A Disappointing Continuation

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

This is an engrossing and faultlessly researched documentary with excellent movie clips. (The montages are GREAT!) I especially liked seeing the bit where you can actually glimpse Crawford playing for a fleeting second with Norma Shearer as her double in LADY OF THE NIGHT in 1925, and the sound clip from her radio recording of Ibsen's classic drama A DOLL'S HOUSE. (It's intriguing that some of her contemporaries have said elsewhere she was surprisingly effective in the plays she mounted with husband Franchot Tone in their little home theater, making us wonder if she might have actually been able to pull off classic stage roles if she'd taken it further.) I do have to take issue with this comment from the review below, though: << I noticed Christina seemed all too eager to bring forth the darker side of Joan -- how she forced the children to do the cleaning, the wire hanger incident, taking over her role in "The Secret Storm" and all I sense from Christina is an incessant need to repeat to the public how nasty Crawford was. The damage has been done already with the book and MOMMIE DEAREST, isn't it time to move on?...It's the only headache in the entire documentary >> We don't know how much tape the producers shot with Christina Crawford or what else she was asked, all we know is what they finally chose to use. To say that Christina is "still" focusing on that aspect of Crawford's life and should "move on" is like saying that Cliff Robertson is "still" focusing on AUTUMN LEAVES and should do likewise.When the 20th Anniversary edition of her memoir MOMMIE DEAREST was released, Christina gave many interviews in which she praised her mother's career and effective performances. Those professional issues have never been in dispute, though, and what Crawford's daughter has to offer that's unique is insight into what the star's home life was like at specific periods of time.Again, this is an extremely well done documentary, giving an excellent overview of Joan Crawford's life.

Turner Classic Movies, the channel responsible of all films Classic, played this documentary on August 22, on their salute to Joan Crawford, and aptly sandwiched it between her worst movie at MGM, ABOVE SUSPICION, and her Oscar winning MILDRED PIERCE which has become to be regarded as a classic of soap-noir.The documentary, narrated by Anjelica Huston and with commentaries by numerous actors and directors who worked with Crawford as well as some darker tidbits by (who else) Christina Crawford, brings forth what is essentially the exact thing Joan played on-screen: a rags-to-riches life, a Cinderella story, the story of the ingénue who evolves from playing bit parts (and double to Norma Shearer at the very start of her career) to become one of the most powerful screen presences of last century regardless of the material offered to her. Suffice it be to say that her beginnings were humble. That she never met her father until much later in life. That eventually she became estranged from her brother Hal LeSueur. That despite every possible obstacle thrown upon her from feeling like an outsider amongst Hollywood royalty to pressure from MGM who pushed her out into the cold, she managed to stay in the game long after many top stars and "rivals" Greta Garbo and the aforementioned Shearer had passed on into early retirement by moving to Warners and assuring her resurgence as an actress and a well-deserved Oscar for MILDRED PIERCE. I find that the document in itself reveals quite a lot about Joan the person and from here on, Joan the Movie Star and Overall Big-Screen Persona. The comments from her co-stars and former directors are interestingly helpful in establishing how she faced acting in general while vary from pure praise (Cliff Robertson) to initial indifference turning into an apparent, reluctant admiration (Anita Louise), to open support (Diane Baker) when she was much older and alienated in a world/time which was much different than her early years in Hollywood. Everyone conceded that she brought something "intangible" to the table, an untouchable essence, even in her later years when it was clear that her career was long over and she was accepting parts in films like STRAIT-JACKET, I SAW WHAT YOU DID, BERSERK, and TROG. Co-workers from these films admit she played her parts as if she was still working on MILDRED PIERCE -- essentially saying she still had that which was considered "It;" the ability to transcend the mediocre (or at least, less than stellar) material. A shame Hollywood of the 60s stopped calling, but such were the times; while today many actresses keep busy, it's notable that these actresses start accepting smaller and smaller parts (one only has to see Anne Bancroft's career once the 90s came around: hardly a co-starring role in sight, all guest appearances, or the "small but pivotal role".). Joan, on the other hand, wouldn't have less than the title role, and sadly, parts aren't written with older women in mind.Now, I can't judge what transpired between her and Christina, but I noticed Christina seemed all too eager to bring forth the darker side of Joan -- how she forced the children to do the cleaning, the wire hanger incident, taking over her role in "The Secret Storm" and all I sense from Christina is an incessant need to repeat to the public how nasty Crawford was. The damage has been done already with the book and MOMMIE DEAREST, isn't it time to move on? Wouldn't it have been best to talk about all this while she was still alive? It's the only headache in the entire documentary.This one stumbling stone aside, JOAN CRAWFORD, THE ULTIMATE MOVIE STAR reveals a person who simply put, needed people, needed acceptance, and couldn't understand a life of quiet retirement. And while the sordid details of any actor/actress is public fodder, I find it better to focus on an objective source of information and put aside the sensationalism, and thankfully, this documentary is what MOMMIE DEAREST should have been and could not come at a better time, if it's twenty years too late, but late is better than never. It may not restore her name completely -- too much damage has been done and the scavenging of the monster MOMMIE DEAREST created has been lampooned to the death, most recently in Tyler Perry's DIARY OF A MAD BLACK WOMAN -- but at least it brings facts, not lurid details, to the forefront. And that's all that matters.

