MovieChat Forums > The Women (1939) Discussion > Joan Crawford...I don't see it

Joan Crawford...I don't see it

posted 11 years ago by bcubedgirl
31 replies | jump to latest

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder as the say. In my opinion Joan Crawford was not cute. I suppose she had the art of seduction on her side but when I first saw this movie and Crystal was revealed, my first thought was "This lady looks rough and a little too old to be a perfume girl." She looked like the aunt of the ladies she worked with. Maybe it was the hair? Her face was harsh and in the bathtub scene where she gets angry, she looked down right creepy... Like she was morphing into a man. I'm not looking at her based on the dispicable character she played. I'm just wondering how is she considered a great beauty. Other than that, I thought her acting was superb. And by the way, I'm not trying to be mean. No ones perfect. I just didn't think her looks matched the role.

[–] Zuider_Zee 11 years ago

Crawford had harsh and coarse features. Her femininity was practically non-existent.

[–] monterey59 8 years ago

in the early thirties, she was much more feminine

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[–] deborahkerr1992 11 years ago

Joan Crawford does have a sort of hard, angular face and manner. I suppose that's why she portrays a girl "from the wrong side of the tracks." However in my opinion, she is very beautiful and has large captivating eyes. That said, I do feel that physical beauty is overrated. If you listen to Crawfords lines in the film, she's very sassy, quick-witted and without doubt knows how to use the assets she does possess, to seduce men.

[–] King_Of_Fuh 11 years ago

I refer you to the younger Billie, as she preferred to be called. Her looks faded by her mid-30's.

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[–] 11 years ago

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[–] Jo_Dwight_Fry 9 years ago

Yes. Joan had a small window when she was very pretty, but it's mostly in the '30s movies. And what a bitch! 😱

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[–] eskridge 11 years ago

To paraphrase Olga the manicurist: Crystal has eyes that run up and down a man like a searchlight. She sprayed some perfume on her arm and asked him to smell it. He got sniffing around, and I guess he liked it.

Crawford was more attractive than beautiful. But no one could beat her at seduction.

[–] bcubedgirl 11 years ago

Thanks for the comments. I'm going to give some of her other movies a try:)

[–] vinidici 11 years ago

Miss Crawford does look a bit mannish in this, IMO, but in most of her movies until the 1950's she's anything BUT "mannish." I think her Crystal character was purposely given this look so as to insure audience sympathy for the heroine of the movie, Norma Shearer.

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[–] OldFriendOfTheChristys 11 years ago

In terms of looks, I’ve never found this to be one of Crawford’s finest moments either, though I think much of—if not all of it—has to do with her hair.

[–] dvlaries 11 years ago

Crawford was sexy, but in a challenging kind of way, and also always had a close-by sense of grievance to her. A challenge that would have been welcomed (and made sense) by a ten year-married and restless Stephen Haines. Lending that side of her personality to Crystal is why Crawford succeeds so strongly in the role.

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[–] bcubedgirl 11 years ago

I agree, she did succeed in the role. I felt she gave a very strong portrayal of Crystal.

[–] dvlaries 11 years ago

Regarding The Women, Crawford biographer Stephen Harvey noted:

"This tramp is basically just the wicked stepsister to all those slum-to-duplex heroines Crawford had patented for nearly a decade. Like Sadie and Jessie and Flaemmchen, Crystal grapples for her share of the gravy, but without troubling herself with all that malarkey about love, fidelity, and virtue. Usually wealth is the fringe benefit and a worthy man the goal, but in The Women Crawford reverses the priorities."

Astutely, Harvey also notes that one of Crawford's occasionally annoying performing tricks becomes a solid plus as she employs it in The Women:

"The most remarkable thing about Crawford's performance is the wide gamut she achieved with her vocal range as Crystal. Perhaps for the first time her voice is as striking as her physical presence, and as effective in forging a characterization. When speaking over the phone to Haines or the stud that replaces him, the tone is as smooth as crushed velvet. In moments of stress when her origins betray her, the voice is nasal and shrill and as coarse as sandpaper. Usually her pseudo-upper-crust accent seems more than a trifle affected. Here it is perfect, the emblem of a hardboiled tart trying to acquire some class in a hurry."

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Truth is a hard master, and costly to serve, but it simplifies every problem.

[–] nutsberryfarm 11 years ago

joan's eyes were great. if you don't see it...i guess you don't see her.

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[–] smcbee27 9 years ago

Well written and right on target. Thanks for sharing.

[–] TheLightFantastic 11 years ago

I'm a Crawford fan and I'll be the first to admit that she wasn't always a raving beauty. Her face was very angular and how good she looked depended on lighting (which is why she was always nice to her cinematographers) and her hair style. Her hair in The Women is awful (as is Norma Shearer's) and it does age her. That can be said for quite a few hairstyles from the 1930s to the 1970s. As someone else said, there are other movies where Crawford looks great. In almost all of her early films she looks good (with the except of Rain but then she was playing a hooker). I think she also looked stunning in Mildred Pierce. Far younger than years, I think.

I think Crystal was suppose to look a bit rough. She wasn't a gentle person by any means but I think she looks her age. I didn't get a mannish vibe at all except for the hair which was too severe. Her looks weren't really what attracted Stephen anyway. She paid attention to him, fawned over him and acted like she was helpless without him. That's how quite a few women work in real life because that's what attracts a certain type of man, especially a man who has been married for a while and is no longer to sole focus of his wife due to children, real life, etc. It's all fake of course because Crystal (and most of those real life women) flip the script real quick.

[–] bcubedgirl 11 years ago

I got a chance to watch the original Mildred Pierce recently and you're right. She looked great in that.

It's a shame that Crystal's man-eater character is so true of many women and how dumb Steven was to fall for it.

[–] LincolnMarkV 10 years ago

I see your point, and I think you make it well, but many of Hollywood's cameramen and directors of the day claimed Joan's bone structure was so perfect that her face photographed beautifully from any angle. I think Joan was beautiful (perhaps a subjective opinion) but many people frankly hate her. They may be reacting either to strange hairstyles of the day, her somewhat hard-bitten attitude, and/or to her reputation as "Mommie Dearest."

However, I give Joan a whole lot of credit for these reasons: She had a horrific, abusive childhood which she overcame by sheer determination, talent and hard work. She forged a long and powerful career, remaining a top star for decades (not easily achieved by women during those years). She also worked like the devil at being accessible to her fans, whom she loved and never let down.