Ehe in Fesseln

A guilty pleasure if I ever saw one. Directect by Ranald McDougall, even his name reads like a misspell, he was the writer of Mildred Pierce and clearly Crawford trusted him. Look at her entrance, from a distance, a subtle and no so subtle game of light and music. The turgid tale of evil and deception suffers from holes in every angle but this is not the sort of picture that can afford that kind of scrutiny. This is a showcase for the late term Crawford die hard fans. You wont be able to help but admire her devastating self confidence. She knew every trick in the book as an actress as well as a character. Queen Bee goes bye fast very fast and the moral compass is determined by Lucy Marlow when in fact it needed a sort of Anne Baxter or someone with a bit more gravitas. To be seen with a bunch of like minded friends and laugh out loud.

So sayeth Barry Sullivan in "Queen Bee" referring to Joan Crawford, the ruler of a southern household in this 1955 drama, which also stars John Ireland, Barry Sullivan, Betsy Palmer and Fay Wray. Cousin Jennifer Stewart (Lucy Marlow) arrives for a visit and immediately senses there are a few problems in the home - at first, she feels these problems are unfairly blamed on Eva (Crawford). She soon learns what the audience has known from Eva's first appearance.

The lovely and somewhat shy Carol Lee Phillips (Palmer), sister of Eva's husband (Sullivan), is about to marry one of Eva's hand-me-downs, Judson Prentiss (Ireland) but doesn't realize that Eva hasn't quite decided to let him go. Complicating things, cousin Jennifer finds herself attracted to Eva's husband. In real life, Ireland and Crawford were having an affair, and Palmer screamed "WHAT??" into the telephone when she was invited to Crawford's wedding to Alfred Steele. At the reception, she took Crawford aside and asked what was going on. "Oh, well," Crawford said, "We were in our cups and Alfred asked me to marry him, and I said yes."

This is one of those southern dramas we saw a lot of in the '50s and early '60s - "The Long Hot Summer," "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," and "Desire in the Dust," to name a few. "Queen Bee" is a little over the top. It's a tour de force for Crawford, who has some very biting lines which she delivers in her inimitable style, and her wardrobe is sensational, especially the last gown. She plays the kind of bitch we always imagine she was in real life, the woman depicted in "Mommie Dearest." She couldn't have been - too many people, from Ann Blyth to Betsy Palmer, truly liked her. A little too much of a disciplinarian at home and with a voracious sexual appetite, she certainly brought those edges to many performances. Crawford also was one of the great screen presences with a face made for film.

Highly enjoyable film particularly for Crawford fans, though everyone in it is very good.

Joan Crawford is in her element here! As a deceitful, manipulative woman with the Medusa touch she's in her glory. You get the feeling she's enjoying herself immensely. Hell, you even get the feeling she's enjoying the costumes! She tears into the part of Eva Phillips as if it were her last meal, and takes the rest of the cast along for the ride. They don't make movies like this anymore and it's a shame. It's good, clean, sinister fun with Joan in control every step of the way.

There's only one real reason to see this film, and it's for Joan Crawford, who is a hoot in nearly every scene she is in. Though there is no real depth to any of the characters here, it does feature a pretty good supporting cast: Barry Sullivan, John Ireland...even Fay Wray turns up. Joan dishes out one nasty one-liner after the next...shredding apart the people around her. You can tell she must have had a lot of fun "playing" this role. Lucy Marlow is a little annoying as Jennifer, but her character gradually changes. Betsy Palmer as Carol, is pretty good. I wasn't too fond of the ending, it just seemed like it was tacked on, but that didn't keep me from enjoying the rest of the film. I'd watch it again, just because of Joan.

Now, I am a big Joan Crawford fan and have been since I was 12 (don't ask) and this has to be my favorite film of hers, which is saying a lot. It is so campy and over the top, it's hard to believe that everyone was taking themselves so seriously. From Joan's drag queen gowns (check out the black sequin number she wears just to eat dinner in!) to her bitchy, back stabbing dialogue: "Carol, don't you look sweet, even in those tacky old riding clothes" and "Darling, parties are to women what battlefields are to men but then... you weren't in the war were you? Something about drinking..." And just wait for the scene were Joan destroys a room with a riding crop. Not to mention where she smears her vanity mirror with cold cream in order to cover her over emoting reflection. This is a camp classic of monumental proportions and one that you will want to watch several times!!!