In the pay of Satan

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Movie
German title In the pay of Satan
Original title The Damned Don't Cry
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1950
length 103 minutes
Rod
Director Vincent Sherman
script Herald Metdord
production Jerry Wald for Warner Brothers
music Max Steiner
camera Ted D. McCord
cut Rudi Fehr
occupation

In the Pay of Satan (OT: The Damned Don't Cry ) is an American film noir starring Joan Crawford and directed by Vincent Sherman .

action

The body of well-known criminal Nick Prenta is found near the Palm Springs resort . During their investigation, the police quickly discovered a connection to the rich widow Lorna Hansen Forbes, who had become intimate with Prenta. Lorna has disappeared since the fact. A big flashback then tells the story up to the murder of Nick Prenta.

Lorna's real name is Ethel Whitehead. The young wife leaves her husband after the accidental death of her only child and looks for a new life and success at work in the city. After she first had to work as a mannequin and part-time prostitute, she met the general manager Martin Blackford by chance. Together, the two manage to quickly establish good contacts in organized crime. One day Ethel meets the rich gangster George Castleman, who makes her his lover. He gives her the new identity of a Lorna Hansen Forbes and establishes her in an elegant apartment in Palm Springs. Lorna is part of a plan to take out Nick Prenta, George's only competitor. When Lorna falls in love with Nick, the plan threatens to fail. George ends up shooting Nick and knocking Lorna out. She flees back to her parents. The next morning, George appears to kill her too. However, Martin shoots him and Lorna alias Ethel has to answer to the police for her actions.

background

Joan Crawford had made a terrific comeback in 1945 thanks to Solange a Heart Beats directed by Michael Curtiz and won the Oscar for best actress at the 1946 Academy Awards . The next films Humoresque and Unrestrained Love also remained at the high level. However, by the end of the decade, her career tended to come to a dead end again. The studio couldn't find suitable roles and after the success in The Street of the Successful Crawford was committed to portraying ambitious women struggling to find their place in a criminal environment.

In the pay of Satan do not even try to develop new aspects. The script packed all the types of roles that Joan Crawford had played on screen since 1925 into a running time of just over 100 minutes. First of all, she is the woman from the slums, who lives a life of poverty and hopelessness without prospects - such approaches have already existed in Mannequin and As long as a heart beats . Then she sets out to escape the domestic misery and literally sleeps her way upstairs. This pattern shaped the so-called pre-code films from the early 1930s of the actress, as exemplified in Alles für dein Glück . Later, Crawford, dressed in mink and expensive clothes, moves among high society. The motif appeared in Dancing Lady from 1933 and The Street of the Successful from 1949. In the end, the character of Crawford pays for the ruthlessness of her rise and she ends up back in the milieu from which she tried to escape. This development shows a remarkable parallel to the ending of As long as a heart beats . The script borrowed some vague borrowings from the biography of Virginia Hill, who rose from a poor background by becoming the mistress of gangster Bugsy Siegel . Overall, however, the actress was already too old for such a role and the box office results lagged well behind the previous films. After two more films, both of which flopped commercially, Crawford ended her contract with Warner Brothers in 1952.

Joan Crawford succinctly estimated the quality of the film to Roy Newquist a few decades later:

“[...] a big letdown. Old-fashioned Crawford melodrama. "

Theatrical release

At $ 1,233,000, the film was the cheapest production under the current Warner Brothers contract to date . At the box office in the United States, he only grossed a sum of 1,540,000 US dollars. In addition, another US $ 671,000 came from abroad. The total result of just $ 2,211,000 highlighted the gradual decline in Joan Crawford's traction at the box office.

Reviews

The reviews were mostly negative. They criticized the lack of logic and the sometimes excessive acting of the actors.

As usual, Bosley Crowther left the actress in a bad way in his review in the New York Times :

“Miss Crawford goes through the whole routine of cheap emotions in her familiar, stoic acting style. As the wife of a worker, she appears without make-up and with a greasy face. As a cigarette girl and a mannequin, she is tough. And finally, as a well-behaved "lady", she trusts the arrogant self-confidence that comes with champagne drinks and a swimming pool in Palm Springs. Such a collection of artificial feelings can hardly be surpassed. "

Howard Barnes held back in his judgment in the New York Herald Tribune :

“The plot gives Miss Crawford ample opportunity to let her emotions run wild and show off her charm. If all of this seems banal, then it's because of the shabby source material and the excessive brutality of the events that stand in the way of credibility. "

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. ↑ [...]. A big mistake. Old-time Crawford melodrama.
  2. ↑ Miss Crawford runs through the whole routine of cheap motion-picture dramatics in her latter-day hard-boiled, dead-pan style. As a laborer's wife, she plays it without makeup and with her face heavily greased. As a cigar store clerk and clothes model, she plays it tough. And as the ultimately cultivated "lady," she gives it all the lofty dignity that goes with champagne buckets and Palm Springs swimming pools. A more artificial lot of acting could hardly be achieved.
  3. ↑ The scenario has given Miss Crawford ample scope to emote and show her charms. If it is contrived, it is because the theme is shabby and the incidents too violent for complete plausibility.