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One of Joan Crawford's best roles. She plays a possessive domineering perfectionist housewife who tries to control everyone in her life, particularly her exceptionally nice husband (Wendell Corey). A lot has been said about the similarities between the character of Harriet Craig and Joan herself. Perhaps that's why Joan's performance is so superb. She plays the character of Harriet so effortlessly. Wendell Corey is terrific as her husband. Through most of the movie he's a pushover but when he finally realizes who his wife really is and what she's capable of, look out! It's a very good drama but also some funny parts. Moves along at a crisp pace. Unlike most dramas from the period (and today, really) it doesn't overstay its welcome and pad the length for another twenty minutes. Definitely recommended.

From what we all know of Crawford's life story, HARRIET CRAIG seems to be a character who has a lot in common with JOAN CRAWFORD, so it's no surprise when Crawford plays her in a manner that should certainly please her fanbase, if not film critics. And this remake of "Craig's Wife" gives her plenty of meaty material to work with while she steps over everyone else in the cast in her best domineering mode.

She rules over her household with meticulous attention to detail, no matter how much she makes everyone else tremble under her withering gaze and her harsh rebukes, even alienating the loyal house servants and a young female cousin (K.T. STEVENS) whose romance she breaks up by telling lies.

Hubby WENDELL COREY remains completely unaware of her machinations until two-thirds of the story when he starts to realize that Harriet has not been telling him the truth. Her biggest mistake is giving his employer the false notion that he's careless with money and heavy responsibilities. Corey gets wind of her little talk and then bit by bit he begins to strip away all the deceit and deception she's been practicing on him and his friends.

It's a well crafted study of a woman driven to possess someone but unable to trust any man because of her discovery (as a child) that her father was a two-timer cheating at the office with another woman. The character is very much like the one that Ben Ames Williams created in "Leave Her to Heaven"--Ellen--consumed by the need to possess someone and willing to lie at all costs to keep him at her side.

Crawford is effective in the role, only occasionally rising to moments of theatrical hysteria--cold-faced with eyes glaring in dramatic close-ups--but director Vincent Sherman keeps the performance well controlled throughout most of the film.

WENDELL COREY is excellent as the bamboozled husband, effectively underplaying in his usual style, but with such a direct gaze that his sincerity counteracts Crawford's well played deceptions. Their final confrontation, after a series of lies have been uncovered, gives the film a strong ending. LUCILE WATSON is effective as the sophisticated, aristocratic wife of his employer.

Summing up: Better than average Crawford vehicle with a well-written script.

What a total hoot this movie is... Joan Crawford, in FULL authority (matched only by her even more imperious turn in the later "Queen Bee") runs her ideal house and the people in it as though she were a puppeteer and her husband and servants are nothing more than marionettes at her disposal. The fun begins right off the bat as the staff trudges up and down her magnificent staircase and flutter about tending to her every whim. None of this is good enough for her, though. She takes turns knocking the wind out of each of their sails for things like taking too long, using the wrong steps and allowing unwanted flowers to enter her home. Her attention to detail and monstrous obsession with order HAD to influence the makers of the character-assassinating, but uproariously funny "Mommie Dearest". Every move Crawford makes in this film is calculated and played for maximum impact. Her expressions are tight and telling. It's impossible to take one's eyes off her...especially with her array of stylishly scary outfits and severely unflattering hair. There's a perverse thrill in watching Crawford browbeat Grandma Walton (Corby)! Battered husband Corey (often cast as dull or menacing men) is a perfect counterpart here with a rare chance to show off some of his charm and appeal. Watson adds some sly wisdom to the proceedings as Corey's boss's wife and McKinney stands up to Joan very well as a long-term maid. At 94 minutes, the film is PERFECT entertainment when one is in the mood for some campy, classic fun.

The line above is from the original advertising art, and it conveys the theme of HARRIET CRAIG very well. I have an issue with reviewers who are constantly comparing characters on the screen with the actors who portray them. Harriet Craig was a character, and that is all. There are parallels between the lives of the character and Joan Crawford herself, but one should not go so far as to say they are the same! Joan Crawford is a woman of many mysteries. Every account you could possibly read about her life is full of contradictions; was she good or was she bad, was the ruthless and cruel or was she generous and kind? She was probably all of these things and, like Harriet Craig, a complicated, non-conventional, and independent woman at war with the world.

This is where the comparison ends. The character in the film is a compulsive liar and manipulator. Harriet Craig lies about anything and everything in the spider's web she builds around her. Joan Crawford's performance is fierce and chilling in its complexity. This is a woman of astounding talent, playing a character worthy of that talent. This is one of only a handful of roles Crawford ever played that allowed her to really act, which she does so well you will forget all about those other "great" actresses which usually claim all the credit.

If 1950 was not such a tough year, I'm convinced Joan would have received an Oscar nomination for the performance. The film itself was worthy of a nomination and, as the advertising art claimed, was "one of the five best pictures of the year." I think it is comparable in quality to ALL ABOUT EVE and SUNSET BLVD., and certainly Crawford's performance is on par with the leads in those films, and one of the best of her career! One last final note: a feminist take on HARRIET CRAIG may emphasize that Harriet was just a woman trying to survive the sexist times...but Wendell Corey was such a good and nice husband, believing in their equality, that I don't buy it. Harriet was a woman hurt by her times and unfortunately taking out her mistrust of men on her innocent and good husband, as well as others around her. Harriet was, in the end, a victim of her own prejudice, and selfish, compulsive lies.

Joan Crawford shines as George Kelly's Craig's Wife, which had been made as a film some years earlier with Rosalind Russell, hence the title change. Joan is far better suited to the role, and closer to the right age. As a controlling, materialistic, unfeeling housewife, she is perfect, and is better than I've ever seen her. Crawford clearly understands this woman and doesn't play for sympathy. Yet we can sense her identification with the character, which is complete. SHE has sympathy for the monstrous Harriet, and we can feel it. There is a touch of Pirandello-ish identification here, and it comes through loud and clear; and yet for all this, Miss Crawford is never hammy. She is a thorough pro, and gives us a Craig's Wife that Harriet Craig would herself heartily approve of.