Joan Crawford

Wendell Corey

Lucile Watson

Allyn Joslyn

William Bishop

K.T. Stevens

Viola Roache

Raymond Greenleaf

Ellen Corby

Virginia Brissac

Kathryn Card

Charles Evans

Mira McKinney

Pat Mitchell

Al Murphy

Fiona O'Shiel

Susanne Rosser

Katherine Warren

Douglas Wood

Herschel Graham

James Gunn

Vincent Sherman

Viola Lawrence

Anne Froelich

George Duning

William Dozier

Joseph Walker

George Kelly

Sheila O'Brien

George Hager

Sylvia Lamarr

William Kiernan

Walter Holscher

Frederick Briskin

Victor Scheurich

Helen Hunt

Donna M. Norridge

Pat Sutherland

Clay Campbell

Jack Fier

Russell Malmgren

Arthur Morton

William E. Thomas

Morris Stoloff

Drama

Harriet Craig

Columbia Pictures

United States of America

CinemaSerf

An elegant, demure, Joan Crawford is mesmerising in this compact and slightly menacing drama. She is the eponymous wife of "George" (Wendell Corey), on the face of it a happily married lady whose husband keeps her in a certain style. As we discover more about her personality, however, we encounter a controlling, lying, deviously manipulative creature who arranges the lives of those around her - her husband, her cousin "Claire" (K.T. Stevens), even the family retainers find themselves pawns in her game. It all comes to head, though, when his boss decides to promote "George" to a new position in Tokyo. She is having none of that and convinces him to cancel the appointment claiming her spouse has a gambling habit that only she can control. A combination of circumstances enable him to find out about her manoeuvrings and ensures their ensuing contretemps - including a reckoning with her cousin, and the housekeeper hanging up her apron for the last time - makes for a compelling scene that challenges any love the couple ever had for the other... Vincent Sherman and George Duning's score help the tension build successfully into quite a fitting ending. It features quite a nice little cameo from Lucile Watson as his bosses wife - who appears, at once, to see though much of the charade, packs a lot into 90 minutes, and is great watch.

English

HARRIET CRAIG TRAILER