HARRIET CRAIG (1950) **1/2 It's all a bit melodramatic but there's no denying Joan Crawford's intensity in being manipulative. I think back when it was younger, Hollywood more regularly did a better job with its psychological flicks. Not as gimmicky, just the drama of getting down to what makes individuals tick was acknowledged as high drama. Didn't matter if they were a Unabomber or a desperate housewife...not only is all the world a stage, but spectacular things are going on in every corner. Kind of. Obviously written for Joan, it allows her to say so many things that she was smart enough to understand about herself: about the way you're raised and the effects it has beyond itself, about the price of holding vulnerability at bay, about sexual politics. There's this sense of blind commitment that runs like a dark vein through the stupefying light shed by the dialogue. Something has been disconnected, some mirror that can't reflect back. Reaction formation doesn't begin to cover it.
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