MILDRED PIERCE [1945 / 2017] [The Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray] [USA Release]
The Kind of Woman Most Men Want – But Shouldn’t Have!
Melodrama casts “film noir” shadows in this portrait of maternal sacrifice from the Hollywood master director Michael Curtiz. Its iconic performance by Joan Crawford as Mildred Pierce Beragon, a single mother hell-bent on freeing her children from the stigma of economic hardship, solidified Joan Crawford’s career comeback and gave the actor her only Oscar. But as Mildred Pierce Beragonand pulls herself up by the bootstraps, first as an unflappable waitress and eventually as the well-heeled owner of a successful restaurant chain, the ingratitude of her materialistic firstborn Veda Pierce (a diabolical Ann Blyth) becomes a venomous serpent’s tooth, setting in motion an endless cycle of desperate overtures and heartless recriminations. Recasting James M. Cain’s rich psychological novel as a murder mystery, this bitter cocktail of blind parental love and all-American ambition is both unremittingly hard-boiled and sumptuously emotional.
The Criterion Collection is dedicated to gathering the greatest films from around the world and publishing them in editions of the highest technical quality. With supplemental features that enhance the appreciation of the art of film.
FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 1945 National Board of Review: Win: Best Actress for Joan Crawford. 1946 New York Film Critics Circle Awards: 2nd place: Best Actress for Joan Crawford. 1946 Academy Awards®: Win: Best Actress in a Leading Role for Joan Crawford. Nominated: Best Picture. Nominated: Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Eve Arden. Nominated: Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Ann Blyth. Nominated: Best Writing or Screenplay for Ranald MacDougall. Nominated: Best Cinematography in Black-and-White for Ernest Haller. Joan Crawford was not present at the Academy Awards® ceremony and feigned ill that night. Meanwhile Joan Crawford listened to the show on the radio instead. When Joan Crawford won, she ushered the press into her bedroom, where Joan Crawford finally accepted her Oscar.
FILM FACT No.2: Although James M. Cain was often labelled a “hard-boiled crime writer,” his novel “Mildred Pierce” [1941] was mostly a psychological work, with little violence. The adaptation, released four years later, was designed as a thriller, and a murder was introduced into the plot. In 1996, the film ‘MILDRED PIERCE’ was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected for preservation in the United States Library of Congress National Film Registry.
Cast: Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, Eve Arden, Ann Blyth, Bruce Bennett, Lee Patrick, Moroni Olsen, Veda Ann Borg, Jo Ann Marlowe, William Alcorn (uncredited), George Anderson (uncredited), Robert Arthur (uncredited), Leah Baird (uncredited), Dorothy Barrett (uncredited), Barbara Brown (uncredited), Claire Carleton (uncredited), Wheaton Chambers (uncredited), John Christian (uncredited), Wallis Clark (uncredited), Chester Clute (uncredited), John Compton (uncredited), Clancy Cooper (uncredited), David Cota (uncredited), Tom Dillon (uncredited), Robert Evans (uncredited), Don Grant (uncredited), Dorothy Hack (uncredited), Arthur Stuart Hull (uncredited), Charles Jordan (uncredited), Fred Kelsey (uncredited), Richard Kipling (uncredited), Manart Kippen (uncredited), Perk Lazelle (uncredited), Jimmy Lono (uncredited), Butterfly McQueen (uncredited), Jack O'Connor (uncredited), Garry Owen (uncredited), Larry Rio (uncredited), William Ruhl (uncredited), Mary Servoss (uncredited), John Sheridan (uncredited), George Tobias (uncredited), Charles Trowbridge (uncredited), Johnny Walsh (uncredited), Joan Wardley (uncredited) and Joan Winfield (uncredited)
Director: Michael Curtiz
Producers: Jack L. Warner and Jerry Wald
Screenplay: Ranald MacDougall (screenplay), Albert Maltz (contract writer) (uncredited), Catherine Turney (contract writer) (uncredited), Louise Randall Pierson (contract writer) (uncredited), Margaret Buell Wilder (contract writer) (uncredited), Margaret Gruen (contract writer) (uncredited), Thames Williamson (contract writer) (uncredited), William Faulkner (contract writer) (uncredited) and James M. Cain (novel)
Composer: Max Steiner
Costume and Wardrobe Department: Milo Anderson (wardrobe), Clayton Brackett (wardrobe) (uncredited), Joan Crawford (wardrobe consultant) (uncredited), Eugene Joseff (costume jewellery) (uncredited) and Jeanette Storck (wardrobe) (uncredited)
Cinematography: Ernest Haller, A.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Special Effects: Harry Barndollar (uncredited) and Willard Van Enger, A.S.C.
