Joan Crawford, Sudden Fear

The other week, I had a dream in which I was terrorized by Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford. I remember little about the dream outside of the fact that Faye/Joan was incensed about something and screaming at me about it - her face terrifying, flush with fury.

It goes without saying that the symbolism of "angry Joan Crawford," made possible by Mommie Dearest, has ingratiated itself into, and endured as a component of, Crawford's legacy. Crawford's bitter rivalry with Bette Davis stands as another component of this legacy, recently publicized and manifested by Ryan Murphy's Feud: Bette & Joan. It's safe to say that these properties have helped immortalize Crawford to the collective wisdom as a dramatic public figure, her prowess as a skilled dramatic actress known more so to cinephiles and actressphiles such as myself (and perhaps you, dear reader).

I myself am guilty of forgetting about Crawford's talents as an actress, even though I really ought to know better by now. Sudden Fear, Crawford's last Academy Award-nominated performance, is a palpable reminder that there's much more to the actress beyond the feuds, the grandeur, the tempestuousness, the pettiness.

Joan Crawford, Possessed

as LOUISE HOWELL

Possessed opens with Joan Crawford's Louise wandering around town in a state of disarray, a not-so-subtle imitation of the opening for Mildred Pierce. In that moment I recall some skepticism on my end--was a this an afterglow nomination stemming from the leftover goodwill from her recent Oscar win? Would this film be a casual attempt to imitate something that had already been done, that I had already seen?

Joan Crawford, Mildred Pierce

as MILDRED PIERCE

Won: Academy Award - Best Actress

Mildred Pierce is the film that Joan Crawford is known for. In many ways, the iconography of Mildred in the film nails the image in my head of what I think Crawford to really be--seeing Crawford, steely eyed, stroll about and into a police station, adorned with fur all over her body, only reiterates the perception of Crawford as a glamorous Old-Hollywood icon. On the flip side, seeing this woman play submissive to the characters and circumstances within the film completely contradicts the Mommie Dearest image that has ingrained itself onto Crawford's legacy. In other words, she is as expected and is as not expected here--but overall, she's magnificent.