User reviews

Joan does her big eyebrow look again in this film about a true bitch in heat. Here she is an "outsider" who traps Barry Sullivan, scion of a good Southern family, into marriage and proceeds to make his life a living hell. For that matter, she makes everyone who surrounds her a target for her venom. She is truly a psychotic whose greatest thrill is to destroy everything and everyone within her circle of influence.

She has a passion for her husband's friend, played by John Ireland who just happens to be engaged to her husband's sister. After she rides roughshod over those two with tragic results, she starts on her cousin, an innocent who is visiting this Garden of Eden. Probably a big mistake since this leads to further trouble ending in a denouement that you can see coming from a mile away. Very tidy.

Is this a good film? Depends if you like Crawford at her histrionic best, chewing up both the scenery and her co-stars. But again, as another reviewer said, you will like this movie if you love Crawford or if you hate her. She's that good. It's one of those soap opera plots that were popular in the 50s and it will hold your interest, if only to see if Joan gets her come-uppance. Don't be embarrassed if you find yourself liking this film......you're in good company.

Joan Crawford's least likable character could be the one she played in this film, as a controlling and vindictive woman of wealth who runs and ruins (or nearly ruins) the lives of all those whom she has relationships with in her large southern plantation mansion. Apparently the relationships come out of her money and their lack of it, as well as the level of her misdirected intelligence and lack of empathy for others, none of which gets explained very fully. Even to her own children, the product of her marriage to heavy drinking philosophizing character played by Barry Sullivan, she shows a cold disregard, especially the choice of a nanny, who's even meaner than Joan. Into this dysfunction comes Jennifer Stewart as a young cousin from Chicago who upsets the strange family chemistry that has been developing over the years, befriending the poor kids, and catching a lot of eyes. John Ireland seems a natural as the one guy who can and does (in some well done scenes) stand up to Queen Bee Joan, presenting his usual suppressed aversion to injustice while also straddling the fence. It's worth sticking with for the ending.

Maybe I'm going out on a limb here, but having seen a great many of her movies, I would say that Joan Crawford was at her bitchiest in this picture. That is to say, bitchier than usual! She tears at the scenery, she tears at the script, and brother I feel sorry for her co-stars, because even though they are also a talented group, they of course don't stand a chance when Crawford's on the screen, which is basically every scene. Although her character doesn't appear right away, it's still obvious from the very start that this is a very, very Crawford movie. The film just instantaneously gives off that omen. The gist of the story is this: Crawford is a glamorous socialite who dominates her Southern family and takes great pride in doing so. Yes, we've seen Crawford play this type of role before(HARRIETT CRAIG), but I personally never tire of seeing Crawford getting the upper hand. Though they didn't get along too well in real life, Joan Crawford and Bette Davis had much in common when it came to choice of movie scripts. They both specialized in playing catty, indomitable females, and they both clearly relished doing so. Crawford is at her best in this one. Sure, the script isn't the greatest she's been given, and frankly it's pretty sleazy stuff, but Crawford does wonders with it and manages to turn in her finest performance. She clearly works at the part and isn't simply clawing and nailing at everyone around her. Even though her character is an absolute horror of a human being, Crawford does her best to make her a sympathetic one, and she just about pulls it off! Some people will discard this one as pure camp, but this is a movie that serious Joan Crawford fans like myself will treasure, and no doubt watch over and over again. Terrific!!!!!

A guilty pleasure if I ever saw one. Directect by Ranald McDougall, even his name reads like a misspell, he was the writer of Mildred Pierce and clearly Crawford trusted him. Look at her entrance, from a distance, a subtle and no so subtle game of light and music. The turgid tale of evil and deception suffers from holes in every angle but this is not the sort of picture that can afford that kind of scrutiny. This is a showcase for the late term Crawford die hard fans. You wont be able to help but admire her devastating self confidence. She knew every trick in the book as an actress as well as a character. Queen Bee goes bye fast very fast and the moral compass is determined by Lucy Marlow when in fact it needed a sort of Anne Baxter or someone with a bit more gravitas. To be seen with a bunch of like minded friends and laugh out loud.

