Harriet Craig (1950)
*** (out of 4)
Forgotten Columbia film about a wife (Joan Crawford) who cares only about her possessions, her way of life and anything that involves her. Her blind husband (Wendell Corey) soon starts to realize that he's not married to the type of woman he thought he was. HARRIET CRAIG is a film that doesn't get talked about too often when it comes to Crawford but when you step back and look at the work she did starting with MILDRED PIERCE you can't help but call this another winner. As I go through these post-MGM Crawford films I must say that my respect for her continues to grow because she took on all sorts of roles and did a wonderful job at all of them. There's just something so evil and cold about her character here and it's something that perhaps lived inside of the actress. If MOMMIE DEAREST had been written like this film it would have been a masterpiece. If Faye Dunaway's performance was as great as what Crawford delivers here then I think she would have been willing to talk about it. I mention that film because the type of character that film portrays Crawford as is pretty much the type she's playing here. The coldness of this character is something that you'll certainly hate but the constantly lying and the way she puts herself before anything else just makes this one of the most memorable characters out there. What I loved about Crawford's performance is this bubbling evilness that you can feel with her character and you just get the feeling at any second she's willing to make something worse just to benefit herself. Corey also deserves a lot of credit as the husband as he makes for a very sympathetic character. The sequence when everything finally breaks and the two go at it is rather priceless in regards to the brilliance of the acting. The supporting cast includes good performances by Lucile Watson, K.T. Stevens, William Bishop, Ellen Corby and Viola Roache. HARRIET CRAIG is a film that's not often talked about, which is a real shame because Crawford's performance certainly deserves more attention.