Lucille La Seuer came out of a poor home. Abandoned by her father and raised by a mother that had to struggle to make ends meet, Lucille saw a way out of her dreary life by becoming a dancer with dreams for going far in show business. Little did she know she would go on to become one of America's movie icons in a career that expanded more than fifty years after she became Joan Crawford, a screen goddess without rival."Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Film Star", conceived and directed by Peter Fitzgerald, follows Ms. Crawford's life in detail. We are given direct accounts by people that knew her and are still around to tell us. The documentary is narrated by Angelica Huston.Joan Crawford was a woman larger than life. As an ambitious woman, she knew from the beginning she had to create her own persona in order to carve a niche in the movie industry. Louis B. Mayer was the man who saw her possibilities and quickly hired her to be part of the MGM family.Ms. Crawford's ambition was boundless. She knew that by marrying Douglas Fairbanks Jr. was her entry into the inner sanctum of most of Hollywood's best people's homes and parties. She transformed herself into the creature one saw in her films. In order to appear more respectable, she adopted a boy and a girl. That girl being Christina, who went to tell it all in her famous book about her adopted mother, "Mommie Dearest", in which one learns about another facet of her character. In fact, Christina talks openly about her adoptive mother quite openly. Ms. Crawford went to adopt three other children, of whom one didn't hear much about.The interviews with some of the people that knew her well proved to be one of the most interesting side to the documentary. Vincen Sherman, the director who worked with her in several movies, is candid about the woman and her human side. Bob Thomas shows an insight about the star. Also we see testimonies by Betsy Palmer, Anna Lee, Diane Baker, Dickie Moore, Ben Cooper, Cliff Robertson, among others that give us the picture of the woman who invented herself and went to become a dominant figure in the American cinema.Thanks to Peter Fitzgerald for making it possible.

Turner Classics played "Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Movie Star" last night during their salute to Joan Crawford day. It was very well written, and the personal interviews with past co-stars and friends was also lovely. I also liked the fact that the biography didn't cut out all her work as a chorus girl in the silent movies, which many programs often do. The only problem that I had with this program was that they included comments from Joan's daughter, Christina Crawford. Christina Crawford made her mother a cruel joke after writing that sub-standard book, "Mommie Dearest." To include her in a show where everyone else was praising Joan Crawford for the tremendous talent that she was and her ability to move up from chorus girl to leading lady parts, is an insult to Joan. Christina Crawford made a name for herself by trashing her mother; she doesn't deserve to be involved in anything.