The Liar (1950)

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Movie
German title The liar
Original title Harriet Craig
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1950
length 94 minutes
Rod
Director Vincent Sherman
script Anne Froelich ,
James Gunn
production William Dozier for Columbia Pictures
music George Duning
camera Joseph Walker
cut Viola Lawrence
occupation

The Liar (Original: Harriet Craig ) is an American melodrama from 1950 starring Joan Crawford in the role of a neurotic housewife. Directed by Vincent Sherman . The film is based on the play Craig's Wife of George Kelly .

action

Harriet Craig is a woman with a pronounced need to control and an excessive mania for cleanliness. The causes of her neuroses lie in childhood, when her father left the family for another woman. Harriet compensates for the pronounced fear of loss with the only goal in life of creating a perfectly run home for her husband. Walter increasingly feels the relationship with the emotionally cold Harriet as a burden. His wife has been trying systematically to scare off his friends for some time in order to exercise absolute control over him. Things take a dramatic turn when Harriet even lies to Walter's employer to prevent a transfer abroad. An emotional discussion ensues, in the course of which Walter finally looks behind the perfect facade of his wife. He leaves the house that same evening. Harriet is left alone.

background

George Kelly, uncle of actress Grace Kelly , won the Pulitzer Prize in 1925 for his play Craig's Wife , an early attempt to address the insights of psychoanalysis on childhood trauma . There have already been two film adaptations of the material: In 1928 Irene Rich and Warner Baxter played the leading roles. Rosalind Russell and John Boles were available for the 1936 adaptation directed by Dorothy Arzner .

Columbia Pictures made another attempt in 1950 to bring the now somewhat antiquated content to the screen this time under the title Lady of the House . Harry Cohn , the studio boss, saw this as an ideal opportunity for Joan Crawford and offered her the lead role. The actress was unsure at first, probably because of the sometimes striking parallels with her own character - Crawford's obsession for cleaning the house was an open secret, as was her compulsive washing. In the absence of real alternatives, the actress ultimately decided to take up the offer. Vincent Sherman , who directed Im Solde des Satans last year, was responsible for the script. In his 1996 biography Studio Affairs he expressed his doubts about the correctness of the decision:

"I was aware that Joan Crawford was the embodiment of Harriet Craig [..] in her obsessive attitude towards housework, her ability to manipulate people and in her attitude about how ideally men should behave towards women."

Reviews

The reviews ranged between approval and total disapproval.

In the New York Times, Bosley Crowther stayed true to his line of never writing positive reviews of Joan Crawford:

“Miss Crawford's portrayal is so harsh that her character shows neither motivation nor any kind of realism. It's almost like a mannequin in an over-the-top wardrobe, with no character or gender playing the role. [..] Probably the target group of the film is sloppy housewives who are supposed to feel somehow superior to this monster. If so, then this is exactly your film. "

The critic in Variety was more benevolent:

“Joan Crawford does an excellent job of portraying the selfish character. It successfully conceals the all too obvious motivations that drive the story forward. "

Otis L. Guernsey, Jr. also found kind words in the New York Herald Tribune :

“The film gives film star Joan Crawford the opportunity to grab the camera's attention in a real star role. As always, she is an elegant performer and gives a sharp and powerful interpretation. In her entire demeanor, Miss Crawford makes it clear that she is a queen of the cinema. "

The lexicon of international film praised years later also:

"The character study of a mental defect is made believable through the art of representation of Joan Crawford."

literature

  • Roy Newquist (Ed.): Conversations with Joan Crawford . Citadel Press, Secaucus, NJ 1980, ISBN 0-8065-0720-9 .
  • Lawrence J. Quirk : The Complete Films of Joan Crawford . Citadel Press, Secaucus, NJ 1988, ISBN 0-8065-1078-1 .
  • Lawrence J. Quirk, William Schoell: Joan Crawford. The Essential Biography . University Press, Lexington, KY. 2002, ISBN 0-8131-2254-6 .
  • Alexander Walker: Joan Crawford. The Ultimate Star . Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1983, ISBN 0-297-78216-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ I realized that in many ways, [Joan Crawford] was the embodiment of Harriet Craig [..] in her obsessive attitude toward her home; her distrust of men [because she had been abandoned by her father] and her desire to control; her power of manipulation; and her concept of the proper way for a man to behave toward his wife.
  2. ↑ Miss Crawford persists so intently in a harsh mechanistic acting style that there is simply no reason or reality in the perfunctory shrew that she parades. It is as though an over-dressed clotheshorse, without character or sex, were playing the role. [...] It may be this picture was intended for sloppy housewives to make them feel superior to the tidy monster in it. Okay, sloppy housewives; here's your film.
  3. ↑ Joan Crawford does a prime job of putting over the selfish title character, equipping it with enough sock to cloak the obviousness that motivates the dramatics.
  4. ↑ The film gives authentic movie star Joan Crawford an opportunity to command the camera's attention through an authentic star role. She remains, as always, a stylish performer in her clear and forceful characterization. [...] In every mannerism of speech or gesture, Miss Crawford suggests that she is a queen in the country of the cinema.
  5. ↑ https://www.zweitausendeins.de/filmlexikon/?sucheNach=titel&wert=33919