Im Solde des Satans

Absolutely love film-noir/melodrama, have done for a long time, though my main reason for seeing 'The Damned Don't Cry' was Joan Crawford. Not ever the most subtle of actresses, being prone at times to excess, but always an incredibly magnetic one who commanded the screen to transfixing effect in a vast majority of her films. 'Mildred Pierce', one of my favourite films of hers and a contender for her best performance, being a prime example of this.

'The Damned Don't Cry' turned out to be very enjoyable and well worth the time. There are better Crawford films and performances, but she is still in a role that plays to her strengths as an actress, perfect for her actually and like it was made for her, and 'The Damned Don't Cry' itself does nothing to squander her talent or over-stretch her. Crawford is wonderful and basically is the film, intense, deeply felt and played to the hilt with utter commitment, even if subtlety is not always there. She is effortlessly commanding while not over-balancing the film too much, with it not feeling too much like the Joan Crawford Show.

It's not just Crawford that's good. The rest of the cast fare quite well too, with Steve Cochran and especially David Brian exuding nastiness without over-doing it. Selena Royle is similarly good. 'The Damned Don't Cry' looks great too. Especially the noir-ish lighting, It's beautifully and atmospherically shot and the sets are similarly atmospheric. Crawford's clothes are stunning and like characters of their own. The music avoids being intrusive yet has presence with a haunting edge.

One of 'The Damned Don't Cry's' most notable elements is the script, which positively crackles and has tautness, mostly not being overwrought. The story is always compelling with its fair share of surprises and suspense, surprising steaminess too. The more melodramatic element has a lot of edge and emotion. It's non stop slickness and entertainment and the pacing never lets up.

Credulity is strained towards the end and Vincent Sherman's direction, while mostly more than competent, could have done with more restraint in places.

Faring weakest of all is Kent Smith, the character is not an interesting one to begin with but Smith plays him incredibly colourlessly and gets practically lost amongst everything else.

Overall, very well done with Crawford rightly dominating. 8/10

'The Damned Don't Cry' is an obvious attempt to capitalize on Joan Crawford's success with 'Mildred Pierce' (also made with Warner Bros.) Both films are melodrama tinged with noir, although I would certainly hesitate to classify 'Damned...' as a noir. It has a few of the noir trademarks, but is not executed particularly well enough to be considered as a true film noir.

Like 'Mildred Pierce' it begins with a murder, and is then told via Joan's (her character's name - don't laugh - is Ethel)flashback. We're then treated to some vintage down home Joan, again like her character in 'Mildred Pierce' she is a struggling mother trying to please her child. Instead of tryng to buy a dress for Veda, in 'The Damned Don't Cry' she is trying to purchase a bike for her pathetic son.

The morality of the 50s is in full effect here, again like 'Mildred Pierce'. In the latter film, when the woman leaves the family home and has desires for a professional life, chaos and misery begins. The same is true for 'The Damned...'. Ethel wants a life better than her near-poverty existence, having to leave her husband and child. Therefore, she must be punished in the eyes of the narrative. Ethel then gets mixed up in some gangster situations. There's one amusing scene where in a restaurant her date (a poor accountant) orders 'a chicken salad and a coffee' and Joan nearly has a seizure. The mise en scene changes when Ethel is involved with the criminal activities: a gothic mansion is used and the lighting begins to contrast between light and dark. But, again, not really enough to make a convincing case for this being a noir.

Joan gives a good performance as Ethel/Lorna. Certainly not one of her best, but she is particularly good in the final scenes. If you enjoyed 'Mildred Pierce' or 'Flamingo Road', this is one to watch.

The Damned Don't Cry finds Joan Crawford on a roller-coaster ride from poverty, to riches, to notoriety and then to God knows where. Her fate is by no means clear at the end of the film.

Joan is an older version of the shop girl she played in her MGM days. She leaves her hard working, but dull husband Richard Egan after their little boy is killed in a traffic accident. She has beauty, but little else in the way of work skills. The answer is obvious, become a model.

The modeling gig gets her involved with the mob and she's soon trading up men from accountant Kent Smith, to mobsters, Steve Cochran, and David Brian. Along the way Joan acquires riches, polish, and a new name and identity of a wealthy Texas oil heiress. That's only befitting the position of mistress to the gangster elite.

With Virginia Hill's testimony before the Kefauver Committee and the spectacular death of Bugsy Siegel a couple of years earlier, the recognition of the characters played by Crawford and Cochran would have been easy for the movie-going public. In fact I'm surprised Steve Cochran never got to play Siegel in a biographical picture long before Warren Beatty did his film. Cochran would have been perfect in the role. Of course it was probably too close to Siegel's demise and a lot of Hollywood people might have been burned a bit.

David Brian is a sleek version of Lucky Luciano who was not as polished in real life as Brian is here. But beneath the polish, Brian's a deadly man although he would not be doing his own work if he was really Luciano at that stage. And Kent Smith in the Meyer Lansky part is really quite the stretch.

Crawford pulls all the stops out in The Damned Don't Cry. Her fans and others will really love this film.

I have to say that this is one of my very favorite films. A truly entertaining movie. Briefly, Joan Crawford plays a good woman who's world is turned upside down by a tragic event. She decides to climb her way out of poverty by using everyone she comes in contact with and falling in with a lot of shady characters. She makes her way to a life of glamour and wealth, only to see it all fall apart when her bad karma comes back to haunt her. For all the Joan Crawford jokes - this is actually quite a good movie. The dialogue is crackling and all the actors are very good. Joan does not go over the top and gives a convincing portrayal of a woman who has lost her moral compass - but then regains it in the end. There are of course some melodramatic moments, but not too many. The production values are top notch - lots of location shooting - mainly in Palm Springs, to really get you into the setting of the film.

I would classify this film as a film noir - it starts out as who-done-it and features noir stalwart Steve Cochran. If you are looking for an entertaining flick - you can't go wrong with this one!

The Damned Don't Cry! Is directed by Vincent Sherman and collectively written by Gertrude Walker, Harold Medford and Jerome Weidman. It stars Joan Crawford, David Brian, Steve Cochran and Kent Smith. Music is by Daniele Amfitheatrof and cinematography by Ted McCord.

Loosely based on the relationship between Bugsy Siegel and Virginia Hill, story has Crawford as Ethel Whitehead, a weary housewife who decides to break off from her hum-drum existence to climb the social ladder: But at what consequence?

Part gangster's moll tale, part lady led melodrama, The Damned Don't Cry! Is enjoyable enough entertainment as a Crawford vehicle. At 45 years of age when she made this, some scenes, such as her doing some slinky modelling work, just don't sit right and stretch credulity, but she commands the screen like an ageless swan hiding a dark seductive heart. The film as a whole is a bit hit and miss, with its themes of disillusionment, morality and social standings jostling for attention in the narrative, while the reliance on clichés and parody for parody's sake irks a touch, but it's good and solid black and white fun. Especially if you happen to be a Joan Crawford fan. 6.5/10