‎Mildred Pierce (1945) directed by Michael Curtiz • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

Mildred Pierce

1945 Directed by Michael Curtiz

A mother's love leads to murder

After her unfaithful husband leaves her, Mildred Pierce proves she can become independent and successful. However winning the approval of her spoiled daughter proves a greater challenge.

Joan Crawford Jack Carson Zachary Scott Eve Arden Ann Blyth Bruce Bennett Lee Patrick Moroni Olsen Veda Ann Borg Jo Ann Marlowe Betty Alexander Ramsay Ames George Anderson Robert Arthur Lynn Baggett Leah Baird Dorothy Barrett Barbara Brown Claire Carleton Doria Caron Wheaton Chambers Wallis Clark Chester Clute John Compton Joyce Compton Clancy Cooper David Cota Tom Dillon James Flavin Show All…

Alternative Titles

El suplicio de una madre, Solange ein Herz schlägt, Alma en suplicio, Le roman de Mildred Pierce, Mildred Pierce - amerikkalainen nainen, Thyella se mitriki kardia, Il romanzo di Mildred, En amerikansk kvinna, Милдред Пирс, Ömre bedel kadin, Alma em Suplício

crime drama

111 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Timcop ★★★★★

Never have children.
Review by Cassandra ★★★★★ 1

FIRST OF ALL, how in the world could a sweet woman like Mildred Pierce raise the demon that is Veda???

Secondly, I love feminism in early films and the portrayal of women who do shit on their own without the help of men, providing for themselves and their family. And on a personal note, I love and appreciate mothers who make sacrifices every day for their kids-- there are millions of them whose sacrifices go unnoticed.

This film is cruel in too many ways, but I loved every second of it.
Review by Mike D'Angelo ★★★½ 1

70/100

Watched this nearly back-to-back with Haynes' version (second viewing in both cases; hadn't seen the Curtiz in over 20 years), and could now write an epic piece on the challenges of literary adaptation, as well as a separate epic piece on artificiality vs. naturalism. Strict fidelity to Cain's novel wasn't even remotely an option for 1945 Hollywood, of course, but the choice to reconceive the story as a sort of murder mystery, told in flashback, seems inspired as much by necessary compression as by the dictates of the Hays Code. Like Glazer's Under the Skin, Curtiz's Mildred Pierce is essentially an original work very loosely inspired by its source; useful elements were retained and transformed, while everything else (most…
Review by russman ★★★★ 5

Livin' la Veda Loca
Review by Cassandra ★★★★★ 1

Imagine not loving Joan Crawford... seems like a sad way to live.
Review by Dragonknight ★★★★ 4

Film #20 of Project 40

”Personally, I think alligators have the right idea. They eat their young.”

For two reasons Mildred Pierce is a historically significant movie: first unlike most of the male dominant movies of the Golden Age of noir its central character is a woman who is fighting to build her own universe in the middle of a masculine world and second it might be one of the earliest movies to employ flashback technique to tell its story. This is a movie where you can witness the genius of Michael Curtiz in every frame, you can see it in the shadows that like ominous beasts chase characters wherever they go, in the almost faultless narrative of the film…

Recent reviews

Review by meabh ★★★★½

veda can choke
Review by FabiG94 ★★★★½

Da gusto ver películas así. Un melodrama en el mejor sentido, con muchos tintes de cine negro.
Extraordinaria cinta, muy recomendable.
Que infravalorado está Curtiz, si bien es verdad que era un director de estudio, sacó muchas excelentes películas como para no estar considerado únicamente como un simple artesano.
Review by james roberts ★★★★

well waddayaknow this movie everyone says is good is indeed good.
Review by remdwgakahooey ★★★★½

Very great, awesomely written film about hard working moms who unknowkgngly raise up privileged children who only care about social status and money.
Verda is a good case for antinatalism
Review by Azmina Jeffri ★★★★

The melodrama! Very similar to a Malaysian film called Anak-ku Sazali by Phani Majumdar, in terms of vile children.

I love the look of the film, the cinematography. Stunning!
Review by Midnight_Cowboy ★★★★

I admire the dedication to crafting what is surely one of the most insufferable characters to ever grace the screen. Veda is comically unlikable, and that’s a great thing. Actually took me a bit to warm to this, despite the murder mystery angle and great performances from Queen Joan and Jack Carson, probably because I’ve been watching a lot of noir lately and couldn’t help but compare it to those. But it gets a lot more interesting once the working woman/messy family dynamic enters the fray. So funny/sad that such a stone cold boss like Mildred was looked down on back then; anyone who can make it in the restaurant industry deserves their success.

Ida’s pretend bite is solid gold, I howled when it happened.
Review by martinenelpais ★★★★

Such a fascinating portrayal of womanhood in the 1940’s. I haven’t read the novel, but I hear it was changed significantly to fit the Production Code. Mildred Pierce tells the story of a single mother whose enormous success as a restaurant businesswoman can’t keep her from having a mess at home. She must juggle her triumphs in the workplace with devious men and a spoiled, cruel daughter who’s ashamed of her mother having to work hard for the money instead of having born into wealth. Joan Crawford gives one of her most magnificent performances in a role that asks her to be believably tough and strong minded to make it as an entrepreneur in a man’s world, but also vulnerable…
Review by jfangsky ★★★★

Haven’t seen this much scenery chewing since the local playhouse was infested with termites during Our Town.

Still, I loved it.
Review by Ethan ★★★★★

Mildred for president 2020