Mildred Pierce (1945)

Star Rating: 3
Length of Film: 2 hours
Director: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, Eve Arden, Ann Blyth, Bruce Bennett, Lee Patrick, Moroni Olsen, Veda Ann Borg, & Jo Ann Marlowe
Oscar: Joan Crawford (Actress)
Oscar Nominations: Jerry Wald (Best Picture), Ranald MacDougall (Screenplay), Eve Arden (Actress in a Supporting Role), Ann Blyth (Actress in a Supporting Role), & Ernest Haller (Photography)


Mildred Pierce is a film based off of James M. Cain's novel, and HBO has recently made a miniseries starring Kate Winslet, Guy Pierce, and Evan Rachel Wood.

The movie starts off with gunshots, and Monte Beragon (Zachary Scott) is found dead on the floor. Police interrogate Mildred of the murder of her husband, and while she talks to the police about her life, the film flashbacks to past. Mildred is in a loveless marriage with a real estate broker, Bert Pierce (Bruce Bennett) who ends up leaving his wife, and two children; 16 year old Veda and 10 year old Kay. Veda is such a bitch! Her mother bought her a new dress, and left it on her bed. Veda runs up the stairs to see the dress, and doesn't have anything nice to say, she was very ungrateful and was nitpicking that it was "cheap".

Since her husband divorced her, Mildred and the girls were not being provided for; financially, Mildred decided to get a job as a waitress, something she hids from her daughters. Once she started making a steady income, she was able to hire a maid, Lottie (Butterfly McQueen). Mildred came home, and found Lottie wearing her waitress dress. She questioned Lottie and found out that Veda, gave her the dress and forced her to wear it, (see...bitchy!) Mildred questioned Veda on where she found the dress, and asked her why she went into her room. Veda smarted off to her mother and Mildred slapped her in the face.

After working in the restaurant business, she realized that there was a lot of financial perks in owning a restaurant. She went to her ex-husbands real estate partner, Wally Fay (Jack Carson) who propositioned Mildred with marriage, after learning that she and Bert were about to divorce. Fay helped Mildred find a property for her restaurant, a house owned by the smooth, duplicitous cad, Monte Beragon. Mildred bought the house, and opened a restaurant entitled "Mildred's", which ended up turning into a chain of restaurants. Mildred is finally financially secure to feed into her bratty, selfish daughter's efforts to climb the social ladder.

Monte Beragon, courts Mildred for years, and they end up getting married. Veda continues being selfish and vindictive, and ends up lying that she got pregnant to blackmail the father for $10,000! Keep in mind, this was set in the 1940's...CONTROVERSIAL!!! 

This movie is worth watching, just to see Veda, because she's such a bitch,and ...to find out who shot Monte.