Joan Crawford & Jack Palance are newlyweds from hell in "Sudden Fear!"

Two of the most terrifying faces ever to grace the big screen

Loved it and that scene when she imagines being thrown out the window scared me more than most horror movies.

This film is great fun. Crawford is practically drooling over Palance while looking every inch a bull dagger. dyke.

Here's an excellent, free copy of "Sudden Fear" from YouTube...

One of my favourite noirs and a wonderful performance by Joan.

I remember someone on here recounting that Joan was initially outraged the studio paired her with a non-traditionally handsome leading man, with her screeching "How can you do this to A Queen?!"

I love how Joan's lingerie provider gets its own credit in the opening titles.

This was on TCM just last week. I forgot which host introduced the movie, but the host said Crawford and Palance got along quite well on the set and both enjoyed the experience.

Didn't Joan fuck him?

I LURVE a good Joan Crawford melodrama, but I've tried to watch a few times and cant get into it. Maybe I'll get drunk and try it again tonight.

R9 it's great after you get to the first twist and Joanie is a woman-in-peril!

Excellent, but FEMALE ON THE BEACH is my favorite JC film.

Jack Palance is all cheekbones, cat like appearance. Strange looking.

Joan's last Oscar nomination.

She's wonderful in this - getting to play a heroine who takes charge. This was a change of pace for her as she played a lot of Bitch roles in the late '40s and '50s.

I actually enjoyed most my dramatic performances both in films and at home when I’d slap everybody.

I actually feel like Joan would have met her match with Palance off-screen, like he would have made her back down in a way no other man could.

Supposedly Joan disliked Palance, but I think she still would have had hate sex with him. Bette Davis claimed Crawford would—and did—bed everyone. Except for Bette, who rejected her advances.

With Touch Connors, Ado Annie, and Bert Pierce!

I love how Joan is in her frilly nightie phase in the '50s. Supposed to look more fem, to offset her butch hair and makeup...

The fashions of the 1950s flattered JC but she had ongoing hair and eyebrow issues, too severe

Yes, she was a 50 year old newlywed... I believe it was a comedy.

If Joan had a softer hairstyle and tamed eyebrows she would have still looked great as she aged.

Yes, less makeup would have only helped. Here's Joan, still sporting those ankle straps, in a key scene!

Where's the love for Gloria Grahame? She's wonderful in this. ("Kiss me. HARD.")

I luv you OP

Most women can't wear shoes with ankle straps

OP covers Humoresque alert !

Thanks for the Humoresque shout out review. One of Joan's very best vehicles! And one of her last stellar leading men in John Garfield!

Gloria Grahame's sarcasm offers some comic relief between Joan and Jack's glowering! Also, I wanna know more about that house on Fire Island!

OP, I needed this thread tonight. Thank you.

Gloria Grahame is a delectably evil little minx in this!

Joan and John on fire

Sudden Fear is also on Tubi as well as YouTube. I think the three stars, Crawford, Palance, and Grahame make this triangle sizzle...

Holy shit…I don’t remember this.

This looks like prime, hardened middle-aged Joan.

The montage of Joan’s character setting up Gloria Grahame’s is pretty delicious. Grahame ends up sentenced to death and shrieks in agony and disbelief. It’s so good.

Cunty Joan was always the best Joan.

The scene where ever-efficient Joan reviews her death plan list the way it's SUPPOSED to go is great fun, with her tormentors perishing in agony is a hoot!

Which scared her more, the wind up toy dog or being in the closet, take after take?

[quote]The fashions of the 1950s flattered JC but she had ongoing hair and eyebrow issues, too severe

Yes, it's odd that she looked so much younger ten years later with her softer, lighter hair and new facelift.

I have to laugh at the idea that Joan uses her playwriting skills to imagine how she can get rid of Jack and Gloria on schedule.

Eyebrows and hair issues r37

The genre cliche of Joan stepping on the tail of a cat when she is trying to hide from Jack.

R39

Who is that harlot?

I don’t recognize her, and we’ve never met!

[quote]Yes, it's odd that she looked so much younger ten years later with her softer, lighter hair and new facelift.

I think that was mostly due to the daily Pepsi douches.

Jack Palance would have made a wonderful Dracula.

R8 Is the Pope Catholic?

R43 it looks as though he did.

Which other Joan movies are similar to this one please?

Maybe Female on the Beach but she plays a tougher character in that.

This movie has so many wonderful scenes for Joan it's no surprise that she was Oscar nominated.

