{"id":9116,"date":"2010-05-01T20:32:58","date_gmt":"2010-05-02T04:32:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=9116"},"modified":"2010-05-02T03:14:42","modified_gmt":"2010-05-02T11:14:42","slug":"a-womans-face-george-cukor-1941-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=9116","title":{"rendered":"A Woman’s Face (George Cukor, 1941): USA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Kathleen Amboy<\/a>.\u00a0 Viewed at the TCM Film Festival in Hollywood, CA.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Four years prior to the celebrated Mildred Pierce, <\/em>Joan Crawford starred in\u00a0the lesser known, but equally intense masterpiece A Woman’s Face<\/a><\/em>, directed by the inimitable George Cukor.<\/p>\n

Anna Holm (Joan Crawford) is on trial for murder and very\u00a0limited in her defense.\u00a0 One by one, as\u00a0several witnesses come forward to testify, each gives a\u00a0seperate account of the circumstances, and not necessarily in her favor.<\/p>\n

Blackmailer Torsten Barring (Conrad Veidt),\u00a0woos the\u00a0facially disfigured Anna, and convinces her to go into business with him.\u00a0 The two devise a plan to relieve\u00a0an unfaithful wife, Vera Segert (Osa Massen) of her jewels, using illicit love letters as the bait.<\/p>\n

During the transaction, Anna stumbles upon Vera’s accommodating husband, Dr. Gustaf Segert (Melvyn Douglas), who is an expert plastic surgeon.\u00a0 Dr. Segert views Anna’s disfigurement as a welcomed challenge, and offers his assistance.<\/p>\n

Soon after, Torsten offers\u00a0Anna a job as\u00a0governess to his little nephew Lars-Erik (Richard Nichols), who is set\u00a0to\u00a0inherit a great sum of money upon the death of his grandfather.\u00a0 Torsten reveals to Anna that if a tragedy were to befall little Lars-Erik, he instead would inherit the wealth.\u00a0 Horrified by the idea, Anna believes she’s in love with Torsten, and \u00a0succumbs to his treachery.<\/p>\n

Joan Crawford exceeds her versatility and range,\u00a0transforming her character\u00a0from embittered and angry, to heartfelt and redemptive.\u00a0 Cukor was a master at directing comedies as well as melodramas – he also directed Crawford in the catty but hilarious\u00a0The Women<\/em>(1939).\u00a0 Prior to his death, the terrific character actor Conrad Veidt made only a handful of Hollywood films, including Whistling in the Dark<\/em> (1941) and Casablanca<\/em> (1942).<\/p>\n

Kudos to the TCM line-up for choosing this Crawford film above all her others.\u00a0 In attendance and introducing the film were Crawford’s grandson Casey LaLonde, as well as Melvyn Douglas’ grandaughter\u00a0Illeana Douglas.\u00a0 It was refreshing to hear LaLonde speak positively of his grandmother – that his mother had loving memories.\u00a0 And Illeana Douglas spoke of how\u00a0her grandfather despised the term “character actor,” saying that all acting was character acting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Kathleen Amboy.\u00a0 Viewed at the TCM Film Festival in Hollywood, CA. Four years prior to the celebrated Mildred Pierce, Joan Crawford starred in\u00a0the lesser known, but equally intense masterpiece A Woman’s Face, directed by the inimitable George Cukor. Anna Holm (Joan Crawford) is on trial for murder and very\u00a0limited in her defense.\u00a0 One […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-films"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9116\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}