Image Resolution: 1080p (Black-and-White)
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
Audio: English: 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio
English: 1.0 Dolby Digital Mono Audio
Subtitles: English
Running Time: 111 minutes
Region: Region A/1
Number of discs: 1
Studio: A Warner Bros. – First National Picture / The Criterion Collection
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘MILDRED PIERCE’ [1945] is a classic, post-war “film noir” with typical elements of the woman's melodramatic picture or “weeper,” including a strand of a typical murder mystery often told via flashbacks. The family melodrama was significantly modified from its original source due to pressures of the Production Code regarding its sordidness, namely, the incestualise behaviour of the dissolute playboy character named Monte Beragon [Zachary Scott].
‘MILDRED PIERCE’ is without doubt, a classic example of 1940's “film noir” genre. Warner Bros. rolled the dice and gambled on Joan to give them a hit, and she thanked them by giving them a five million dollar return in profits. In turn, she put her name back in the hat as one of the hottest movie stars around, taking home a Best Actress Oscar® and showing M-G-M that Joan was far from washed up. Shoulder pads are the key visual ingredient to most of the outfits worn by all three of the leading ladies in the film ‘MILDRED PIERCE.’ These leading ladies are strong and independent and the audience is meant to view all three leading ladies as strong and independent women. Shoulder pads accentuate power and take up space on the screen enabling the characters to appear larger than life.
‘MILDRED PIERCE’ is told in flashbacks, and starts with gun shots at a beach house and the appearance of a victim in a body bag. It is only through Mildred Pierce Beragon [Joan Crawford] and her interrogation at Police Headquarters that we begin to understand what really happened. The story centres around doting mother, Mildred Pierce Beragon and her eldest daughter, Veda Pierce [Ann Blyth], a spoilt petulant precocious teenager who gets what she wants, when she wants it, it's clear that Mildred Pierce Beragon will stop at nothing to appease Veda Pierce every whim. However, Mildred Pierce Beragon's seemingly perfect world is shattered when she finds out her husband Albert Pierce [Bruce Bennett] is having an affair with a neighbourhood woman, Maggie Biederhof [Lee Patrick].
After leaving her husband, Mildred Pierce Beragon takes a job as a waitress. Mildred Pierce Beragon primary goal is keeping her spoilt bratty daughter, Veda Pierce living in the style she has become accustomed to, however the ungrateful Veda Pierce is ashamed of having a mother who works for a living and makes no secret of letting her know how she feels. Having worked her way up from waitress to owner of a now successful chain of restaurants, Mildred Pierce Beragon meets and marries, the smooth talking, Monte Beragon [Zacharay Scott], but after going through her money and sleeping with her daughter, it seems both Monte Beragon and Veda Pierce Forrester were meant for each other.
Now, with the perfect motive for murder, Mildred Pierce Beragon is brought in for questioning when Monte Beragon turns up dead. Once again, Mildred Pierce Beragon's world begins to collapse around her. As we reach the film's final climax, we learn there is one thing a mother's love can't protect . . . murder! Joan Crawford pulled off the performance of her career in ‘MILDRED PIERCE.’ After a confidence destroying exit from her beloved Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, it could not have been easy for her to reinvent herself and give a performance worthy enough to take home the Academy Award® for Best Actress in 1946 and Joan Crawford was not done with yet because Joan Crawford was officially back!
Joan Crawford's Oscar® winning performance the film ‘MILDRED PIERCE’ [1945], determined mother of the ever-ungrateful Veda Pierce, marked Joan Crawford’s debut at Warner Bros. after a long career at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Based on the novel by James M. Cain. ‘MILDRED PIERCE’ is a dark tale of thwarted desires and the American dream gone wrong. Art Director Anton Grot's sets exploited this theme and presented a visual interpretation of how the up-and-coming American middle class should live.
Ann Blyth, who plays the role of Veda Pierce, had previously played a few juvenile roles in innocuous fare like ‘Babes on Swing Street’ [1944] before Ann Blyth got to sink her teeth into the plum role in the film ‘MILDRED PIERCE.’ Ann Blyth is so convincingly evil, mean-spirited, and obnoxious in the role that her peers nominated her for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar® Academy Awards.
