Word: crawford
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DIED. Gloria Grahame, 55, sultry blond movie actress who frequently portrayed the unsavory "other woman" or calculating tart in strong supporting roles opposite such stars as Olivia de Havilland (Not as a Stranger, 1955) and Joan Crawford (Sudden Fear, 1952); of cancer; in New York City. Grahame won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress for playing a frivolous Southern belle in The Bad and the Beautiful...
...elegant conclusion almost half a century ago. There Cukor's interpretation of Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant's marriage ceremony freezes into a gossip glossy for a national magazine. Hollywood labelled Cukor "the woman's director," because he presented women in his films, like Katherine Hepburn, Joan Crawford and Greta Garbo, as strong, commanding human beings. His men frequently took the passive role, and Rich and Famous takes this further, into the realm of a feminist film. Jacqueline Bisset, the film's star, also co-produced it, which may help explain why this "Cukor Film" sees men with feminine eyes...
Losing one's temper at times, even unjustly, doesn't make a parent a monster. I'm not necessarily an admirer of Joan Crawford, but my sympathy lies with her for not being able to strike back at her accuser from the grave...
Director Frank Perry seems content simply to let Joan and Christina rant and rave at each other, and he makes few attempts to explain Joan's complex characters or to dig beneath the disputes for the real reasons for Crawford's mistreatment of her daughter. When the scenes roll around in which Joan is nice to her daughter, we are only further confused. The relationship between Christina and Joan is shown through a series of vignettes which take place over a span of 30 years, but these scenes are only loosely strung together. They argue here, they argue there, time...
...that Christina could not have resisted taking revenge on her mother, and it's too bad to see Joan Crawford posthumously dragged through the mud. Christina's attempt to cash in on her mother's problems shows very little class on her part. It would have been much better all around if this movie were never made...