Shirley Booth won this year for Come Back, Little Sheba

Joan and Bette Davis competed against each other that year for the Oscar. Bette was nominated for The Star.

"The Damned Don't Cry" and "This Woman is Dangerous" both have a bit in common with "Sudden Fear," in the sense she's fighting for her life with a tough, shady leading man. David Brian, in both cases! My take here...

R8- Women don't fuck ( unless the hetero man is into getting fucked by a woman who dons a strap on) they get fucked.

According to Jack Palance, Joan Crawford and Gloria Grahame did not get along and got into a physical altercation at one point during the filming. The fight started after Grahame sat on the edge of the set during one of Crawford's close-ups and very loudly sucked a lollipop in an attempt to anger Crawford. It worked, and Palance noted that the all-male crew watched the fight for a few moments rather curiously before stepping in to break it up.

Thanks R51 I love your site!

Reply 54, Thank you, or as Joan would say, Bless you!

In Joan's first memoir, she said that Palance was quoted that he found her individual greetings to the crew each morning phony. Crawford wrote that she meant every one of those greetings, dammit! As for Gloria sucking a lollipop, did it belong to Jack? Joan seemed to forget when she was clacking her knitting needles like Madame Defarge during dear Norma's close-ups on "The Women."

Thanks OP , I'm one quarter of the way with this and savoring it. Joans acting in this is really good, I loved how she played the genuinely interest love starved write. The way she would look at him when he said his calculated flattery. She ate that up!

A classique! A CLASSIQUE!!!!!

She has a great scene on a staircase. Two actually. One where she deliberately falls to show her ankle is injured. But the earlier one is when she catches Jack leaving town and asks him to stay.

[quote]r16 = Except for Bette, who rejected her advances.

And Lassie.

r22/Rick, the story is that she had small feet and preferred them as her foot wouldn't slip out of the shoe while filming a scene.

Speaking of Joan's lists...

I once won a door prize in a video store because (to the host's shock) I could actually answer the trivia question: "In what TWO movies did Joan Crawford play someone with the last name 'Hudson'?"

MARY!!!!!!

Is Sudden Fear Joan's version of Helenesque?

Another memorable list got published by Life mag, JC's "rider" of her various needs while promoting "Strait Jacket" and Pepsi. It puts rock stars to shame!

I remember that, Rick.

Joan wanted Clark Gable, and then Marlon Brando, for Sudden Fear. She had to settle for Jack Palance. To add insult to injury, he wouldn't even sleep with her. It infuriated her that he was sleeping with her younger co-star, Gloria Grahame. Joan was not used to be rejected by her leading men.

JC's choices for Lester were unrealistic to say the least... one was too old and one was too hot. By this point, Joan expected either the director, producer, or co-star to sleep with her to feel in control. Wasn't "Touch" Connors up to the task?

One of her best films.

His nose obviously was receding from her in terror.

Myra's play sounds like a stinker.

Lester Blaine: [Quoting Myra's play] When I wake in the morning, when I go to sleep at night, I think of you. You're like the air which surrounds me, the sky which spreads above me, the earth beneath my feet. When I hear music, when I see beauty, when I breathe in the sunlight, I think of you. You are the sister I never had, the mother I have almost forgotten, the wife I have always dreamed of. There isn't a relationship you can name which exists between a man and a woman of which I wouldn't say let it be you. Let it be you.

It's was no Over The Teacups or The Most Happy Fella!

She needs another hit the way Rockefeller needs another million!

Jack is off book in the opening rehearsal scene but he isn't savvy enough to get out of the shadow of his leading lady.

This one, Autumn Leaves, and Female On The Beach I get mixed up on. They’re like the same movie with different men and and locales.

Yes, Joan and her leading men in the '50s was adversarial. And Joan always won because she's bigger and stronger!

I wonder if Myra Hudson ever wrote anything for Helen Lawson?

Would this be Joan's ALL ABOUT EVE?

It was a shame she left that perfectly good shite silk scarf in the gutter

*white!

Good Lord, what would Joan say about my language!

R80: Nothing. Loretta Young, on the other hand would be browbeating you with her "swear jar".

What [bold][italic]DID[/italic][/bold] Joanie think about All About Eve and Bette's performance?

Dammit, DL -- bring the editing tools into the 21st century!

R82: She was probably jealous. Such a great part with excellent writing and the younger leading man was believable and intrinsic to the plot in a way that Joan's Cougar romances were not. Of course, Joan probably thought that her role would be "Eve".