Monty's Beach House, used in the key opening scene was actually owned by the film director Michael Curtiz. It was built in 1929 and stood at 26652 Latigo Shore Dr. in Malibu. Tragically, after a week of heavy storms in January 1983, it collapsed into the ocean. Other than a brief appearance in Warner Bros. film ‘Hollywood Canteen,’ and was the first that Joan Crawford made for Warner Bros. According to information included in the file on the film in the Warner Bros. Collection, James M. Cain sent a first edition of the novel to Joan Crawford on March 7, 1946, which was inscribed, “To Joan Crawford, who brought Mildred Pierce Beragon to life just as I had always hoped she would be and who has my lifelong gratitude.”
Ironically, the film was made around the time Jack Warner asked the studio's cinematographers and art directors to “devise new means of cutting corners without losing any of the quality.” Apparently there was concern that too much detail was being used in sets, which in turn, took more time to light and thus slowed up production. Despite this proclamation, ‘MILDRED PIERCE.’ suffered no loss of set detail. Beneath its “film noir” lighting laid strikingly complex settings like the Monty's Beach House. So essential to the plot that it opens the film and the beach house is a twisting maze of rooms and staircases that perfectly represents the Art Direction of Anton Grot's desire to build “menace into the sets.”
Producer Jerry Wald was keen to exploit the potential of James M. Cain's novel. He envisaged the idea of a climactic murder, then restructuring the story using flashbacks. He also infused the project with a higher moral tone that is in the original novel. With these changes, he was able to extract a cautious go-ahead from the Breen Office, which then prompted studio head Jack L. Warner to approve the purchase rights to the novel in early 1944.
Eight different screenplays from a succession of writers were written before Ranald MacDougall's version was accepted. The film's release was deliberately held back until September 1945 in the hopes that it would find a more sympathetic audience in a post-war atmosphere. Jack L. Warner originally wanted Vincent Sherman to direct the film but Jerry Wald held out for Michael Curtiz.
MILDRED PIERCE MUSIC TRACK LIST
YOU MUST HAVE BEEN A BEAUTIFUL BABY (uncredited) (Music by Harry Warren and Lyrics by Johnny Mercer) [Played and sung at Wally's club toward the beginning. Also played when Veda and Ted are at Wally's club]
WALTZ IN E FLAT MAJOR (Grand valse brillante) (uncredited) (Music by Frédéric Chopin) [Played by Veda on the piano]
SOUTH AMERICAN WAY (uncredited) (Music by Jimmy McHugh and Lyrics by Al Dubin) [Played on the piano and sung by Ann Blyth and Jo Ann Marlowe]
IT CAN’T BE WRONG (uncredited) (Music by Max Steiner) [Played on the phonograph and at various times in the score]
PLEASE THINK OF ME (uncredited) (Written by Murray Mencher, Russ Morgan and Benny Davis) [Played on the jukebox at Mildred's restaurant and sung briefly by Jack Carson]
HOW SWEET YOU ARE (uncredited) (Music by Arthur Schwartz) [Played when Veda and Ted are dancing]
THE OCEAN ROLL (uncredited) (Music by Lucien Denni and Lyrics by Roger Lewis) [Sung by Ann Blyth onstage at Wally's club]
SWEET GEORGIA BROWN (uncredited) (Music by Maceo Pinkard and Ben Bernie) [Played by the band at Wally's club after Veda's number]
* * * * *
Blu-ray Image Quality – With the collaboration of Warner Bros. and The Criterion Collection presents ‘MILDRED PIERCE’ in its original 1.37:1 aspect ratio. The new digital Black-and-White transfer was created in 4K resolution on a Lasergraphics Director film scanner at Motion Picture Imaging in Burbank, California, from a primarily 35mm original nitrate camera negative. Some sequences, including the entire last reel of the film, were scanned from a 35mm safety fine-grain master held by the Museum of Modern Art in New York and a 35 mm safety fine-grain master. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices and warps were manually removed using a MTI Film’s DRS, while Digital Vision’s Phoenix and used to remove jitter, flicker, small dirt, and grain and noise management. The black-and-white image looks gloriously film-like lovely sheen that enhances the ritzy costumes and sets. Blacks are rich, whites err a tad on the harsh side, and a wide-ranging grey scale supplies necessary depth and detail. Shadow patterns resist shimmering, and no age-related nicks, lines, or scratches dot the print and without a doubt, the ‘MILDRED PIERCE’ makeover is a totally resounding success, and fans of this classic “film noir” psychological drama the fans of this cult classic film should not hesitate to upgrade to this Criterion Blu-ray disc.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Here Warner Bros. and The Criterion Collection presents us with a 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio experience. The monaural soundtrack was remastered from a 35mm soundtrack print created in 2002 by YCM Laboratories in Burbank, California from the variable-area original soundtrack negative. Clicks, thumps, his, hum and crackle were manually removed using the Pro Tools HD and the iZotope RX. The result is often vibrant sound filled with nuance and tonal depth. Superior fidelity and a pleasing dynamic range beautifully render Max Steiner's lush, melodramatic, and string-laden music film score, and all the delicious dialogue is clear and easy to comprehend. Ambient effects like the busy restaurant, driving rain, and the gentle waves of the Pacific lapping against the Malibu sand supply essential atmosphere, and sonic accents like gunfire, facial slaps, footsteps against pavement, ticking clocks, and the rustling of newspaper pages are all crisp and distinct. Audio experience plays a very important role in the film ‘MILDRED PIERCE’ gives you this top-quality remastered sound track passes every test with flying colours, and worthy of an upgrade to this Criterion Blu-ray disc.