So sayeth Barry Sullivan in "Queen Bee" referring to Joan Crawford, the ruler of a southern household in this 1955 drama, which also stars John Ireland, Barry Sullivan, Betsy Palmer and Fay Wray. Cousin Jennifer Stewart (Lucy Marlow) arrives for a visit and immediately senses there are a few problems in the home - at first, she feels these problems are unfairly blamed on Eva (Crawford). She soon learns what the audience has known from Eva's first appearance.

The lovely and somewhat shy Carol Lee Phillips (Palmer), sister of Eva's husband (Sullivan), is about to marry one of Eva's hand-me-downs, Judson Prentiss (Ireland) but doesn't realize that Eva hasn't quite decided to let him go. Complicating things, cousin Jennifer finds herself attracted to Eva's husband. In real life, Ireland and Crawford were having an affair, and Palmer screamed "WHAT??" into the telephone when she was invited to Crawford's wedding to Alfred Steele. At the reception, she took Crawford aside and asked what was going on. "Oh, well," Crawford said, "We were in our cups and Alfred asked me to marry him, and I said yes."

This is one of those southern dramas we saw a lot of in the '50s and early '60s - "The Long Hot Summer," "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," and "Desire in the Dust," to name a few. "Queen Bee" is a little over the top. It's a tour de force for Crawford, who has some very biting lines which she delivers in her inimitable style, and her wardrobe is sensational, especially the last gown. She plays the kind of bitch we always imagine she was in real life, the woman depicted in "Mommie Dearest." She couldn't have been - too many people, from Ann Blyth to Betsy Palmer, truly liked her. A little too much of a disciplinarian at home and with a voracious sexual appetite, she certainly brought those edges to many performances. Crawford also was one of the great screen presences with a face made for film.

Highly enjoyable film particularly for Crawford fans, though everyone in it is very good.

Joan Crawford is in her element here! As a deceitful, manipulative woman with the Medusa touch she's in her glory. You get the feeling she's enjoying herself immensely. Hell, you even get the feeling she's enjoying the costumes! She tears into the part of Eva Phillips as if it were her last meal, and takes the rest of the cast along for the ride. They don't make movies like this anymore and it's a shame. It's good, clean, sinister fun with Joan in control every step of the way.

Young innocent from Chicago travels down south to stay with her wealthy cousin, a society shark with an alcoholic husband who is planning on busting up the engagement between her former lover and a terrified girl who also lives in the mansion. Though based on a novel, "Queen Bee" looks and sounds like a stage play (sub-Tennessee Williams), with arch overacting by everyone and only a smidgen of memorable lines. Joan Crawford wear some fancy gowns, but this isn't an attractive role for her. The character interaction is drowsy and sluggish, and the plot-turns are occasionally confounding, outdated or hoary. There's an interesting plot-thread involving a cruel nanny who gives Crawford's Queen a run for her money, but she inexplicably vanishes. The film is drawing-room bitchery, and yet with only minimal camp appeal. It's hardly enjoyable even on that level, particularly since nobody here appears to be having any fun. ** from ****

From frame one, she is EVIL! I totally cracked up because everyone else is dressed and lit adequately,but in each shot, each frig-gin' shot, Joan is in fantastic gowns, jewels, lit fabulously and with just that HINT of gauze, Vaseline over the lens. Same year as Female on the Beach. Go Joan! She chews through scenery like a wood chipper. However her character, originally from Chicago, is intimidated by a southern family..I don't think so. I realized she is the prototype of characters like Glenn Close in "Fatal Attraction". The scene where she dares her husband to divorce her is shark-like.Glamorous from start to finish.And poor Betsy Palmer....

Favorite Movie Quote - "My, Carol, you look so sweet. Even in those tacky, old riding clothes."

Watch Out! - Queen Bee is a virtual hornet's nest!

In Queen Bee, Joan Crawford (all eye-brow pencil and trademark bow-tie mouth) is undoubtedly the whole show here, lock, stock and barrel.