The scene where she realizes that her husband and his mistress are planning to kill her is camp acting at its finest. The buggy eyes, hands running through her hair and placing her hands over her mouth. It’s almost as ridiculous as Doris Day’s breakdown scene in MIDNIGHT LACE.

Here's Joan and Jack playing cat and mouse, with Joan stepping on some poor feline's tail with her fuck me shoe! This apartment house must have been a home for the deaf community, not a single light goes on during their ruckus!

Here's the kitty scene!

Sudden Fear is always available for viewing on Tubi, it's worth watching if you enjoy old school films.

Here's the Life article about her promotion tour for Strait Jacket and her rider list, of course vodka and Pepsi are included.

'MISS CRAWFORD IS A STAR IN EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD AND EVERYONE KNOWS SHE IS A STAR. AS A PARTNER IN THIS FILM, MISS CRAWFORD WILL NOT APPRECIATE YOUR THROWING AWAY MONEY ON EMPTY GESTURES. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO MAKE EMPTY GESTURES TO MISS CRAWFORD OR ANYONE ELSE TO PROVE MISS CRAWFORD IS A STAR OF THE FIRST MAGNITUDE."

He sounds romantic enough. Just doesn't look romantic... We've got to convince the audience that this character could recite Three Blind Mice to Laura and she would think it was the romantic poem in the world. He has to be the kind of charm boy that makes every woman in the audience sit up and go MMM the instant he walks on that stage....I've watched him from every section in this theatre and I'm sorry but he's just not right for the part!

...and Joan applied that rigorous critique to all of her leading men, especially the latter day charm boys!

She could have made From Here To Eternity and (tried to) sample Burt Lancaster's delicious cock!

Wasn't Joan up for Burt's part?

Lol R94

She´s wearing glasses so we know she´s smart and of a certain age.

One of my favourite movie cliches

[quote] In Joan's first memoir, she said that Palance was quoted that he found her individual greetings to the crew each morning phony. Crawford wrote that she meant every one of those greetings, dammit!

No dummy her. Joan knew that if the crew loved you, you would never have to be worried about be poorly lit or shot from an unflattering angle. I'm sure she was sincere, but it was also self-serving. I've heard other smart actresses, especially of a certain age, going out of their way to be nice to the crew and learn everyone's name.

Barbara Stanwyck was also nice to the film crews.

Barbara Stanwyck was Joan Crawford without the pretensions...

I love the spinster specs

Agreed r99.

This hooty moment follows the superb scene where Joan's heiress/playwright finds out her young hubby plans on killing her for her money: Joan cowering on a day bed, imagining the various ways Jack Palance could kill her. Bug-eyed with fear, Norma Desmond-style!

Are you sure, r102?

I'll try it one more time, for Myra's sake!

Mary Crosby is a shit actress.

R105 is Mary Crosby, the other one.

Say I exercised the dramatist's privilege of cast approval.

What is that hair style she is wearing at r96? It looks like the "Ethel Mertz ," a beanie in a bed of fluffy curls. If there a name for that do?

I love the intense eye contact while she wordlessly waits for him to light her ciggies. " I want you so deep in me!". I almost had to turn away to give them some privacy.

Do you play stud poker?

[quote] Joan knew that if the crew loved you, you would never have to be worried about be poorly lit or shot from an unflattering angle. I'm sure she was sincere, but it was also self-serving.

This is true. In her book, she explained building comradery with the crew was something she worked very hard at. Being from an abusive background building trust was difficult for her.

It started at the beginning of her career. During all those 1000s of test and publicity photos MGM took they discovered something strange - that she never took a bad picture. Because she was easy to light and make up it made the crew's life easier and she became one of "them".

[quote] she never took a bad picture

Well, up until that last one in 1974...

She was one of George Hurrell’s favorite actors to photograph.

^ Nude

Let's play the match game.

I've never thought much of Joan as an actor, but having just watched this for the first time and noticing she spends the better part of the last half of the film acting alone, she does a pretty good job of it (with some noticable exceptions). I had an on-camera acting teacher tell me once that acting by yourself on-screen is the most difficult and pointed out Diane Lane's performance in Unfaithful as a masterclass in it.

Palance also gives off major BDE

I like people who make up their minds and stick to it, whatever the odds.

