This is not one of Michael Curtiz his best known movies but it certainly ranks among his best. This 5 time Oscar-nominee and winner of one is a great powerful movie, that is driven by its story and fine characters and actors that are portraying them.
This movie definitely has a great story, that is made so great due to its overall realism. The movie could had easily turned into a melodramatic one but the movie mostly stays humble and small with its emotions and situations. Due to this the movie mostly has a realistic feel and look over it. It features ordinary people, who through the cause of the movie turn into completely different people, due to some tough and unfortunate circumstances. It's a solidly written and constructed movie, that develops nicely throughout the movie and is being told in the right way and pace. The makes the story and the movie in general work out as an effective and powerful one.
The story gets driven by its characters, that are all greatly written and perfectly cast within the movie. Eve Arden and Jack Carson are two examples of some great supporting actors within the movie, while Joan Crawford also plays a great role as the movie its main lead, which also won her an Oscar. Also former Hollywood cute faced beauty Ann Blyth got perfectly cast as the most horrible- and femme fatale type character of the movie.
The movie is a thriller with some film-noir tendencies. It's story, which for most part gets centered around a murder, which gets shown in the beginning of the movie, is typically noir like, with all of the well known ingredients in it. Yet I would call the movie more Michael Curtiz like than film-noir like really. The movie Curtiz his signature written all over, with its compositions, use of shadows and performances from the actors.
A really great and effective movie that deserves to be seen and known by more! It's among Curtiz his best movies in my opinion!
9/10
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