L'esclave du gang

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.

Joan Crawford portrays a young woman on the edge of poverty who decides to change her life for the better. Unfortunately, she thinks that money is the answer to every problem. A smart drama, though formula most of the time. An excellent cast includes David Brian, Steve Cochran and Kent Smith. This is a film worth seeing.

Loosely based on Virginia Hill (Bugsy Seigel's moll), Director Vincent Sherman's film gives it a melodramatic gloss adapting it for star Joan Crawford. Enough of the essential underworld nastiness survives to edge it into Noir territory. Crawford plays Ethel, an unhappy housewife to an oil worker (Richard Egan). Fed up, Ethel moves to the big apple to start her life anew. She ends up as model for a fashion house, earning extra "tips" by wining and dining the firm's clients after hours. Along with the company's accountant Martin (Kent Smith), the pair end up meeting the head honcho for a crime syndicate, the oily George Castleman (David Brian). The pair finagle their way into Castleman's graces through Martin's ease with figures and Ethel's figure* (and her clawing to the top, wiles). On 'assignment' to the West Coast to keep tabs on a renegade operative in Castleman's organization, Nick Prenta (Steve Cochran), Ethel becomes further entangled. The screenplay and production are very slick. The acting smooth. DAMNED is a well done and smoothly entertaining film. Crawford gives a standout performance as the social climber who seemingly will stop on nothing to get what she wants, no matter who she has to hurt along the way. Cochran is charismatic as the Bugsy Siegel stand-in. The casting of the ultimate milquetoast Kent Smith is a master-stroke, perfectly setting up the character's story arc. David Brian has an icy frightening glare which Cinematographer Ted McCord amplifies, at one point making his eyes glow like something out of VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED! DAMNED DON'T CRY is a fine example of sunlit Noir (although there are plenty of dark scenes) and an interesting cross-over with gangster crime pictures. Using Frank Sinatra's real Palm Springs pad as Prenta's hang gives it that much extra verisimilitude. Keeping all the other superlatives in mind, this is still Crawford's picture. Her avaricious Ethel is Noir classic. Of course, any similarity to the actresses real life persona is strictly intentional!

* P.S. One aspect of the film that is the elephant in the room is that the viewer has to accept that Crawford's physical beauty is such that it makes every man she meets melt in front of her. She was an attractive woman, particularly in her earlier years, but, by the time of DAMNED she was hitting her mid-40s. Watching men drool as if Gene Tierney, Ava Gardner or Rita Hayworth had strided into the room is a bit much.

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

'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.