Actually, Jack was fucking his co-star Gloria Graham who's also terrific in the film

Fun fan trailer

It's been such a delightful breakfast, Miss Hudson. Let's keep it that way.

Gowns by Sheila O'Brien

Hair by Concrete

One of her better performances. She was able to drop most of her JOAN CRAWFORD mannerisms. Her best are A Woman's Face. That was before JOAN CRAWFORD. Then Humoresque. When she was able to drop all of her JOAN CRAWFORD mannerisms.

What do you consider JC mannerisms?

She's keeping an eye on us from heaven I'm sure

She´s forcing us to sit on plastic covered clouds and since she got mad at the dust, Petrus is in a very bad mood.

Crawford mannerisms? Stiffness, shoulder pads, exaggerated enunciation, going bug-eyed, sucking in cheeks, fiddling with her accoutrements, thinking her eyebrow movements speak volumes, a smile two inches too big, you know them when you see them. That being said I love her.

I'm going to show you a part of Chicago you never dreamed existed. Sports, the theatre, the Roman arena all rolled into one.

"An acting school for wrestlers!"

It's all part of the theatre that's why I knew you'd be interested.

Why do I work? Why I suppose it's a desire to achieve. To earn my keep. To stand on my own two feet instead of my father's fortune. And to make my own place in the world. Does that make sense to you?

"Rain" is on TCM this morning. Playing a whore again -- not a stretch for her.

"Oh, I wish Daddy could be here right now!"

"Rain" should have been a no-brainer for Joan, but director Lewis Milestone left her to her devices and Crawford gives an amateur's idea of great acting. Even as the garish Sadie in her pre-redemption scenes, surprisingly. Here's my comparison of Joan's "Rain" and Bette's "Bondage."

Personal achievement. It's what we all want each in our own way. Though to be honest if I'd inherited all that money I'm not sure I'd have the character.

Look. A lot of little cells and glands and molecules get together and spell out Lester Blaine. There's no other person in the whole that exactly duplicates you. Two billion one hundred and seventy-four people but only one Lester Blaine.

... the whole world...

I'll travel part of the way with you on that idea. Two billion one hundred and seventy-four million people in the world and only one Myra Hudson.

Jack Palance is so sexy to me. My lust started with “The Big Knife” and has only increased after watching this. I don’t think Joan looked that bad in this movie. There were moments when I thought “wow, she’s beautiful.” She reminded me of an elegant egret.

She was beautiful. Then she took on that sophisticated shop girl persona. It was downhill from there. She was her most beautiful when she was actually in love.

R140 will you please tell me when and why she adopted the shop girl persona? Was it The Women? Did the studio think that’s what the public wanted from her? How did that impact her beauty? I’m young-ish and don’t know a lot about her career outside of the Mommie Dearest/Feud highlights. I’ve seen most of her well-known movies. I think. I’m going to watch humoresque next.

She should have worn glasses more. It softened her.

She did take on her frau look a bit after The Women. She wanted her female fans to think she was just like them. Only a little better. No studio ever worked on Joan's image. It was all her. She looks completely different in any pictures that she's in with Fairbanks Jr. I guess love can do that. He was beautiful.

The "shopgirl" thing happened well before The Women, the key word being "girl." Basically anything post Our Dancing Daughters through to Rain would be Joan's "shopgirl" period. She was long in the tooth by The Women and had already become a leading lady. She was primarily cast in more blue collar or middle class leading ladies and not Grand Dames ala Norma Shearer, but she wanted to be a Grand Dame, hence, her hate for Shearer.

She had it in her contract that she needed to be referred to as a girl at least once in all her pictures.

à la

Always preferred Crawford as a working girl than her attempts at playing ladies with her faux British diction...

[quote] No studio ever worked on Joan's image. It was all her.

She took advantage of what the studios could offer in terms of development and worked with the best. She was lucky, not the most gorgeous or talented. MGM had a field day with her. There was something alchemical about the way she looked on film. She could dance and had a wonderful speaking voice.

That documentary The Ultimate Movie Star mentions the shopgirl phase, and then her telling Mayer - No more goddam shopgirls!

She could dance

Could she?

she was actually cute there.

Crawford fans can look forward to what is arguably her best 1930s movie (and probably her best '30s performance) in the film Letty Lynton, which is set to be re-released after the copyright expires next year.

Joan's grandson Casey LaLonde has been pushing for a restoration for the past decade.

She's great in every scene. In the restaurant scene, nobody orders items from the menu as well as Joan: "Consommé... Chicken salad... Sherbet and COR-FEE".

