Harriet Craig is a 1950 drama film noir
based on the 1925 play Craig’s Wife, by George Kelly. The sharp screenplay was written by Anne
Froelick and James Gunn, and the film was directed by Vincent Sherman, who is
also known for films such as Adventures of Don Juan, Mr. Skeffington, Old
Acquaintance, The Young Philadelphians, and more. Harriet Craig stars Joan Crawford, in her and
Vincent Sherman’s second of three collaborations. It also features Wendell Corey as a solid
leading man, and others.
Harriet Craig, played by Joan
Crawford, is the wife of Wendell Corey’s character, Walter Craig. She is a controlling, neurotic, manipulative wife
and person in general, herself having money to her name. Early on, she tells her psychiatrist that she
hasn’t had children because her husband doesn’t like them. But we soon find out that her husband
believes she is unable to have them and himself finds it one of the greatest
disappointments of his relationship with her.
Then there’s her cousin Clare, played by K.T. Stevens, who Harriet
treats at times more like a servant than a relative, and whom she lies to as
well. Then she has servants, who no
doubt get treated badly throughout the film as well.
For how truly devious of a woman
Harriet Craig continually proves herself to be, Joan Crawford surely had me
glued to the screen. At times, I sympathized
with her, at other times I found it difficult to. It delves into her childhood and the fact
that it wasn’t a very good one, perhaps responsible for her apparent
personality disorder. I’ve never seen a
Joan Crawford performance I didn’t like, but this one is perhaps one of the most
memorable I’ve yet seen. I’m surprised
this wasn’t nominated for an Academy Award, perhaps because it wasn’t very
commercially successful. Either way, you’ll
feel truly bad for Mr. Craig and everyone else in the Craig household throughout
the picture. And the tension between the
two of them, Mr. and Mrs. Craig, at times is palpable. If you were looking for a happy movie, this
isn’t it. This is full on film noir
drama at its finest. For Joan Crawford’s
performance alone I’d give a good review, but this film as a whole is
fantastic. I give it 3.5 out of 4 stars!