Superb, classic drama. Excellent plot - clever murder plot mixed with sensitive, emotional human drama. Having seen the 2011 HBO miniseries first (and liked it a lot), much of the plot was familiar, but this did not detract from the impact of the movie.Great direction by Michael Curtiz, who also directed Casablanca (for which he won an Oscar), White Christmas, Yankee Doodle Dandy (Oscar nomination) and Captain Blood (Oscar nomination). Clever use of stories-within-scenes. Pacing is spot on.Joan Crawford is superb as Mildred Pierce. Good support from Zachary Scott, Jack Carson (especially) and Ann Blyth.Overall, even better than the 2011 miniseries. An understated classic.

this is a movie talks about family relationship. It pick up a boring topic to describe. It is the love from a mother to her daughter. I think the love from mother to daughter is unfair but grateful. Mother tries her best to give her daughter everything she wants in the world. But the daughter thinks she deserved all of those beautiful gifts and also she deserved this love from her mother. The daughter doesn't know to say thank you to her mother. She doesn't know to switch thinking. If she knows to thinking on her mother's position, she won't do those things to hurt her mother's heart. However, after the daughter done those things to break her mother's heart, mother still loves her and try to do everything to cover her daughter's crime.

Mildred Pierce (Joan Crawford) ponders suicide only to be stopped by a passing beat cop. Her husband Monte Beragon had been shot and she's the main suspect. During the police interrogation, she recounts her first marriage to Bert Pierce. Four years ago, Bert splits up with his real estate partner Wally Fay and leaves Mildred with their daughters Veda and Kay. Mildred struggles to make ends meet and lowers herself to get a waitress job which embarrasses Veda. Kay dies from pneumonia while with Bert. Mildred works hard to open her own restaurant. She buys a property from playboy Beragon who comes from an old upper-class faded family. Wally Fay advises her to divorce Bert to maintain her finances. She becomes successful with several restaurants. She dotes on Veda spoiling her as the mother daughter relationship spirals out of control. The story is soapy. Crawford is great holding the movie together. The drive comes from finding the end point. Ann Blyth does bratty bordering on evil. It is melodrama done at the highest level and it's all thanks to Crawford.

Michael Curtiz's direction is truly superb in the way he presents the story as well as delving into the mind of its titular character. Curtiz also plays up to the noir style of the film by creating an opening sequence while never revealing who kills Monte. This would create a tone where it becomes very dark during Mildred's interrogation scenes. By the time the third act arrives, the mixture of melodrama and noir finally blend as the tone of the film darkens. Cinematographer Ernest Haller does a phenomenal job with the film's black-and-white photography from the wondrous, sunny look of the suburbs that Mildred lived in early in the film to the dark, eerie world that comes in later in the film. Max Steiner score is excellent from its sweeping theme that plays to the melodrama of the film to more uplifting pieces that plays to Mildred's rise. Steiner's score is definitely another of the film's highlights as it's truly spectacular. The cast is definitely wonderful for its array of some very memorable performances from the big actors to some small roles by other actors. Mainly Joan Crawford in one of her finest performances as the title character brings realism to a woman in the 1940s trying to do what is right for her children. Bringing a sense of frustration over her spoiled child, but never once coming off as a mean spirited mother. It's an overall iconic performance from the legendary Crawford. Ann Blyth is superb as Veda, the ungrateful daughter who wants to become rich and ambitious as she is also a selfish, spoiled, and uncaring. With a stylized yet dramatic performance, Blyth succeeds in creating an unsympathetic character that everyone loves to hate.