You'll love my San Francisco...Is that a wedding ring?

A friend of mine met Jack Palance. My friend asked how it was working with Joan Crawford. His reply: She could suck start a lawnmower.

I'm looking forward to the restored Letty Lynton.

she was so fucking beautiful in A Woman's Face

I don't think Jack liked Joan's lady-like airs...

The skies are painted with a thousand sparks. They are all fire and every one doth shine. But there's but one in all doth hold his place.

Julius Caesar, third act, scene two.

So tickled that this cool thread is continuing past election day. Just what I needed to keep my sanity. Thank you, ricksrealreel. (Another fan of your website).

Thank you, Reply 160! I've got nearly 20 posts on Joan Crawford on my blog, hope you've checked them out!

"Sudden Fear!" is so much fun.

If you can get into classic melodrama you'll watch it ten times. Visually it is an expertly crafted film, and the last fifteen minutes deliver big time. Joan is at her very best in the perfect role for her and Palance and Graham are just as good. It all works.

I bet here's one you don't know. Burn this night with torches and know my heart's well of tomorrow.

That Joan loved her some Bill Shakespeare!

He calls every night. He wouldn't be two hours late unless something had happened. I must go to him.

IRENE!

Your thread is grayed out, not sure why

Here's a nice appreciation

Lester - Where have you been? I've been calling and calling. Why haven't you answered?

Why is this wonderful thread grayed out?

It's grayed out probably because the OP made a post in a political thread that pissed off the deranged Trump hating gals.

Oh, no! I'm a Trump-hating gal, but that's not right. This thread got me through election day in one piece!

OP, your movie blog is fantastic. I love the post you had yesterday about the diva Columbo episodes (Janet Leigh and Anne Baxter). I don't know what you said on the other thread, but it can't be so bad. Gosh.

I'll never understand why Joan considered Norma Shearer her great rival at MGM when Joan would have so clearly been up against Jean Harlow for the same starring roles. While I can't imagine Joan would have ever been considered for The Barretts of Wimpole Street, Marie Antoinette, Strange Interlude, Romeo & Juliet, Smilin' Through or even Private Lives, I can easily see her in Red Dust, Reckless, Hold Your Man, Red-Headed Woman and any number of Harlow vehicles. Joan must have really resented the Gable/Harlow films, which were just as popular has hers with Gable.

Did Joan ever speak publicly of Harlow, even after Harlow's death? Did anyone ever dare ask her about Harlow? I've never found any quotes.

btw, just joining in, this is a fabulous thread!

R141, women often worked as “shopgirls,” in part, to meet men with money. A woman who had grown up working class couldn’t just waltz into a job as a secretary; she would have to take her chances working behind a perfume counter, which is what Joan’s character in The Women did. Max Ophuls’s Caught (1949) is one of the few Hollywood films that focuses on this worked. In it, Barbara Bel Geddes plays a poor girl who dreams of being rich. She improves herself by learning middle class manners and becomes a model in a department store parading around in furs and evening gowns. One day, a man who works for a Howard Hughes-like millionaire shows up and selects girls for a yacht party. The opportunity to trade sex for access to money has presented itself. Bel Geddes meets and charms the millionaire himself, but he’s played by Robert Ryan so you know things are going to get scary pretty quickly.

The best example of that is Barbara Stanwyck in Baby Face. Talk about a brilliant movie.

^ I love Caught. Good movie.

Except Barbara Bel is rather a plain Jane for Robert Ryan to become obsessed over.

Caught trailer

Crawford's 1930s "shop girl" films were the perfect opportunity for MGM's costume designer extraordinaire to dress Joan in a simple Chanel little black dress (sometimes with a white collar) at the start of the film and then transform her in extraordinary gowns once her character found fame, riches and love, and often all three. Though Joan had far from a perfect figure, she knew how to wear what Adrian designed, and female audiences went wild.

I believe the white organza ruffled Letty Lynton gown inspired and sold more copies, both legitimate and fake, than any other woman's garment in film history. The wildly exaggerated ruffled sleeves brought on the craze for shoulder pads, which seemed to contrast a tiny waist and narrow hips, even when they were anything but.

Was Joan the original clothes horse?

Garbo wore some chic duds in her contemporary films.

