Erpressung

Crawford has one of the more complex roles ever given her. Playing a scarred woman who hates everything and everybody, she shows depth in her performance that she'd never shown before. Director Cukor got her to tone done her usual overacting (no mean feat) and she beautifully underplays the role. Exciting story, beautiful settings, good acting, incredible directing...it's a wonder this film isn't better known. Well worth seeing, especially if you're a Crawford fan.

The fact that Joan Crawford failed to win an Oscar nomination for her magnificent performance in this film is a travesty! Her talents as an actress were never more evident in her portrayal of a bitter woman who hates the world because of her disfigurement.

This film may surpass even Joan Crawford's Oscar-winning performance in `Mildred Pierce' as the best of her career. `A Woman's Face' is part courtroom drama, part mystery, and unfolds in the form of flashbacks through the eyes of no less than half a dozen questionable characters. Crawford plays Anna Holm, a facially scarred woman whose disfigurement has led her to an embittered life of crime.

Melvyn Douglas is perfectly cast as the handsome and heroic Dr. Segert, and Conrad Veidt plays Torsten Barring, the despicable charmer. Crawford's interpretation of a genuinely mean-spirited and heartless Anna develops into a complex character who wins our sympathy despite her evil intentions. It's a breath of fresh air to see Crawford not made up glamorously. There are no dazzling gowns or mascara-ed lashes to distract the viewer from Crawford's fabulous performance.

With a brilliant supporting cast (including the adorable Richard Nichols as the 4 year-old Lars-Erik, and Marjorie Main as the suspicious housekeeper), `A Woman's Face' ranks among the best Crawford films of all time. It is a must-see for anyone who wishes to see a well-made, fascinating tale of intrigue, love and human frailty.

An exciting cast, an excellent story, excellent acting. Joan Crawford is perfect as a malevolent blackmailer who has a change of heart after her facial disfigurement is repaired.

The story progresses in an interesting way, with the plot unfolding during a murder trial. Each witness builds the story line, and the script has many unexpected plot twists, making this film anything but predictable.

This film is a good example of how skillful film makers create special effects without high-tech gadgetry. It's wonderful that we have films like this to show us what real movie-making is like.

Thanks to "A Woman's Face," Joan Crawford's slumped career had a badly needed revival, and Greta Garbo's career ended. Garbo had a choice of "A Woman's Face" or "Two-Faced Woman," but she refused to play a character with a deformity. So she made the disastrous "Two-Faced Woman" instead and retired, her face free of scars and her life free of films.

Ingrid Bergman made the original movie in Sweden, and in the hands of MGM, it translated quite well with a superb performance from Joan Crawford, perhaps the best of her career, as a scarred, bitter woman who makes her living from blackmail. Her story is told in a series of flashbacks, as each character testifies at the woman's trial.

The performances, from MGM's able stable, are very good - Melvyn Douglas as a doctor, Conrad Veidt as an evil man who wants to use Crawford for his own ends (he described himself in this film as "Lucifer in a tuxedo"), Osa Massen, Albert Basserman, Donald Meek, Henry Daniell, George Zucco, and Marjorie Main. Richard Nichols, as the little boy Lars-Erik, sports the same southern accent in Sweden as he did in France in "All This and Heaven, Too."

Crawford is excellent, and one wonders if the role of Anna didn't strike a chord with her given her difficult childhood. Under Cukor's direction, she handles the role beautifully.

A very good movie, and an exciting sleigh ride at the end that you won't want to miss.