NINETOES VS MOMMIE DEAREST

Ninetoes decided to watch Mommie Dearest for Mother’s Day weekend, and is looking hard at his wire hangers…

The abusive and traumatic adoptive upbringing of Christina Crawford at the hands of her mother, screen queen Joan Crawford, is depicted.

Directed by Frank Perry

Written by Frank Yablans and Frank Perry; based on the book by Christina Crawford

Starring Faye Dunaway, Diana Scarwid, and Steve Forrest

Hey there, movie lovers! It is your old pal, Ninetoes, coming to you from Ninetoes HQ. Today, I am taking a look at Mommie Dearest. I have popcorn in my system and my thinking cap on, so let’s get to it!

Every now and then, I come across a movie that makes me sit back and say “DAMN!”…

Yeah, Mommie Dearest is that movie.

When the book came out, there was some controversy over Christina Crawford’s depiction of life with her mother. There was some dispute among Joan’s friends, colleagues, and a couple of her other children (Joan adopted 5 children, but only raised four of them) as to the reports of physical and mental abuse.

The depiction of the abuses in the movie is jarring. From the beginning, it is apparent just how tightly wound Joan Crawford was. It opens with Joan doing her wake-up routine, and it is intense. When she tells her lawyer she wants a child, but cannot have one, she decides she wants to adopt. The problem was that there was no way any agency would allow her to adopt a child, ANY child, because she was a single woman (it was back in 1939, according to the movie. I am not sure how the law works now). Her lawyer makes it happen, and it is more of a publicity stunt than anything else. That being said, when you look at the house and the intensity with which she goes to keep it clean, inspecting the housekeeper’s work before she can leave for the day, my initial thought was “You want to bring a child into that atmosphere? Rigid rules, ultra-cleanliness, EVERYTHING in its place. There’s no way!” But, I was wrong…

As this movie goes along, it becomes more horrifying. Then we get to the infamous scene of “NO WIRE HANGERS EVER!!!!” and it packed the punch of a wrecking ball. Here is Joan Crawford (Faye Dunaway) with a heavy coat of face cream on, going through her daughter’s closet to lay out her clothes for the next day, and finds a dress on a wire hanger, and loses her shit! She went ultra ballistic on Christina, and at one point starts beating her with the wire hanger. THEN (yeah, it gets worse) she goes into the bathroom and claims the floor is filthy, makes Christina go in there with her, basically dumps an entire can of Ajax on the floor and all over her child, and when all is said and done, tells Christina to “Clean up this mess.”…

Then comes the most chilling moment in the movie. Christina’s brother, Christopher, offers to help clean the mess, and Christina says, “You cannot help me. If she finds out, she will kill me.” My blood ran cold at this sentence.

What this movie does is shine a light on mental health issues, namely, undiagnosed mental health issues. Because Joan Crawford was “Hollywood Royalty”, there was no one in their right mind to say, “You need help.” There are hints to Crawford’s upbringing, and it lends to explaining why she was this way, but there was something much deeper going on that sent her to such extremes. I got the feeling that because she was making the studio’s money, they turned a blind eye, and after she wasn’t, they just did not care; it was someone else’s problem. Keep in mind that this was at a time when there was a very dark stigma on mental health issues. You might be thinking things have not changed, but trust me, they have.

Faye Dunaway’s acting in this movie is, for lack of a better word, sublime. She caught the tone of a 1930s actress and played it to the hilt. There were times when people in Joan Crawford’s circle would accuse her of acting to get her way, and Dunaway ran with it! Mara Hobel (Christina Crawford-child) and Diana Scarwid (Christina Crawford-adult) were perfect actresses to go opposite Dunaway, and they made what was happening all the more horrifying.

Most of all, it was the music that set the tone for this movie. Henry Mancini gave the perfect score to enhance the dread, and I daresay, the horror of what was going on. His music was a perfect complement to this movie. It was in the background, and personally, it had me tense throughout the entire film.

This movie is perfect for anyone who likes a bio-pic, high drama, or tense movies.

I give this movie 4 buckets of popcorn out of 5!

Until the next time, I bid you happy viewing!

Darren “Ninetoes” Perdue is a book and media reviewer. When he is not reading, he is watching true crime shows, cooking for his family, or working on a plan for universal domination. If you see him on his porch, say hi. He does not bite…much.

PLEASE NOTE: The views and opinions of the staff of Memento Mori Ink do not necessarily represent those of Memento Mori Ink or Crystal Lake Publishing. Thank you for understanding.