R173, Joan wanted to play the grand dame roles that Shearer played, despite not being right for them. Like many actors, Joan was a bit deluded about her capacity to pull off certain parts and told herself the reason she wasn't getting these "great parts" (many of Shearer's roles in the mid-30s were adaptations of stage properties) was because Shearer was Thalberg's wife. As you said, Harlow and Joan were much more similar types and then in the '40s Lana Turner became the Crawford type at MGM. Joan and Norma were never going to play the same parts, but I think that Joan told herself that they were since at the time Shearer's projects were 'prestige,' though now, most of them haven't aged all to well. Shearer was better in her early '30s roles when her characters had a bit more of an edge to them. Ultimately it was Greer Garson and not Joan who took over for Norma as the Grand Dame of MGM.

But I haven't even got my lipstick on. A woman has to wear lipstick. I feel positively naked without it.

r182, but what about Joan's perspective on Harlow? It's odd that her opinions on Harlow were never documented. Joan certainly talked about Garbo and Shearer and other MGM colleagues in interviews.

R184, I assume because Harlow died so young and tragically, Joan didn't really say much either way. Had she lived and continued to serve as a rival for parts, Joan would have had plenty to say. I think there are some mentions of Joan's views on Harlow in some of her bios, but I suspect that, much like her perceived rivalry with Norma, it was much later that all of this info came to light and was promulgated and because of Jean's early demise, Joan's biographer's probably let it lay.

Was Harlow really ever a rival of Crawford's? Crawford was a real beauty and photographed like a dream. Harlow was an abysmal actress when she started out--her scenes in Public Enemy, as critics have pointed out, are almost laughable--and her looks very meh. (Her figure was not athletic like Crawford's and her face like a pug dog's.)

Joan should have been offered Sunset Boulevard

How could Harlow not have been considered a major rival to Crawford, if for nothing else, regularly co-starring opposite the King of Hollywood, Clark Gable?

What other brilliant roles could Joan have played to give her filmography the respect it deserves?!

I've been running up and down these steps even since I was 12.

[quote]Was Joan the original clothes horse?

Well, she was a certain part of a horse anyway.

[quote]What other brilliant roles could Joan have played to give her filmography the respect it deserves?!

"Crawford's 50-Load Weekend"

I still can't believe she roamed the highways drunk, letting any rough man have his way with her and use her like a filthy cumrag. She deserved better.

R190 should be ...ever since...

Hi, I was given a DL timeout. I have no idea why as I was never told why. PS, I am not a Trumpster. I'm also pretty even-handed about my comments, so I'm at a total loss. But thanks for keeping this thread going.

Oh, damn, R195, I got timed-out the other day, too! Very weird and unexpected. I was posting about sandwiches or whatever and BOOM! You do not have permission to post replies at this time.....AARGHHH!

Glad you're back. Been looking at your website some more. What an outstanding and thoughtful compilation of pieces on classic film and television. Just wonderful. Bravo to you for what you're doing.

Reply 196, Thanks, much appreciated! Maybe I should stick to commenting about movies!

That's pretty shitty

Remember what Nietzsche said - live dangerously.

So true! "This Woman Lives Dangerously" is one of my favorite Crawford films!

R197, DL, like life, is arbitrary and unpredictable. You have to persevere. I’ve enjoyed all of your reviews, but Joan seems to bring out your best writing.

Mrs Blaine, you're about to be dumped!

[quote]So true! "This Woman Lives Dangerously" is one of my favorite Crawford films!

Oh. Is that the sequel to "This Woman Is Dangerous"?

If you want to see the girl next door, go next door.

Thanks, r175. I watched [italic]Caught[/italic] tonight on Roku. I'd never heard of it before, but I liked it. The cast includes Curt Bois, who played the pickpocket in [italic]Casablanca[/italic].

An old friend of mine married a San Francisco girl. It was in all the New York papers. Good picture of both of them, isn't it?

I love Gloria Grahame needling Jack Palance over Joan Crawford in this movie... and am dying to know what happened at that house on Fire Island!!!

R207 which movies should Joan have done?

I think Joan and Clark could have been great in "The Postman Always Rings Twice" if it had been filmed in the mid-30s. Joan might have made a great Karen Holmes in "From Here to Eternity," if she'd dropped the '50s drag and her attitude, but turned it down over wardrobe... legend has it... And I think Joan would have been just as fun and looked better doing it, in "Dead Ringer," instead of Bette Davis.

I love this film and most of Crawford's 50s output. I watch Sudden Fear, Harriet Craig, Female On The Beach, Johnny Guitar, Torch Song, and The Autumn Leaves at least once a year. They are just endlessly entertaining and watchable!

