Mildred Pierce (Michael Curtiz, 1945): USA

Paper by Collier Grimm. Viewed on DVD.

Shoulder pads are the key visual ingredient to most of the outfits worn by all three of the leading ladies in the film Mildred Pierce. These leading ladies are strong and independent and the audience is meant to view all three leading ladies as strong and independent women. Shoulder pads accentuate power and take up space on the screen enabling the characters to appear larger than life.

The primary leading lady of the film, Joan Crawford, nearly always played characters that were larger than life. Her character, Mildred, however does not appear in shoulder pads right away. At the beginning of the film she is dressed in matronly looking clothes, including lacy aprons, and flat shoes. Although Mildred is meant to represent a typical housewife of the 1940’s era, Crawford appears very uncomfortable and out of place in her “housewife” look. When Crawford finally earns her independence thus her shoulder pads with her independence, the trained film viewer may find it easier to believe Crawford, is Mildred. Her costume transformation is a significant representation of her personal transformation from dependent wife and mother, to business woman as a restaurateur. When Mildred exchanges her domestic lifestyle for a waitress job, her costumes instantly change. Immediately after Mildred gets her first job at the restaurant, she walks into the back and puts on a uniform that miraculously happens to be her exact size. If every waitress could have a uniform perfectly cut to her proportions, her tips would quadruple! Mildred’s tips certainly do. Soon she has saved enough to open a very successful chain of restaurants, and her costumes change again. Hollywood begins to add its signature “Crawford Look,” to every costume. For the remainder of the film Mildred is dripping in fur and her shoulders become bigger than fins on a Cadillac.

Vita, Mildred’s daughter, also has two significant changes in costume in the film. In the first half of the film Vita appears in schoolgirl-like costumes, which are meant to make the actress look slightly childish. She dons ruffles, a plain hairstyle, and her makeup would be considered minimal by Classical Hollywood standards. Vita is slowly working on becoming the center of the universe, but her costumes do not make that transition until the second half of the film. During Vita’s “youthful look” period, Mildred bakes pies for the neighborhood in order to save enough money to buy Vita nice clothes. Vita, however, finds the clothes too cheap for her taste, a sentiment that foreshadows her downward spiral over an obsession for riches. In an early scene from the film Vita’s true character begins to seep through her costume, and the audience has its first taste of her poison. She states, “It seems to me if your buying anything it should be the best, this is definitely not the best…I wouldn’t be seen dead in this rag.” Mildred soon finds a way to buy only the best for Vita, and Vita’s costumes change for the second act. Vita begins to appear in costumes that are shorter, tighter in the waist, and broader in the shoulders. Vita also starts wearing high heels and smoking cigarettes, both props that in that time accentuated sex appeal and danger in a woman. Although Vita’s costumes and props start to become much more revealing about her true character, it’s not until the end of the film that the audience can truly put everything together. Vita has transformed from a seemingly sweet and innocent youth, to a spider woman in high fashion. Vita is essentially a Femme Fatal, although this film cannot be considered classic Film Noir. She wears hats that create shadows on her face, she repeatedly wears all black, she covers her hands with gloves, and she commits murder without shedding a tear.        
                                                                                                                                                                                                  

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Mildred breaks the stereotypical ideal of a woman from the very start of Mildred Pierce. Mildred first appears on screen baking in the kitchen of her home. Later it is revealed that she bakes pies out of her home in order to earn money on the side. With this money Mildred is helping to support her family since her husband has been laid off. Because Mildred is acting as an equal to her husband in terms of money, she is completely redefining conventional feminine behavior of the time. Women were expected to stay in the kitchen, but only to act as mother, wife, and chef to their family. Although Mildred is doing the only thing she believes she can do to help her family survive, her husband resents her contributions. Men of the time were expected to be the silent bread winner, because Mildred’s husband cannot live up to this expectation his personal insecurity leads to a divorce. Mildred’s voice over narration reveals to the audience that she is broke, and must find a job to support her two daughters. Divorce was much less common during this era, and women typically had little or no prior experience in the work force. After searching for days Mildred finally lands a job at a restaurant, and later ends up owning her own chain of restaurants. Most women of the 1940’s did not become successful entrepreneurs. Mildred, however, is punished for her great luck by her daughter Vita, who believes anyone that works in the restaurant industry is low class. Interestingly, Vita does not mind accepting clothes, cars, or other small fortunes from her “low class” mother. Mildred’s second husband, Monty, also takes advantage of her success and borrows huge amounts of money that he spends romancing Vita and gambling.

