Mildred Pierce

1945
US
113 min
PG

Directed by: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Joan Crawford, Ann Blyth, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, Eve Arden

Crawford excels (she won an Oscar) as the titular woman who turns her back on her husband and becomes a successful restauranteur, while fighting her own selfish daughter for the heart of a playboy (Scott) and getting embroiled in a murder plot. Viewed by some as the sort of strong woman's role that is so elusive today, its suggestion that death follows when a woman abandons the kitchen sink is actually pretty patronising.