With great gusto, Crawford plays "queen bee" Eva Phillips, a ruthless, manipulative man-eater, full of jealousy and rage, who viciously ruins the lives of everyone around her.

Crawford, in the final "high-diva" stage of her career, almost single-handedly managed to turn this piece of 1955 melodrama into a camp and unintentionally hilarious romp down "Soap Opera" lane.

Containing lots of biting, backstabbing dialogue, Queen Bee (in its own satisfying way) is an ultimate soap opera of bitter bickering and self-centered family squabbling where Joan Crawford (in very good form) gives it her best shot as she triumphantly slaps faces, trashes a bedroom and dresses to the absolute nines (all very nicely executed for perfect effect).

For Crawford, films like "Strait-Jacket" and "Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?" would soon be waiting for her just around the corner.

Filmed in glossy b&w, Queen Bee was expertly directed by Ranald MacDougall whose other films included Man On Fire, The World, the Flesh, and the Devil, and Go Naked In The World. This film featured a strong supporting cast headlined by Barry Sullivan, Betsy Palmer and John Ireland.

Bzzzzzzzzzzz!

QUEEN BEE is a handsome showcase for the JOAN CRAWFORD brand of acting. She's the Southern Gothic matriarch of an uneasy household and the other characters are all foils for Joan's dominating Queen Bee.

There's the sweetly naive girl from the North (LUCY MARLOW); Crawford's bitter husband, a scarred BARRY SULLIVAN; and BETSY PALMER as the most normal of the group, clearly disliking Eva (Crawford) and her controlling ways; and JOHN IRELAND as the all knowing ex-husband.

Crawford is at her royal best, giving lines like "I'd rather you didn't talk to me in that manner," the haughty air of a woman who just ascended from her throne. She looks well, except for the eyebrows that are thicker than Boris Karloff's. "I like people around me to laugh and be gay," she tells the naive Northerner guest. We all know something dire will happen sooner or later.

Joan has some terrible dialog to spout. "It makes me terribly cross when people oppose me," she tells Marlow. "If you left, I'd never have anyone to call my own." Naturally, it's tailor-made material for Crawford who holds the spotlight without any difficulty, although Betsy Palmer and Barry Sullivan do nicely in supporting roles.

It's a well mounted production, filmed crisply in glorious B&W photography and the interiors of Joan's mansion are only slightly less imposing than Manderlay in REBECCA.

But it never becomes much more than high camp, with Crawford strutting her stuff as only she can--and the others performing capably enough but never having a chance to really shine.

Summing up: Ideal viewing for Crawford's legion of fans who probably will enjoy seeing her in a series of Jean Louis gowns, impeccably poised as she delivers some sweetly sarcastic lines. Her clothes even got an Oscar nomination, as did the B&W photography.

Trivia note: Joan's best line: "A party is to women, what a battlefield is to men."

I think I'm not going too far out on a limb when I say that Joan Crawford probably did Queen Bee as a favor to screenwriter Ranald MacDougall who wrote the film that was her greatest success and brought Joan the Academy Award for Best Actress. I'm referring of course to Mildred Pierce. Queen Bee was going to be MacDougall's directing debut as well and I'm sure Crawford did this one for a friend.

As a director MacDougall just gave Crawford her head and she just chewed the scenery right down to the foundations. It was that kind of part and her overacting also covered up a really bad melodramatic story.

Crawford's cousin Lucy Marlow comes to live with Crawford and her alcoholic husband Barry Sullivan and their two children. It becomes rather apparent soon enough that Crawford sadistically manipulates events and people around her almost as a hobby. She's miserable and she can't stand anyone around who is truly happy. She even engages sadistic nanny Katherine Anderson for her kids.

The film such as it is belongs to Joan Crawford who dominates the film totally. Her friend MacDougall to say the least didn't write a screenplay that was anything close to Mildred Pierce. Hence Crawford had to take up the slack.

Joan's performance carries the film a couple of notches up from where it should be. Definitely a must for her fans.