Vita redefines conventional ideals expected of children in the 1940’s. During the first part of the film Vita is constantly talking back to her parents, especially to Mildred, and never punished for it. Although most parents today don’t hold their children to such traditional standards, in the 1940’s children were expected to obey and be quiet. Parents were not afraid to raise a hand to a child who spoke back, so children learned to respect and fear their parents. Vita, however, has obviously been raised as a princess and walks all over her mother. As she grows older, Vita begins to challenge societies’ standards for acceptable “lady-like” behavior. The director also challenges standards of the time by insinuating Vita’s lack of chastity in a scene where Vita pretends to get pregnant in order to get money out of her boyfriend’s family. Young women were expected to protect their viriginity, but Vita finds no shame in throwing herself at men for money, even her stepfather Monty.

The third main character, Ida, is altogether unconventional. She is introduced to the audience as the manager of the restaurant where Mildred gets her first job. It is insinuated that she is not married, and has never been. Mildred and Ida develop a strong relationship that could be considered a subtle suggestion of romance between the two. They get along with each other much better than they do with men, and Ida runs the money side of Mildred’s business much like a man would do. Ida also helps run things at home, and shows an obvious distaste for the men in Mildred’s life.  In one scene, Wally Fay, a long time love interest of Mildred’s, makes a statement that he hates all women. Suddenly he turns around to look at Ida and adds, “Thank goodness your not one.”  Ida, in other words, is punished severely in the film for her unconventional behavior.

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The female friendships in this film define the nature of each female character. Mildred and her daughter Vita have the worst possible female friendship, and mother/daughter relationship. Although Mildred always goes out of her way so ensure Vita’s happiness, Vita goes out of her way to defeat her mother’s happiness. Because of their opposing feelings for each other, the audience is easily persuaded to side with Mildred. Vita makes a conscious effort to hurt her mother at every possible opportunity. IN fact, through Vita’s malicious actions toward her mother, the audience can believe she would be capable of killing a man. Because Mildred has a tendency to let people walk all over her, the audience is willing to understand why she takes the blame for when Vita is accused in Monty’s death. The film is in black and white in more ways than one. Vita is selfish, Mildred is selfless.

The relationship between Mildred and Ida develops over time and reveals a softer, more loving nature about both of the characters. Mildred meets Ida for the first time as a customer in Ida’s restaurant. Ida is the boss and she runs the show at the restaurant where Mildred is applying to work. Ida’s character is defined by her quick wit and crass humor; she is presented as a man in women’s clothes. If Ida’s character was a man in the film, she could have easily been presented as another love interest for Mildred. However because of the 1945 production date, only an audience member with a trained eye would make that connection. The two establish a strong relationship and grow to respect and admire one another. after Mildred buys her own restaurant, the roles are reversed and Ida begins to work under Mildred. Because Mildred’s position in the business is stereotypical to one a man would hold, she becomes the more masculine partner in the relationship. Ida even hosts Vita’s birthday party at Mildred’s mansion, while Mildred stays late at the office. This is the most direct and obvious nod to their husband-and-wife-like relationship.

The characters of Mildred and Ida are parallels to the actresses portraying them. Joan Crawford and Eve Arden were almost always represented as strong, ball-busters, who were not afraid to be themselves. Crawford didn’t need another name on a marquee to sell box office, so often she requested male leads that wouldn’t steal her thunder. Unfortunately this why Zachary Scott cannot carry his own in Mildred Pierce. The only films in which Crawford truly hold’s her own, are bizarre dramas with lesbian undertones, like: Whatever Happened to Baby Jane , and Johnny Guitar.  Arden usually played the sidekick to leading ladies, but had a long and successful career thanks to her on screen presence. In a side note, the sidekick has often been considered a hidden representation of queer in Classical Hollywood Cinema.

A relationship between two men is non-existent in this film. All three leading male characters are at odds with one another throughout most of the film. This is mainly due to the fact that they are all infatuated with Mildred. Because of their love for or infatuation with her, they cannot come to terms with each other. Mildred’s first husband, Bert, goes so far in his hate for Monty, that he takes the blame for his murder insisting that it was a good idea. Wally Fay is introduced as Bert’s best pal, however Wally does everything he can to win Mildred’s affections. Monty is never friendly with anyone but Mildred and Vita; in fact Ruby Rich would probably interpret Monty’s character as a subtle suggestion of homosexuality in the 1940’s.

