The Damned Don't Cry (1950)

The Damned Don't Cry (1950)

starring Joan Crawford, David Brian, Kent Smith, Steve Cochran

directed by Vincent Sherman

103 minutes

Ethel Whitehead (Joan Crawford) leaves her husband after their son is struck and killed by a car while riding his bicycle. She moves to New York City and claws her way up. She starts by working at a newsstand. She spends some time modeling dresses but soon leaves that gig after she meets Martin Blackford (Kent Smith), a CPA. She helps him get a better paying job which eventually leads to her meeting George Castleman (David Brian), a big time gangster.

Castleman convinces her to change her name (to Lorna Hansen Forbes) and sets her up nicely, but he is already married. She is loyal to him but her situation is complicated by the fact that she seduced Blackford before she met Castleman. Blackford proposes to her but she turns him down. Her situation gets more complicated when Castleman asks her to seduce Nick Prenta (Steve Cochran), one of his top men, in the hopes of finding proof that he killed another one of his top men.

Thoughts

I'm pretty sure that this is the first film of Joan Crawford's that I have seen.

Steve Cochran was also in Storm Warning (1951).

I don't understand the tag line on the poster. I don't believe it was used in the movie.

There are some great moments and great lines in this movie. I like the overall shape and thrust of this film but somewhere, and I have trouble pinpointing exactly where, it falls short. Good but not great.

Extras

The Crawford Formula: Real and Reel (2005)

14 minutes

This short documentary looks back at Joan Crawford and the character she played in The Damned Don't Cry. There are lots of clips from the movie in this featurette. Parts of the movie do get spoiled so it probably should be watched after viewing the movie. It is worth a look although it might not mean as much to someone who is more familiar with Joan Crawford than I am.

People interviewed for this short documentary include

• Glenn Erickson, film writer
• Dr. Drew Casper, USC Hitchcock Professor of American Film
• Bose Hadeigh, author
• Vincent Sherman, director
• Karen Swenson, biographer
• James Ursini, film historian and critic

I tried watching the movie a second time with the director's commentary track. I didn't feel like I was getting enough out of it and turned it off after 30 minutes.