Very excited to hear about Letty Lynton getting a possible official release, too! I hope it is restored.

You realize of course that your wife is s very wealthy woman.

I've never discussed it with her.

Harriet Craig is a big dud. Joan's about 32 years too old for the part.

*That* dress...

R210, Female on the Beach is a scream. Love that one

The '50s Joan movie that I found a dud was "Goodbye, My Fancy." The material was dreary and Joan didn't help here...

I don't like to use my wife's connections but unfortunately, I don't have any of my own.

Joan's slap in Queen Bee was the best slap ever filmed.

Dancing in the middle of the week. Made me feel like a debutant.

I always got the impression that Joan on-set with her male co-stars post-1950 was exactly like the Cheri Oteri, office 'flirt' Adele and that her male co-stars response to her unsubtle advances was the same as Adele's colleagues...

You know you're spoiling me for any other husband.

Is that what Joan said to Franchot between rounds of Shakespeare quotes?

I love you. So, I don't care what I think of you.

I can't think of anything more exciting than drinking champagne in a pretty woman's bedroom.

I can't think of anything more exciting than drinking champagne with you.

That Myra had a way with words... no wonder she was a playwright!

My husband on my death income 10,000 a year for life or until he remarries? Steve - I wouldn't do a thing like that to someone I love. Not for all the money in the world. I'm not going to hang onto any man from the grave. I'm astonished at you. Steve, all my life I've been rich. Nobody could give me anything. I had it all. But that wasn't enough. Then I met Lester. He filled my life completely. He gave me everything and took nothing. Only my love. And for the first time in my life I felt poor because that was all I had to give. And for the first time in my life I felt rich because he gave me so much in return.

Myra, you lambaste the daylights of any playwright who turned out dialogue like that.

Junior and I are going to Sacramento tomorrow.

Oh that sounds very gay!

Reading between the lines, sounds like Lester was into some kinky shit and was the first to give Myra the big O!

"I'm Mrs. Lester Blaine!"

Joan should have been Norma Desmond!

Queen Bee is excellent too. Harriet Craig? Excellent. JC made entertaining films.

I do hereby give and bequeath to my beloved husband Lester Blaine the income from all my play royalties. this income to be his in perpetuity and is not revocable on his remarriage after my death or during my lifetime should our marriage be dissolved. I'm not going to hang onto him from this side of the grave either.

I wonder if the real Joan was so noble when her marriage to Phillip Terry dissolved!

Upon my death all my real estate and investment holdings are to go to my husband as a small return for the happiness he has given me.

Wonder if Myra Hudson was related to Blanche and Jane? "Baby Jane Hudson made the money that paid for this house, that's who! You don't think I remember anything, do you, Myra?!"

R232, I wish I could remember where I read this, but some time ago, I read that Phil Terry walked away from his marriage to JC with a whole lotta cash. I'll see if I can find the source, but I remember this juicy nugget pretty clearly.

R232, this is not the exact source I'm remembering re: Phil Terry whole lotta cash, but the third-to-last paragraph (right before the photos section) refers to his large monetary settlement with Joan.

So many fine reasons in this world to choose Ring Dings over spouses!

Jack said his stage name rhymed with Balance. People continued to say Puh-LANCE.

It was so nice for Mrs. Blaine to ask me here tonight. (under her breath) I have to see you alone.

"It's a precipice!"

I was feeling very gay last night!

[quote]I wish I could remember where I read this, but some time ago, I read that Phil Terry walked away from his marriage to JC with a whole lotta cash.

No amount of money would be sufficient to compensate him for his suffering.

I don't think JC had a lot of dough to part with at this point...

This part of the loving bridegroom is beginning to crawl out of my ears.

Sometimes when I'm with her it's all I can do to keep from saying be yourself. Wise up. Love you? I never loved you. Never for one moment. I'd like to see her face.

[quote]I wish I could remember where I read this, but some time ago, I read that Phil Terry walked away from his marriage to JC with a whole lotta cash.

Apparently Phil and Joan remained quite friendly after their split.

Phillip Terry is the lead in one of my favorite Universal International horror titles "The Leech Woman" which I highly recommend.

the leech woman

Attack of the Giant Leeches

And you thought you were playing it so smart. Not taking anything from her. No presents, no jewelry, no handouts, no nothing.

Phillip Terry did a lot of Perry Mason episodes, too...

Hi everyone!!