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Monty Beragon, Mildred’s second husband, is presented as a weak, and insecure character. He does not hold his own against the powerhouse Joan Crawford, and thus becomes a very boring character. The film revolves around his death: who killed Monty and why? The audience is initially led to believe Crawford’s character, Mildred, is the murderer. Only through Mildred’s voiceover narrative is her innocence revealed. Mildred meets Monty when she buys property that he is selling because of debt. She is initially attracted to him because of his good looks, and falls in love with him because she is filling a void within herself. Monty may be considered upper class, but he lacks the essential characteristics that would make him a good husband. Mildred takes him in partly because she pities his desire for riches, and his inability to attain them because of bankruptcy. Monty is also an asset to Mildred because he entertains her daughter while she is working. Little does she know, at that point, that he is more than just Vita’s “babysitter”.  Through Monty the audience discovers that Mildred spends most of her life making other people happy. She puts up with Monty long after declaring that she is no longer in love with him. It almost seems as if Mildred turns a blind eye to the close relationship Monty and Vita share, because she would rather see her daughter in a good mood. Mildred even considers suicide after she discovers the love affair; her self-destructive willingness to suffer so others can experience joy turns out to be her greatest downfall.

Wally Fay is an interesting person in Mildred’s life. He acts like  great friend to her and helps her reach her goal of becoming a restaurant owner. However he does it in hopes that Mildred will feel she is in debt to him. Mildred never falls for Wally’s charms, and ends up using him to her advantage. She even attempts to frame Wally for Monty’s death, once again proving the lengths she will go to for her daughter. Wally and Mildred’s relationship is very strong considering a romance is never suggested. Typically, classic Hollywood presented relationships between women and men as love interests, not friendship. Mildred’s ability to maintain a business and friendship with a man, also suggests her masculine side. Mildred never entertains the idea of becoming more than Wally’s friend. After Mildred’s divorce, Wally offers to marry her to save her from debt. Instead Mildred finds a job and insists on becoming successful without the help of a man. Through Wally the audience learns that Mildred is strong and independent and that Mildred’s greatest weakness is her love for her daughter, not a man. This film scenario is quite unusual. Often the heroine’s greatest weakness is as superior representation of the male species. Occasionally  a heroine finds her greatest weakness to be a wicked witch, or her diva-like boss. But rarely are women represented at odds with their own children. Mildred’s weakness does not, however, go unnoticed by the other characters. Ida goes so far as to state, “Personally Vita’s convinced me alligators have the right idea. They eat their young.”

Mildred’s first husband, Bert, does not play a significant part in the film. He is mostly there to further the idea that Mildred would choose Vita over anyone else. Bert initially leaves Mildred for another woman because he claims her attentions are too often directed toward the children instead of him. Bert is a weak character, but ends up being the only man Mildred respects or cares about.

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Mildred and Vita are two very unique characters that are part of the dysfunctional Pierce family. Mildred has a pathos quality that leads the audience to feel pity for her blind love of Vita. Throughout the film she struggles with self-identity, and her obsession with pleasing her daughter. Mildred is a self-made woman but despite her hard work she tends to let people walk all over her. Mildred seems to have a need to give other people the things she never had, and in doing so she never finds real happiness for herself. Mildred is similar to Vita because they both want the best for Vita. Vita , however, believes she is entitled to the best things in life. Mildred understands that she was not born into the upper class, and in order to get the best for Vita she will have to earn it. Mildred and Vita also find something attractive about Monty. Mildred, however, finds him appealing because she is filling an empty place in her heart. Although she is a very successful businesswoman, she seemed more content as a homemaker, wife, and mother. After Mildred’s husband leaves her, and her younger daughter Kay dies, she spends the remainder of the movie searching for something to fill that void.

