A self-sacrificing mother builds a business empire to please her ungrateful daughter in this noir-tinged maternal melodrama.
Mildred Pierce (Joan Crawford), a devoted mother, pours all her energy into providing a lavish life for her relentlessly demanding and cruel daughter, Veda (Ann Blyth). After leaving her husband, Mildred climbs from a humble waitress position to become the owner of a successful restaurant chain, aided by the opportunistic Wally Fay (Jack Carson). She enters into a marriage with the socially prominent but financially depleted Monte Beragon (Zachary Scott) to further satisfy Veda’s social ambitions. Mildred’s obsessive maternal sacrifices are met only with Veda’s contempt, leading to a spiral of deceit, betrayal, and ultimately, murder.
A defining film for both its studio and its star, Mildred Pierce marked the spectacular rejuvenation of Joan Crawford’s career. After being released from her MGM contract, Crawford actively pursued the title role, a part reportedly first offered to rivals Bette Davis and Barbara Stanwyck. Her persistence resulted in an Academy Award-winning performance that became synonymous with her persona: a resilient woman whose ambition is entangled with a ruinous maternal devotion.
Director Michael Curtiz applies a distinct film noir aesthetic to the source material, a James M. Cain novel originally structured as a social drama. By framing the narrative as a murder investigation, the screenplay transforms a story of domestic struggle into a taut, shadow-drenched melodrama, a signature style for Warner Bros. in the 1940s.
Production Co: Warner Bros. / 111 mins / 1945
Director: Michael Curtiz
Producer: Jerry Wald
Screenplay: Ranald MacDougall
Main Cast: Joan Crawford (Mildred Pierce), Jack Carson (Wally Fay), Zachary Scott (Monte Beragon), Eve Arden (Ida Corwin), Ann Blyth (Veda Pierce Forrester), Bruce Bennett (Albert ‘Bert’ Pierce)