Joan around this time ('57), giving an interview to a British telly journalist - doing it like no one does anymore!

You smeared my lipstick. I've got to fix it before somebody comes. Where's a mirror?

If that dirty double-crossing dame thinks she can -

Vlad she got that bitch as well for scheming behind her back. Just a pity she didn't give her a famous backhander

Crazy about you, I could break your bones.

Just watched it based on this thread. Loved the 50s San Francisco street scenes. The scene with Palance and the little wind-up dog was genuinely creepy and scary. Grand Guignol. The ending was too good to be true. Joan certainly knows how to suffer on screen.

It’s a really good, entertaining film, and she is very good in it.

Did any else gasp when she dropped the recording and it shattered?

It's got to look like an accident. A nice foolproof little accident. An accident. An accident. An accident! AN ACCIDENT! AN ACCIDENT!!!!!!! ACCIDENT! ACCIDENT! ACCIDENT!!!!!

R258, I loved watching her react to the shocking revelations on the recording and actually did think “oh no” when the recording smashed. The speed with which Joan’s thoughts moved is wonderful: darn, I’ve just destroyed the evidence, I better work up a plan to kill him.

As noted above, Joan's look in this flick was so severe. She could have enhanced her beauty greatly during this period of her life if she had worn her hair a bit longer (to the shoulders) and used much less makeup. She didn't really need makeup--her facial architecture and huge blue eyes did everything for her. Her freckles were actually lovely. In the few photos I've seen where she wore mininal makeup, she looked astonishingly beautiful.

Joan started to look quite severe with this movie and reached a peak in Female on the Beach but started to relax her looks again with Esther Costello.

actually did think “oh no” when the recording smashed.

I like how the music stopped at that moment.

Reply 261, Yes, Joan should have taken a less is more approach to aging, like her friend Barbara Stanwyck.

R261 post some pics please

R265, the linked photo is from the 1947 movie Possessed, where poor Joan lies strait-jacketed in the "psychopathic ward" of a hospital (my favorite film critic Molly Haskell got a good laugh out of that!), her face almost completely bare of make-up. I think she looks stunning.

Also wonderful for showcasing Crawford's natural beauty are the first scenes of The Damned Don't Cry, where her shoulder-length hair is styled naturally and her face bare. She was a completely natural beauty, for sure.

Hi, R265. It's me, R261, again. Thanks for putting up with my Crawford idolatry!

Here is a clip of a make-up-less Joan in The Damned Don't Cry. Holy mackerel, she is just so freaking gorgeous! Without an apparent stitch of make-up (although I'm sure she had some on--it was just very minimal).

I know it sounds crazy but I love it down by the bay in the winter. It's so quiet I can take walks along the waterfront.

Lester, I flushed three times and it still wouldn't go down, I don't know what to do. I'm a playwright not a plumber.

That picture looks like Urg the caveman lighting up a heater for Cro-Magnon girl.

I'll only have seagulls for company, like a Russian novel.

Why do you look at me like that?

I was just wondering what I'd done to deserve you.

Thanks R266 R267 she looks great there

You don't suppose she could suspect anything, do you?

Not the way I make love to her!

Lester, do you have a small shovel or a bucket I can use? I've flushed and I've flushed and it won't go down!

Ladies and Gentlemen: the Dell paperback cover of Edna Sherry's novel on which the movie was based:

Myra saving a girl from drowning is a plot point in the novel not in the movie.

I love how Myra wears her mink coat to visit Irene's apartment in the daytime. Plus having a monogramed letterhead seems to be a thing of the past.

Ah didn’t talk mid-Atlantic after a few cocktails.

Yes, I point out in my review a lot of things Myra uses to further her revenge plot are accessories or style that are long a thing of the past.

Worth watching many times over.....

Dinner and bridge.

Irene, I'm sorry I didn't know you were going to wear white tonight. If it's going to be embarrassing for you I can run upstairs and change in a second.

Oh no. You look so lovely, Myra.

Thank you.

Myra, I told you already, just grab a meat carving fork from the kitchen and break it up! It should flush if its in smaller pieces!

Hello?...Ok...It was the landlady. The radio's too loud.

Myra's mind is someplace else tonight. Come to the party, dear.

Happy Heavenly Birthday, Gloria Grahame! Who is quite snappy as Irene, the other woman of "Sudden Fear!"

Exercise is good for it.

Is it?

Keeps the circulation going.

Alright Irene. I'll try it.