Mildred Pierce
Warner Bros. | Release Date: October 20, 1945 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
88
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 16 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
CineVueChristopher Machell
A pitch dark noir whose eponymous anti-heroine (Joan Crawford) is surely one of the most compellingly flawed women of the genre. Read full review
100
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
Impeccable, bleak gloss, with the supreme Crawford engineering the greatest comeback of them all. Mildred Pierce is one of the finest noir soap operas ever, with the queen of pathos shouldering the storm alone; her efforts snagged the golden statuette as 1945's Best Actress. Read full review
100
The A.V. ClubDonna Bowman
A masterful weepie adapted from a James M. Cain novel. Read full review
100
EmpireAngie Errigo
Wow! It may not be art or good taste, but throbbing melodrama doesn't come with more conviction. Even to those usually turned off by the tough Crawford, Mildred is compelling. Read full review
100
The GuardianPeter Bradshaw
For its control of narrative, its photography of the vanished suburban California of the 1940s, and for its compelling central performance from Crawford, Michael Curtiz’s noir thriller is utterly gripping. Read full review
100
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Curtiz holds you in his master grip, creating one of those WW II-era California noirs that keeps swinging you from darkness to sunlight, love to hatred, happiness to the pits of despair and death. [18 Nov 2005, p.C6]
90
Los Angeles TimesJustin Chang
Michael Curtiz’s Mildred Pierce remains a rip-roaring entertainment. Read full review
90
The Observer (UK)Philip French
A great actress at her sado-masochistic best in a noir melodrama worthy of her talents. [28 Mar 2001, p.9]
88
LarsenOnFilmJosh Larsen
Mildred Pierce is a somewhat reckless mixture of film noir and soap opera. It opens with a murder and then proceeds to run on revelations and betrayals and wild swings of fortune. Yet the high-wire act works, largely because Mildred Pierce has the right trapeze artist dangling in the air. Read full review
80
BBCGeorge Perry
Adapted from a melodramatic novel by James M Cain, it is a magnificent blend of film noir and feminine soap, glossily crafted by Michael Curtiz whose versatile achievements included Casablanca and Yankee Doodle Dandy. Read full review
80
Time OutStaff (Not Credited)
James Cain's novel of the treacherous life in Southern California that sets house-wife-turned waitress-turned-successful restauranteur (Crawford) against her own daughter (Blyth) in competition for the love of playboy Zachary Scott, is brought fastidiously and bleakly to life by Curtiz' direction, Ernest Haller's camerawork, and Anton Grot's magnificent sets. Read full review
80
VarietyStaff (Not Credited)
At first reading James M. Cain's novel of the same title might not suggest screenable material, but the cleanup job has resulted in a class feature, showmanly produced by Jerry Wald and tellingly directed by Michael Curtiz. Read full review
75
Chicago ReaderDon Druker
The archetypal Joan Crawford movie. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineJeremiah Kipp
Though its craft is accomplished, the film never gets deep under one’s skin the way it ought to. Read full review
70
The New York TimesStaff (Not Credited)
Mildred Pierce lacks the driving force of stimulating drama, and its denouement hardly comes as a surprise, but it is cut from a pattern that has been hugely successful in the past and it probably will be this time too. Read full review
70
The New YorkerPauline Kael
Miss Crawford's heavy breathing was certified as acting when she won an Academy Award for her performance here.
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