Fed up with her small-town marriage, a woman goes after the big time and gets mixed up with the mob.
Acting
Crawford's face is a masterclass in manufactured vulnerability.
Costume
Wardrobe tells the whole arc: frumpy housewife to couture predator.
Direction
Sherman frames her like a threat and a tragedy simultaneously.
Director
Vincent Sherman
Joan Crawford
Ethel Whitehead
David Brian
George Castleman
Steve Cochran
Nick Prenta
Kent Smith
Martin Blackford
Hugh Sanders
Grady
Selena Royle
Patricia Longworth
Jacqueline deWit
Sandra
Morris Ankrum
Jim Whitehead
Edith Evanson
Mrs. Castleman
Richard Egan
Roy Whitehead
Bonnie Bannon
Woman in Casino (uncredited)
George Baxter
Mr. Fredericks - Syndicate Boss (uncredited)
Kathryn Card
Mrs. Sullivan (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Crawford's real-life costume tests from this film—showing her own input on Ethel's transformation looks—are preserved in the Academy archives.
Released the same year as 'All About Eve,' this is Crawford's other 1950 showcase of women performing womanhood to survive male worlds.
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Reactions from the web
Just watched this movie. It was intense and the ending was shocking/emotional. I am very grateful that I have never been desperate to be "someone" at any cost.
@onoT-n6c 10
I saw part of this movie on TV in the early 1960s and it was one of the first times I really paid attention to an old movie, and how it was different from new ones. I was about 8 years old. I'm still paying attention to old movies.
@hebneh 42
Joan will always be the Queen of Noir.
@loveit8602 20
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