This Woman is Dangerous

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Movie
Original title This Woman is Dangerous
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1952
length 92 minutes
Rod
Director Felix E. Feist
script Geoffrey Homers ,
George Worthing Yates
production Warner Brothers
music David Buttolph
camera Ted McCord
cut James Moore
occupation

This Woman is Dangerous is an American film noir starring Joan Crawford from 1952. The film ended her contract with Warner Brothers .

action

Beth Austin has to undergo dangerous surgery to avoid going completely blind. For now, she's keeping her secret to herself, as her attention is focused on carrying out a robbery. Beth runs a crime ring and is in love with the brutal gangster Matt Jackson. However, he only treats Beth with contempt and abuses her regularly. Finally, Beth goes to the hospital, is healed against all expectations and falls in love with the friendly Dr. Ben Halleck, a single father in his prime. Both spend happy hours, but in the end Beth's conscience torments. She hides from Ben not only her involvement in Matt's criminal machinations, but also her several years in prison. Many dramatic entanglements later, Matt is shot dead by the police. Beth goes to prison again for her crimes, but the judge promises a mild sentence. Ben promises Beth to wait for her until she is released.

background

For her portrayal in As long as a heart beats , Joan Crawford won the Oscar for best leading actress at the Academy Awards in 1946 and the next films Humoresque and Unrestrained Love remained at the high level. The actress earned $ 200,000 to $ 250,000 per film and re-established herself as one of Hollywood's top female stars . However, by the end of the decade, her career tended to come to a dead end again. After the success of The Road to the Successful , Crawford was committed to portraying ambitious women fighting for their place in a criminal environment. The repetition of one and the same script made Crawford's draw at the box office quickly wear off. In 1951, the attempt to help the actress to change roles in the comedy Goodbye, My Fancy failed . Ultimately, the studio managers hoped to get Crawford to break their contract by using inferior scripts. Although this unexpectedly accepted This Woman is Dangerous , immediately after the end of the shooting, she asked for an early termination of her engagement and waived a total of 800,000 US dollars in fees that she would have received for four films still to be shot. Immediately after leaving, she made another comeback through her participation in Masked Hearts , which earned her a third Oscar nomination for best leading actress.

Even decades later, the actress regretted participating in the project that she counted among her worst films ever. She told Roy Newquist:

“I must have been terribly desperate. I think that's exactly what I was. The kids at school, the house ... nothing was right at all on This Woman Is Dangerous. A miserable story, a script full of clichés, no direction to speak of. I think I could have done better, but it was one of those times that I got disgusted with everything. I shrugged my shoulders and let things take their course. That is unforgivable, isn't it? "

Reviews

The critics had little trouble tearing up the film.

Bosley Crowther was tough but fair in the New York Times :

"If Joan Crawford is in trouble in her films, it is in the person of mean, brutal men ... The incredibly long-popular star, who now seems petrified, appears as a female criminal."

Otis Guernsey was hardly more gracious in the New York Herald Tribune .

"In this long, complicated, and boring story, Joan Crawford works her way across the spectrum of problems, from the operating table to organized crime ... The film is ambitious but not very convincing."

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 must have been awfully hungry. I guess I what. Kids in schools, the house ... nothing was right about This Woman Is Dangerous. A shoddy story, a cliche script, no direction to speak of. The thing just blundered along. I suppose I could have made it better, but it was one of those times when I was so disgusted with everything I just shrugged and went along with it. That is unforgivable, isn't it?
  2. ↑ When trouble comes to Joan Crawford in her motion picture roles, it comes in great big agonizing hunks .... The incredibly durable star, whose theatrical personality has now reached the ossified stage, appears as a woman criminal.
  3. ^ Joan Crawford runs through a series of problems concerning everything from the operating table to gangsterism in a long, windy, and tiresome story .... A film of many pretenses but little conviction.