Vita is initially attracted to Monty because she has seen him on the society pages of the newspaper. Vita enjoys spending time with a man from a higher social status than the people working in her mother’s restaurant. Monty dotes on Vita, and although he initially treats her like a kid, at some point an affair develops between them. Mildred and Vita both enjoy Monty’s company because they are lonely. Vita is obviously extremely insecure; by acting entitled to the best she escapes underlying feelings of weakness. Throughout the film Vita makes Mildred’s life a living hell. She always finds a way to make her mother feel like the bad person. Vita is never thankful for her family; she despises all efforts her mother makes to ensure her happiness, and destroys as many relationships as she can. Vita either finds the worst in someone, or everything that they are lacking in life. In an effort to build up her low self-confidence, she tears everyone else down, especially Mildred. Vita expresses her feelings toward her mother several times throughout the film; no matter what Mildred does for her, it is never enough. In Vita’s most famous monologue she belittles her mother yet again stating, “You think just because you made a little money you can get a new hairdo and some expensive clothes and turn yourself into a lady. But you can’t, because you’ll never be anything but a common frump whose father lived over a grocery store and whose mother took in washing.”

At first Mildred and Vita appear to be two completely different people stuck under the same roof in the same dramatic soap opera. Mildred is a kind and loving mother who never thinks of herself. Vita is an angst-ridden youth that brings everyone around her down in hopes of building up her own ego up. But as the movie progresses similarities between the two start to become obvious. Both women share a common dislike for themselves; they only differ in how they act upon that personal discomfort. The director clearly makes both women look similar through use of camera work and lighting. The only way their differences come across on the screen is through their actions, and their facial expressions. Crawford’s face remains in a sorrowful grimace for most of the film.  Even when Mildred smiles, her eyes are lonely. Ann Blyth’s eyes are narrowed and lips pouted like a spoiled baby for most of the film, and her chin stays at an upward angle even when she is singing in the lounge club. Blyth managed to capture a look of unforgiving hatred in her eyes so well that she becomes the most believable character in the film. Crawford was later noted for saying that she would never work with a child star again because she didn’t like being upstaged by a kid. Both women are on the edge of a nervous breakdown for most of the film, their anxious self-doubt resonates off the screen and leaves the audience feeling quite uncomfortable. The two never resolve their battle, and Vita is eventually torn from Mildred by the police and thrown into a jail cell.

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The types of characters in the film Mildred Pierce, most directly relate to sentiments of the time in which the film was made. During World War II, men were shipped over seas in great numbers to fight the Nazis. Women stayed behind and took the place of men in the workforce. Soon they began to enjoy the feeling of self-sufficiency and independence that they got from working for a living. When men returned to the U.S., they found the women had become much more independent. This created a divide between the sexes. Women were not eager to return to the kitchen and play second fiddle to their husbands. This sentiment is expressed in the film through Mildred’s independence, and self-sufficiency. She represents the freedom many women were dreaming of after their husbands had returned from war.

Vita represents the youth that was beginning to turn against their parents after the war. This feeling was later expressed in feeling like, Rebel Without a Cause. Teenage angst became a common theme for films; parents did not understand their kids and visa versa. The youth began to rebel against the traditions of their elders, and when asked what they were rebelling against they quoted their hero, Marlon Brando, claiming, “What have you got?” Although Vita takes this rebellion a step further, she represents the ever-changing youth and their opposition to previous generations customs.

Monty represents the death of the upper class. The people in the United States were beginning to melt into a middle-class lifestyle, and most people were on even ground. Although some wealthy families remained, the opportunity to live in a nice house and have nice things was available to most everyone. The gray flannel suite craze of the 1950’s was just a few years away, and citizens were beginning to notice a shift in power. The old money families would remain very influential in government, but the everyday man was gaining power. He could drive a Cadillac, live in a big Suburban house, and take vacations with his family. Monty loses his power and money, and represents the decay of the upper class.

The film is set in California, and the mise-en-scene is comprised of two beautiful beach houses. One house is the scene of Monty’s death. The other becomes Mildred’s restaurant. Apparently the director, Michael Curtiz, was the owner of the house in which Monty is murdered – a house that was a Hollywood haunt in 1940’s Malibu. The soundtrack is very melodramatic and weepy, it channels Mildred’s unsuccessful search for self worth. The themes in Mildred Pierce, are of love, success, power, class, status and self worth. In the end no one wins. Vita is punished for her evil nature, and Mildred blames herself for not better protecting her daughter. Mildred is never satisfied with her life, and it is as if, “In her heart of hearts she knew it would happen this way.”