The Damned Don't Cry!

Infobox Film | name = The Damned Don't Cry!


caption = DVD cover
(based on original film poster)
director = Vincent Sherman
producer = Jerry Wald
writer = Story:
Gertrude Walker
Screenplay:
Harold Medford
Jerome Weidman
starring = Joan Crawford
David Brian
Steve Cochran
music = Daniele Amfitheatrof
cinematography = Ted McCord
editing = Rudi Fehr
distributor = Warner Bros.
released = flagicon|USA 7 May 1950
runtime = 103 min.
language = English
budget =
imdb_id = 0042376

"The Damned Don't Cry!" (1950) is a Warner Bros. feature film starring Joan Crawford, David Brian, and Steve Cochran in a story about a woman's involvement with a bookmaker and his ring. The screenplay by Harold Medford and Jerome Weidman was based on a story by Gertrude Walker. The film was directed by Vincent Sherman and produced by Jerry Wald. "The Damned Don't Cry!" is the first of three cinematic collaborations between Sherman and Crawford.

Plot and cast

Ethel Whitehead (Joan Crawford) is a weary housewife living at the edge of the Texas oil fields. When her young son is killed in a bicycle accident, she leaves her abusive laborer husband Roy (Richard Egan) for the big city. She quickly learns to use her physical charms to get ahead. In cahoots with bookkeeper friend Martin Blackford (Kent Smith), Ethel works her way into the entourage of George Castleman (David Brian), a mobster who enjoys an elegant lifestyle. With the help of socialite Patricia Longworth (Selena Royle), Castleman grooms Ethel in the arts of cultured living. After making her his mistress, he tries to use her to trap his arch-rival Nick Prenta (Steve Cochran). The trap fails when Ethel falls in love with Prenta. The betrayed Castleman kills Prenta and goes gunning for Ethel but dies in a shoot out with Blackford. Ethel's fate at the end of the film is uncertain; the viewer however is left feeling it won't be happy.

Reception

Bosley Crowther of The "New York Times" and Howard Barnes of the "New York Herald Tribune" both panned the film with Crowther commenting, "A more artificial lot of acting could hardly be achieved," and Barnes stating, "the theme is shabby and the incidents too violent for complete plausibility." [Quirk, Lawrence J.. "The Films of Joan Crawford". The Citadel Press, 1968.]

The film has gained its fans. Donna Marie Nowak commented in 2006, "Crawford makes the whole sordid enterprise taut and entertaining and is mesmerizing onscreen, walking across a room as if she owns it. Although Ethel is as "tough as a 75 cent steak," Crawford injects this hard-shelled dame with enough verve, style, chutzpah and charm to make one root for her. Her cheeky, sexy confidence in certain scenes helps roll the plot along...In all, it's Joan at her gritty, spunky best." [ [http://www.filmsofcrawford.com/id45.html "The Damned Don't Cry!"] ]

ee also

*Joan Crawford filmography

References

Navbox
name = Joan Crawford
title = The 1940-1970 Films of Miss Joan Crawford
group1 = 1940-1949
list1 = nowrap| "Strange Cargo" (1940) • nowrap| "Susan and God" (1940) • nowrap| "A Woman's Face" (1941) • nowrap| "When Ladies Meet" (1941) • nowrap| "They All Kissed the Bride" (1942) • nowrap| "Reunion in France" (1942) • nowrap| "Above Suspicion" (1943) • nowrap| "Hollywood Canteen" (1944) • nowrap| "Mildred Pierce" (1945) • nowrap| "Humoresque" (1946) • nowrap| "Possessed" (1947) • nowrap| "Daisy Kenyon" (1947) • nowrap| "Flamingo Road" (1949) • nowrap| "It's a Great Feeling" (1949)
name = Joan Crawford
title = The 1940-1970 Films of Miss Joan Crawford
group2 = 1950-1959
list2 = nowrap| "The Damned Don't Cry!" (1950) • nowrap| "Harriet Craig" (1950) • nowrap| "Goodbye, My Fancy" (1951) • nowrap| "This Woman is Dangerous" (1952) • nowrap| "Sudden Fear" (1952) • nowrap| "Torch Song" (1953) • nowrap| "Johnny Guitar" (1954) • nowrap| "Female on the Beach" (1955) • nowrap| "Queen Bee" (1955) • nowrap| "Autumn Leaves" (1956) • nowrap| "The Story of Esther Costello" (1957) • nowrap| "The Best of Everything" (1959)
name = Joan Crawford
title = The 1940-1970 Films of Miss Joan Crawford
group3 = 1960-1969
list3 = nowrap| "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" (1962) • nowrap| "The Caretakers" (1963) • nowrap| "Strait-Jacket" (1964) • nowrap| "I Saw What You Did" (1965) • nowrap| "Berserk!" (1967)
group4 = 1970
list4 = nowrap| "Trog" (1970)