The advertising copy for this slice of Warner Bros. pulp says it all: “[She’s] as tempting as a cupcake and as tough as a 75-cent steak.” This Joan Crawford vehicle puts this intense screen queen through a series of film noir hoops. She starts out a troubled housewife who can barely earn an honest dollar, putting all of her energy into raising her kid right. When the kid gets splattered across the pavement in a car accident right in front of her house, she leaves her no-good husband and becomes a sultry cigar store girl. Before you can say Evita Peron, she’s sleeping her way to the top of a criminal empire starting with nebbish accountant Marty Blackford (Kent Smith), moving on up to fellow poor boy made good George “Mr. Big” Castleman (David Brian) and ending with a poolside affair opposite rising West Coast gangster Nick Prenta (Steve Cochran). Throughout, Crawford moves from frumpy frau to naïve chorus girl to glamour gal dressed in silks and furs. This is the cheap and tawdry birth of a star, no matter who she has to walk over to get there. Oh, but since Crawford needed her audience to love her against all odds, she gets her moral comeuppance and a chance for redemption at the end…just falling short of a hospital bed monologue where she can weep into the camera. (She’d already done that in real life, winning the Oscar for Mildred Pierce.) The Damned Don’t Cry is an efficient, fast moving exercise in melodrama, hardly memorable and at times putrefying in its reliance on hokum, cliché, and bullshit sentimentality. The direction by hack Vincent Sherman is adequate and humble before Joan, though some scenes feel like the transition into the editing room was hardly smooth. (At least two insert shots feel wobbly and jarring.) But Crawford gets what she wants, and that’s all we really came for, no? Like the star in question, this diva showcase knows what it is and what it’s good at. If you don’t like it, why are you still here?
Image/Sound
The grays are muddy and there are noticeable hairs. For a hot Joan Crawford vehicle, Warner Bros. doesn’t show the highest respect. The sound is fine.
Extras
The fawning commentary by Vincent Sherman mostly describes the onscreen action and praises Joan Crawford for being the utmost professional. He plays it off like a loveable old showbiz hack, but hasn’t got much to say. The featurette on Joan Crawford is a 12-minute bauble that offers more adoration than insight from film historians. (For a more detailed Crawford documentary, rent the Mildred Pierce DVD.) The trailer is eye-catching and breathless, and summons up the right level of intrigue for this potboiler.
Overall
The Damned Don’t Cry isn’t a particularly good movie, but it’s a damned fine yarn!
Since 2001, we've brought you uncompromising, candid takes on the world of film, music, television, video games, theater, and more. Independently owned and operated publications like Slant have been hit hard in recent years, but we’re committed to keeping our content free and accessible—meaning no paywalls or fees.
If you like what we do, please consider subscribing to our Patreon or making a donation.
