Mildred Pierce

Mildred Pierce is

The movie

The most astonishing fact about Curtiz´s film adaptation is that it was designed as a thriller. For that reason, a murder was introduced into the plot.

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Crawford and Zachary Scott

Related Topics:
Crawford - Zachary Scott

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Whereas the novel is told by a third person narrator in strict chronological order, the film uses voice-over narration (the voice of Mildred). Most of the action is set at the local police station, which serves as a frame, where Mildred has been brought for questioning after a suicide attempt. (It seems she wanted to throw herself into the sea.) She tells her whole story in a series of long flashbacks up to the point where, right there at the police station, she faces Veda, who, as it turns out, has shot Monty Beragon because he has insulted her and told her he has no intention of eloping with her. This is the point where Mildred can no longer protect her daughter, where Veda has to take responsibility for her own actions for the first time.

Related Topics:
Voice-over - Frame - Flashback

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According to Jim Hitt (Words and Shadows. Literature on the Screen ), "the Mildred Pierce (Warner Bros., 1945) of director Michael Curtiz is not the Mildred Pierce of author James Cain, and Cain didn't like it". However, the movie is "a superior example of film noir, improving the novel on several counts". William L. DeAndrea (Encyclopedia Mysteriosa. A Comprehensive Guide to the Art of Detection in Print, Film, Radio, and Television ) briefly states that "a murder that doesn't appear in James M. Cain's novel was added to the film, thereby moving it into the genre."

Related Topics:
Michael Curtiz - Film noir - James M. Cain - Genre

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Some of the other changes that were made - an inexhaustive list:

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• The material is condensed, the story is tightened and updated, the pace quickened, time is constricted:

The novel spans a period of nine years (from 1931 to 1940), whereas the action of the film is set in the 1940s (cars!) and spans only four years. Accordingly, in the film, the characters do not really grow older: Mildred does not change her appearance, she does not put on weight and become matronly; Veda does grow older though, but only four years, from around 13 to around 17. Generally speaking, Mildred is more of a tycoon in the film. Her restaurants are glamorous places, and she owns a whole chain ("Mildred's") rather than just three.

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Also, all references to the Depression and the Prohibition era were removed.

Related Topics:
Depression - Prohibition

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• The plot is simplified and the number of characters reduced:

Ann Blyth as Mildred's ungrateful daughter Veda

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For example, the part of the action which revolves around Veda's training and success as a singer (including her performance at the Hollywood Bowl) was dropped altogether. Obviously, Veda's music teachers do not appear in the movie version.

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Mildred's numerous staff - both at home and at her restaurants - are represented by one (!) young and rather pretty African American housemaid (stereotyped as slightly dumb and thus comical) who also seems to be helping out at the restaurants.

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• The depiction of sexuality is softened (in accordance with what was both legal and acceptable in movies at the time; see Production Code / Hays Code).

The film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

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