, even of young children, because they saw such roles as an indication that their days as a leading lady were over and that henceforward they only had "character" parts to look forward to). Joan Crawford, on the other hand, wanted the part desperately, and fought hard to get it, but was initially vetoed by director Michael Curtiz. Eventually, however, Curtiz relented and Crawford got the part, her first starring role for Warner Bros after leaving MGM.The film can be seen as an Aristotelian tragedy, that of a great woman brought down by a flaw in her character. Mildred possesses many of the attributes of greatness- intelligence, determination, business acumen- but the flaw that brings her down is her lack of parenting skills, especially as regards her elder daughter, Veda, whom she spoils outrageously. The younger girl, Kay, seems more down-to-earth, but after she dies suddenly Mildred spoils Veda all the more. As a result Veda grows up to be bad-tempered, snobbish, materialistic and ashamed of Mildred's lowly social origins, despite the sacrifices her mother has made on her behalf. Mildred's marriage to Beragon, who comes from a distinguished "old money" family and owns a large mansion, is largely motivated by a desire to be reconciled with Veda, from whom she has become estranged, by improving her social status. Despite his origins, however, Beragon himself is in financial difficulties which he hopes to alleviate by marrying a successful businesswoman.Crawford was right to fight so hard for this role; she clearly saw the dramatic possibilities of the script, gave one of the best performances of her career and was rewarded with her only "Best Actress" Academy Award. The other great performance comes from Ann Blyth as Veda, a character as different from Mildred as it is possible for mother and daughter to be. It is noteworthy that when the film was released in 1945 one critic referred to its "unconscionable length", even though it is less than two hours long. (Nowadays many film-makers do not consider even three hours "unconscionable"). Curtiz, however, handles his material well, and the dramatic tension never flags. The storyline may be a bit too melodramatic for some modern viewers, but in my view this remains one of the finest melodramas of the forties. 8/10

elvircorhodzic Mildred Pierce is a film about a single mother who is by all means fight against poverty and in the end her wins. However, the fight with the ungrateful and mentally ill daughter can not be measured not with wealth nor with prosperity. Family suffering of main protagonist is greater than the mysterious murders with which the film begins. One extremely strong and complex female characters disrupted selfish and spoiled daughter.The relationship between mothers and daughters is it definitely the biggest problem in the film. I am convinced that the mother should often hold educational lessons to her older daughter. In this case, the struggle for survival woman away from loved one. Death of younger daughter is shown too transient to be convincing. Life goes on. Ruin this little life that is left.The film is filled with vague premises that lead to quite a clear conclusion. The older daughter is a definite cause of the problem and the story ends. Love of parents towards children is strong, but I think that love is not solely responsible for making good person.Joan Crawford as Mildred Pierce Beragon is a strong and capable woman. How much is actually smart!? Blind love for a living child is illogical. Today, similar examples are often present. Almost always lead to a certain extreme. She wants her kid to be happy. Luckily that never existed has its price.Ann Blyth as Veda Pierce Forrester is pretty amazing. The actress who is in every sense unconvincing makes a good impression.Mildred Pierce is a film that lacks style. Emotions are strong, but a little impersonal. Description of characters, except the main female character, is not impressive. This movie I'd never led in the context of the situation of women in society.

calvinnme ...one of whom dies early in the film, and then there is Mildred's right-hand woman, Ida Corwin (Eve Arden), who was at first Mildred's boss and then, does the same job for Mildred in Mildred's restaurant. She swings some great one liners, and seems to hold no resentment for that glass ceiling she is stuck underneath.The film is about the trials and tribulations of the film's namesake, played by Crawford, a housewife to a jobless man, Bert, who has a caveman's attitude. However, with no business sense and no job, he is a caveman without a club. Furthermore he spends all of his free time with the widow/divorcée?? down the street, Mrs. Biederhopf (Lee Patrick) who doesn't mind Bert's jobless state because she probably has either alimony or life insurance from the former or dead husband.The long and the short of it is that Bert and Mildred quarrel, he refuses to stop seeing Mrs. Biederhopf, and she refuses to stop spoiling their oldest daughter Veda (Ann Blyth) who is a complete snob. The two separate and eventually divorce. After Mildred's youngest daughter dies suddenly, Mildred holds tighter to Veda than ever, making sure her every wish is granted, not seeing the sociopath she is breeding right in front of her eyes. So Mildred's big weakness is naiveté and blindness where her daughter is concerned. By saving and hard work as a waitress and a made to order baker of pies and cakes, Mildred opens up first one restaurant, and from there becomes a chain. In opening her first restaurant she comes across the male equivalent of Veda - middle aged socialite bachelor Monte (Zachary Scott) who is all hat and no cattle, all snob and no work, all standard and no gold. The culmination of all of Mildred's mistakes is to let Veda spend so much time with him, and then getting Vida to come back home after the two have a big fight by marrying Monte, figuring that touch of old money class as a stepfather figure will make Veda want to stay. Monte's big mistake? He tells the female equivalent of himself the kinds of things that he figures would hurt the most -they do - at the worst possible time to a teenage girl who up to this point believes sex equals love and has no moral compunctions whatsoever but does have a big dose of pride. As Eastwood said, "a man has got to know his limitations".I didn't realize how good the acting was in this one, because I saw it several times before I was ever into classic film and my mind just typecast Zachary Scott and Ann Blythe into complete scumbags. How surprised I was when Turner Classic Movies came on the air and I saw these two had done a wide variety of roles, just as convincing as the roles they played here. As for Joan Crawford's Oscar, it's not that she didn't deserve this one, but I can think of roles before and after this one where she was just as good such as 1947's Possessed (for which she was nominated), and 1934's "Forsaking All Others", for which she got no Academy nod whatsoever.The murder mystery between which all of this is sandwiched is not from the original novel. It's a product of the production code to make sure wrongdoers are punished, and, in my opinion, to imply an ending I found a bit unbelievable but again, the production code was probably involved there too.Let me give kudos to some other people. First director Michael Curtiz and the screenwriters who handled the meat of the story – Mildred's tormented relationship with Veda – with great skill and drama, all the while keeping the story moving at a brisk pace. Then finally, there is supporting player Jack Carson. He is greedy, a wolf, full of himself - in short he is a human version of Daffy Duck - but he is really a needed supporting ingredient in all of this. Highly recommended.