Joan Crawford is an ageing Southern socialite (by marriage) who revels in dominating her extended family - like a "Queen Bee". As the film opens, cousin Lucy Marlow (as Jennifer Stewart) arrives; providing Ms. Crawford (as Eva Phillips) with a new victim - and viewers the opportunity to see "Queen Bee" Crawford bring another person into her hive. Drones include boozy husband Barry Sullivan (as Avery) and lady-killer John Ireland (as Jud). Betsy Palmer is very good as nice niece Carol.

Crawford creates an astonishing character, and the film is very well-photographed. The supporting players really operate in Crawford's shadow, which is to be expected. The film's weakness is a story that lacks depth in its characterizations, and doesn't live up to their potential. In the end, the film wastes its leading actress' effort, with a story lacking substance.

******* Queen Bee (1955) Ranald MacDougall ~ Joan Crawford, Barry Sullivan, Betsy Palmer

This was one of Joan Crawford's last Glamour Queen movie roles, before she started doing horror films and TV, and this part itself is transitional, as she plays a legendary beauty, pathological in her manipulations of the people around her. Despite the huge 1950s eyebrows that could be seen on Joan, Audrey Hepburn, Kim Novak, and others during this period, and the weird heart shaped hairdo, Joan remains both a beauty and a really compelling and totally invested actress. This was after Joan did POSSESSED and proved she could both underplay and play full tilt. Here she plays a woman so deeply dishonest that she is unconvincing in every emotion – we don't even know if she believes any of this herself.

The real stand out performance of this film is Barry Sullivan as Joan's physically and emotionally scarred husband. He is completely believable in a roller coaster role. The prototype of the sexy damaged man.

The film itself is average, the script is soap opera predictable, and the biggest mystery (how he got scar) is never revealed, only hinted at. Despite Joan's title character and her entrance-making Jean Louis wardrobe, this really is an ensemble piece, and everyone does a good solid job in this Southern Gothic potboiler. The "town and country" set of this film feels both ostentatiously grand and a little too cramped and small, and that is a good way of describing the whole thing.

Joan Crawford's best role since 1952's "Sudden Fear." In "Queen Bee" she is a manipulative woman who has caused misery to husband Barry Sullivan.

Inviting her cousin to her home, the cousin soon discovers that everyone in the house is just miserable as they are in the orbit of a vicious Crawford.

John Ireland, who works for Sullivan, loves his sister, a very good Betsy Palmer here. Unfortunately, the Queen Bee was once a love interest of Ireland and right before the wedding, she tells this to Carol (Palmer) causing her to commit suicide.

Crawford's young children with Sullivan are miserable as well and how can you blame them with a mother like this?

When John Ireland discovers what Barry Sullivan has planned for Crawford, he takes matters in his own hand. Change partners and kill?

If you love Joan, like I love Joan, you have to see this movie. The script, costumes, acting, and music are all A++++. This has to be the baddest girl that Joan has ever played, and the part suits her well; Mildred Pearce pales in comparison to this role. Barry Sullivan is terrific too. Somehow, I get the impression that during the whole picture that Joan is thinking, "I'll show that Bette how to play a southern vixen!" This movie is the reason that I like old movies; they spent money on this one - the scenery, furnishings, costumes, and jewelry were all "old school" and to die for. If you see the DVD, the original trailer is a hoot! I fell out laughing looking at the trailer after watching the movie. They show way too much of the plot in the trailer, so don't watch the trailer before watching the movie.

I saw this movie this morning on TCM. All these lines in there about Joan Crawford being a beautiful woman. One was ' I can't believe he stood there shaking, hasn't he ever seen a beautiful woman before?' Joan had big bushy black eye brows, and even though it was in black and white, her hair I think was orange and she had a mannish looking jaw line. Don't know what criteria of beauty they were using in this movie but to me she looked like a short man in drag. There is a very good slap across the face scene too. It didn't look like a stage slap either, it looked like the real thing. The movie was very entertaining in an over the top campy way. Some of the lines were hysterical but not meant to be funny which made them even funnier. If you are into camp and a Joan Crawford fan you must see this one.