Complete credited cast: | |||
Joan Crawford | ... | Ethel Whitehead (Lorna Hansen Forbes) | |
David Brian | ... | George Castleman (Joe Caveny) | |
Steve Cochran | ... | Nick Prenta | |
Kent Smith | ... | Martin Blackford | |
Hugh Sanders | ... | Grady | |
Selena Royle | ... | Patricia Longworth | |
Jacqueline deWit | ... | Sandra | |
Morris Ankrum | ... | Jim Whitehead | |
Edith Evanson | ... | Mrs. Castleman | |
Richard Egan | ... | Roy |
The murder of gangster Nick Prenta touches off an investigation of mysterious socialite Lorna Hansen Forbes, who seems to have no past, and has now disappeared. In flashback, we see the woman's anonymous roots; her poor working-class marriage, which ends in tragedy and her determination to find "better things." Soon finding that sex appeal is her only salable commodity, she climbs from man to man toward the center of a nationwide crime syndicate...a very perilous position. Written by Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>
5 years after "Mildred Pierce" and Joan Crawford is at it again. Again, she is poor and is willing to climb to the top no matter what. In this film, she becomes involved with organized crime and becomes a real pro in being used to infiltrate other wayward mobsters.
From poverty to that Mildred Pierce mink, Crawford gave a truly memorable performance. She will stop at nothing to get to the top.
Along the way, she seduces timid accountant, played masterfully by Kent Smith, to join the mob only two realize that the two of them are trapped.
Another favorite co-star of Crawford, David Brian appears as the head mobster who is against violence but must come to grips with it when renegade hood, the always terrific Steve Cochran, seduces Crawford and then goes after her when he discovers that she is a Brian stooge.
This is a gripping film-noir at its best.