* * * * *
Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed 1.0 LPCM monaural soundtrack
Special Feature: Molly Haskell and Robert Polito [2016] [1080p] [1.78:1] [1.37:1] [22:59] With this featurette we have a conversation between Molly Haskell and Robert Polito that was recorded for The Criterion Collection in 2016. With this new interview with the critics Molly Haskell and Robert Polito where they discuss the novel “Mildred Pierce” and compare the film’s adaptation by director Michael Curtiz from the original novel, and explain how this classic upends the conventions of the women’s picture and how the toxic mother-daughter relationship in the film compares to the one in James M. Cain’s novel. Critics Molly Haskell and Robert Polito also goes into great detail with the film’s enduring appeal, and especially Joan Crawford’s work. Molly Haskell and Robert Polito explain how this classic upends the conventions of the women’s picture and how the toxic mother-daughter relationship in the film compares to the one in James M. Cain’s novel. It is an effusive praise rather than insightful critique, but all in all a very engaging watch nonetheless. Throughout the conversation we get to view some wonderful black-and-white photographs from the film and we also get to view a plethora of clips from the film.
Special Feature: Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Movie Star [2002] [1080i] [1.37:1] [87:06] With this featurette we get to view a feature-length 2002 Turner Classic Movies, Turner Entertainment Co., and a FITZFILM Production documentary that was directed by Peter Fitzgerald, and covers the life and career of actress Joan Crawford. Narrated by Anjelica Huston and it features Joan Crawford’s friends, relatives and colleagues. In this documentary on the life of actress Joan Crawford, we learn why this actress should be remembered as the great actress that ever was, and not only as the “Mommie Dearest” caricature has that Joan Crawford has become famous for in the said film portrayal. Friends, fellow actors, directors, and others reminisce about their association with Joan Crawford, and numerous film clips show off her talent from her start in silent films to bad science fiction/horror movies at the end of her career. Daughter Christina Crawford even explains the origin of the phrase “No more wire hangers!” Contributors include: Bob Thomas [Joan Crawford Historian], Diane Baker [Actress/Co-Star: ‘The Best of Everything’ and ‘Strait-Jacket’], Betsy Palmer [Actress], Anna Lee [Actress: ‘What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?’], Christina Crawford [Daughter/Author of “Mommie Dearest”], Liz Smith [Columnist] (archive footage), Cliff Robertson [Actor: ‘Autumn Leaves’], Charles Busch [Playwright/Joan Crawford Historian], Anita Page [Actress/Joan Crawford Co-Star], Karen Swenson [Joan Crawford Historian], Vincent Sherman [Director], Sydney Guilaroff [Key M-G-M Hairstylist] (archive footage), Douglas Fairbanks Jr. [Actor/Husband 1975] (archive footage), Virginia Grey [Actress], Herbert Kenwith [Director/Friend], Dickie Moore [Actor: ‘The Bride Wore Red’], Ben Cooper [Actor], Margaret O’ Brien [Actress], Vincent Sherman [Director: ‘The Damned Don’t Cry’ / ‘Harriet Craig’], Ben Cooper [Co-Star: ‘Johnny Guitar’], Carleton Varney [Interior Designer], Judy Geeson [Actress/Co-Star: ‘Berserk!’], Peter Rogers [Friend] and Joan Crawford [Actress] (archive footage).
