the audience applauded

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Blistering performances.

(A line from one of the characters of the movie)Wow! I watched this on TV on a lark - the movie had a "To Be Announced" and no description, so I didn't know what to expect; I didn't know the story line. My only previous experience with Joan Crawford as an actress was "Baby Jane", and I really don't know much about her. This was an unexpected treat - the acting throughout is superb, and since it is B&W, the use of dramatic lighting and use of unusual camera angles adds depth and drama to the story. When Millicent begins to realize that Burt is a pathological liar, it made me want to say, "Run, girl, RUN!". But then, the villains appear on the scene (Vera Miles and Lorne Greene), and the awful truth is revealed. (BTW, I only knew Greene as Ben Cartwright, but when he was younger, he was HOT! And, that VOICE! But, I digress...). One of the best lines - that made me laugh out loud - that other viewers have mentioned, "And YOU....you SLUT!" - is so good because of how Crawford delivers it. Such dignity. It is a true phenomenon that when a mind is faced with an unspeakable trauma, the creation of a 'fantasy life' can be created to make the trauma more "manageable". Burt's breakdown is understandable, but the horrific truth of how most psycho-therapy was conducted back in the day (drugs and electro-shock therapy) makes the sanitarium scenes difficult to watch. But...the deep strength of Millicent is the true face of love. To love another so much that she wanted Burt to have a happy future, even if it didn't include her, is what this reviewer sees as the very heart of love. Although actors are trained to portray a wide range of characters and emotions, I believe that a woman must be truly strong to be able to portray Millicent - and that gives one insight as to Joan Crawford's own character.And, how does it end? That is for you to find out. Watch it - it's gripping, entertaining, engaging - and the kind of movie you can watch with someone special. And, watching how they respond to this movie will give YOU some insights!

Joan Crawford plays a lonely typist who works out of her LA bungalow. After she encounters Cliff Robertson as a younger man, and the two fall in love, she notices signs of mental instability in Robertson's character. The film hints at the answer to the question it raises over the reasons that underlie the younger-man-older-woman romance. Robertson had been previously married to the character played by Vera Miles's. Later the film introduces Robertson's father, played by Lorne Greene. It's within the triangular relationship between Robertson, his father Lorne Greene, and his ex-wife Vera Miles that the film reveals, a storyline that takes the viewer into a pretty interesting gutter. This is heightened by the absence of Robertson's mother, Greene's ex-wife, who died but left behind an inheritance. When Crawford's character is added into the mix in one of her more neurotic roles (even the psychiatrist in the film notices her neuroses) and Robert Aldrich directing, this film achieves some epic moments.

Here, in "Autumn Leaves," Joan Crawford is a writer who prefers her own company over having just anybody – unlike so many today. She has been burned. So, when Cliff Robertson asks to sit down at her table, (the only seat in a packed restaurant,) she replies, "I'd prefer it if you didn't." But he stands right beside her table, waiting for an available table. She meant for him to go away. She can't have him stand there. She couldn't enjoy her lunch. She gives in. They get to talking and they start to form a relationship, quickly. He's a jovial and nice-lookin' guy, but there's something not quite right there. It seems that everything he says can't be taken at face value. Despite the fact she hasn't been this happy in years, there's something wrong. He has mood swings, and she takes it all on her shoulders, taking care of him. Then Vera Miles and his father Lorne Greene show up, telling her that he should be in a "home." If you love someone, you take care of them, she says. You can't just throw them away. Then an unsavory truth comes out. All actors are excellent in their roles, especially Cliff Robertson, who gives an eerily and captivating off-balanced performance. The quiet moments of his desperation and depression are most convincing. "Autumn Leaves" is not your usual romantic movie. Maybe it's not trying to be. Can love cure? Can one's sanity be found through the thick fog of muddle? "Autumn Leaves" is for those who appreciate good performances in good movies and who know that love can be found in dark places.

I just saw this movie on You Tube. In 13 episodes. I discovered the old movies section and I'm starting to get hooked on them. When I read so many reviews, all of them so very well written, I realized I'm not match to equal them, and besides, they said everything one could say about Joan Crawford, Cliff Robertson et al.So, besides adding my contribution of admiration for this marvelous actress, I will mention something that caught my attention in the development of the action: the fact that when he (Robertson) is interned in the psychiatric clinic and we see her (Crawford) quite worried at home, signing checks for the clinic (these treatments were not covered by any medical insurance), we wonder how could she afford this horribly expensive clinic with her TYPING!! And the same goes for those perfectly fitted outfits designed by Edith Head (One outfit PER SCENE!!) that only a millionaire could barely afford --as the custom-made bag with her initials-- plus the stiff hairstyle and expert make up job, all done by professionals... this character must have been a VERY EXPENSIVE typist in her day!!A thing that made me wonder about our modern times, where fear of the stranger and insecurity is universal, was the fact that she lived in a sort of a row house complex where anybody could go in and out on these pathways to the apartment doors like the most natural thing in the world, no chains on the front doors, no keys, no padlocks, no nothing!! Was life that calm and crime free in those days?! It's a pity that in her fifties Joan Crawford adopted those Groucho Marx eyebrows and double row of false eyelashes only on the upper eyelids, because they gave her such artificial, hard and older look (the opposite of what she was aiming for, I'm sure), and the wide mouth, a la Lucille Ball, that was so foreign to this spinster typist character, already resigned to her typewriter as her solo home companion. But these are minor details, conventions accepted at the time as something akin to an aging star. The movie is great fun and everybody is superb in her or his rôle.