wehadfacesthen:

Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce  (Michael Curtiz, 1945)

“For its control of narrative, its photography of the vanished suburban California of the 1940s, and for its compelling central performance from Joan Crawford, Michael Curtiz’s noir thriller is utterly gripping. Crawford is Mildred, whose name is enigmatically on the lips of her second husband as he is shot dead in his beach-house by an unseen murderer…  Whether in her kitchen [apron], or fox stole, or two-piece swimsuit, Crawford is an electrifying diva presence, and her handsome face is a formal, trembling mask of passion. No wonder Crawford exerts such command over audiences young and old, gay and straight.” - Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian (UK), April 2001