Special Feature: Excerpt of The David Frost Show featuring the actress Joan Crawford [1970] [480i] [1.37:1] [15:02] With this featurette we get to view that on the 8th January, 1970, actress Joan Crawford appeared on “The David Frost Show” where Joan Crawford discusses her role in the film ‘MILDRED PIERCE’ and the relationship with the film’s director Michael Curtiz. I found this intimate interview with Joan Crawford a very emotional experience.
Special Feature: Ann Blyth [2006] [480i] [1.371] [23:56] With this featurette we get to view that in July 2006, actress Ann Blyth appeared at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco for the screening of ‘MILDRED PIERCE,’ and was organised and recorded by Marc Huestis. With the actress Ann Blyth, we get to view an onstage Q&A with “film noir” expert and film historian Eddie Muller which was filmed after the screening of the film ‘MILDRED PIERCE,’ and it offers a few anecdotes about the film that Ann Blyth appeared in and to view the actress Ann Blyth on the stage was a really joyous experience and is a must view special.
Special Feature: Segment from an episode of The Today Show featuring “Mildred Pierce” novelist James M. Cain [1969] [480i] [1.37:1] [10:07] With this very short featurette we get to view that on 26 th November, 1969 the novelist James M. Cain discusses his career path to and from Hollywood, as well as his views on the place and impact of violence within the arts in this country. Here we have a really nice look at a more personal side of James M. Cain rather than specifically pertaining to the brilliant novel “Mildred Pierce.” With this conversation interview, the two discuss counterparty American youth culture and James M. Cain writing and despite it being very short, was quite interesting to hear James M. Cain interesting comments.
Theatrical Trailer [1945] [1080p] [1.37:1] [2:19] This is the Original Theatrical Trailer for the film ‘MILDRED PIERCE.’ Here Warmer Bros., invites you to witness the first scene of a motion picture the world will TALK ABOUT . . . It’s Joan Crawford in her most daringly different portrayal in ‘MILDRED PIERCE,’ which is a different kind of story from the pace-setting studios of Warner Bros.!
PLUS: The Blu-ray disc includes a brilliant illustrated leaflet featuring an in-depth essay by critic Imogen Sara Smith entitled A WOMAN'S WORK. Imogen Sara Smith is also of “In Lonely Places: Film Noir Beyond the City” and “Buster Keaton: The Persistence of Comedy.” Imogen Sara Smith writings that has been in the publications Film Comment, Sight & Sound, Cineaste, Film Quarterly, Reverse Shot and other publications. Plus: Special Thanks, Acknowledgments, Production Credits and About The Transfer.
BONUS: Brand New Designed Blu-ray cover by Sean Phillips. Sean Phillips is a collage artist and graphic designer who was born and raised in Corpus Christi, TX, but now resides in Bakersfield, California. Sean Phillips received a Bachelor of Science degree in graphic design from The Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Sean Phillips often works in graphic design, his true passion and artistic drive lies in the art of collage. To Sean Phillips, feels collage is playful and dramatic, even surreal and absurd. Sean Phillips focus is on creating works that are, often times, controversial but hold a sense of dark beauty with a vintage sense of design. Working with torn paper, scissors, and glue, he works to create art that speaks out to viewer, stirring emotions and thoughts to ideas that seem to take their place on the backburner of society.
Finally, ‘MILDRED PIERCE’ is a brilliant and an unusual “film noir,” and the film is rooted in the shadowy alleyways of “film noir” and the director, Michael Curtiz, and the cinematographer, Ernest Haller, use the darkest possible compositions, while the composer, Max Steiner, overlays a driving, downbeat, relentless score to add to the oppression. A perfectly assembled Warner Bros. contract stable supporting cast, including Eve Arden as the heroine's traditional wisecracking girlfriend are exactly right as a collection of variously feckless, selfish, flawed characters. This is a film full of night and rain, of trapped characters struggling against their situations, dragged down by their weaknesses. But ‘MILDRED PIERCE’ is at least as much a woman's picture as it is a fully justifiable “film noir,” and Mildred Pierce the mother, can be redeemed because her maternal love, though misguided, is untainted by sin and her essential strength of character, the quality which makes her film heroine material and the quintessential Joan Crawford role, is rewarded in the understated but emotive fade-out by the implication of a bright future. ‘MILDRED PIERCE’ is an enthralling piece of filmmaking, a moving melodrama immersed with a noir murder mystery. A classic given new life by a stunning Criterion release, backed up by a host of amazing extras that offer a greater insight into the extraordinary career of Joan Crawford. Very Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
