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Mildred Pierce (1945)
A "noir" that's not really a noir, Mildred Pierce is at heart a tale of two women. A mother-daughter relationship that's about as toxic as one can get. Good thing I didn't decide to watch this with my mom on mother's day!
The noir feel to Mildred Pierce has more to do with the structure. It opens with a murder, and as Mildred is investigated, she tells the story of how it happened. Much like the plot of many, many, noirs, notably 1944's Double Indemnity. It came out only a year before this, so the comparison was likely.
But while I think Double Indemnity is the better film, Mildred Pierce is also the more emotional. It works better as a drama, a story of what we go through to please our loved ones, even if they don't love as back. Or how both love and greed blind us in different ways. At the heart is Joan Crawford's performance. She gives it her all, and to me she is ten times better in this than Johnny Guitar. And both performances are fantastic.
Another reason this is an "on-the-fence" noir is because, for much of it, it's a plain drama. It's actually pretty easy to predict the "twist" (although I won't spoil it here), but Mildred opening the restaurant, finding love, and fighting with her children is all more along the lines of a typical family/slice of life drama. If anything, Mildred Pierce is a "mashup" film.
But I suppose the fact that a particular genre can't be placed for Mildred Pierce makes it all the better. It certainly stands out as an early film where women hold the foreground. It shows both the discreet sexism in 1940s American society, as well as the system that causes even mother and daughter to go up against each other. Remember that Veda has been told by society that to be accepted as a woman, she likely must dress up all prim and proper and act like a lady. While I certainly don't sympathize with her and the way she treats her mother, it's also regrettable that the reason she's this way is because of what much of society has told her.
This subtextual commentaries make Mildred Pierce stand out as a true classic. The script is tight and focused, and certain scenes - the death of Kay - and the ending, still hit incredibly hard.
What with this, Casablanca, and Robin Hood, Michael Curtiz is becoming a director who's movies I highly respect. I'm not sure how I like him as a director, since people have pointed out to me that many of his projects were actually studio films that he more or less gave a helping hand to. But nevertheless, his efforts haven't left me disappointed once, and I'm excited to explore more.
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