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A Woman's Face (1941) More at IMDb Pro »

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13 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
She's a `cold-blooded, ruthless little Galatea' - or is she?, 8 October 2001
Author: modern_maiden from Vancouver, Canada

This film may surpass even Joan Crawford's Oscar-winning performance in `Mildred Pierce' as the best of her career. `A Woman's Face' is part courtroom drama, part mystery, and unfolds in the form of flashbacks through the eyes of no less than half a dozen questionable characters. Crawford plays Anna Holm, a facially scarred woman whose disfigurement has led her to an embittered life of crime.

Melvyn Douglas is perfectly cast as the handsome and heroic Dr. Segert, and Conrad Veidt plays Torsten Barring, the despicable charmer. Crawford's interpretation of a genuinely mean-spirited and heartless Anna develops into a complex character who wins our sympathy despite her evil intentions. It's a breath of fresh air to see Crawford not made up glamorously. There are no dazzling gowns or mascara-ed lashes to distract the viewer from Crawford's fabulous performance.

With a brilliant supporting cast (including the adorable Richard Nichols as the 4 year-old Lars-Erik, and Marjorie Main as the suspicious housekeeper), `A Woman's Face' ranks among the best Crawford films of all time. It is a must-see for anyone who wishes to see a well-made, fascinating tale of intrigue, love and human frailty.

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6 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
George Cukor at his best, 10 November 2005
8/10
Author: jotix100 from New York

"A Woman's Face" is a film that shows George Cukor, one of the best film directors of all times, at the top of his profession. In fact, this film precedes probably his "Gaslight", which might be one of his best movies he directed. The screen play is by another man who had a knack for adapting theater material for the screen, Donald Ogden Stewart. The combination of both these men give the viewer a film with a rich texture.

This film belongs to Joan Crawford, who carries it with style and panache. This role ranks as one of the most complex Ms. Crawford ever played in the movies. Her characterization was molded by Mr. Cukor who clearly understood how to get a good performance from his star. In fact, Ana Holm, is one of the best things Ms. Crawford portrayed in the movies and she is seen without the excessive makeup.

Conrad Veidt is also one of the assets of the film. He is perfect for his part and holds his own playing against Joan Crawford. Melvyn Douglas, on the other hand, doesn't fare as well, perhaps because of the way his character is written. There are also wonderful performances by Richard Nicholas who is seen as the young boy Lars-Erik. Marjorie Main. Osa Masser, and Reginald Owen are seen in supporting roles.

The film is a must see for all Joan Crawford and George Cukor fans.

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7 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
One of Crawford's better films, 20 August 1999
7/10
Author: wayne malin from Boston MA

Crawford has one of the more complex roles ever given her. Playing a scarred woman who hates everything and everybody, she shows depth in her performance that she'd never shown before. Director Cukor got her to tone done her usual overacting (no mean feat) and she beautifully underplays the role. Exciting story, beautiful settings, good acting, incredible directing...it's a wonder this film isn't better known. Well worth seeing, especially if you're a Crawford fan.

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8 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Superb Joan Crawford, 16 November 2005
Author: drednm

Joan Crawford has one of her first great roles in this 1941 remake of a Swedish film that starred Ingrid Bergman. And she is superb. She plays a complex woman scarred in a fire caused by her drunken father. She has grown up as an outcast of society and turns to blackmailing as a way to make a living. Through a series of events she meets a plastic surgeon (Melvyn Douglas) who operates and transforms her life. But she is ensnared with villainous Conrad Veidt who wants to kill his nephew so he can inherit the family fortune.

Part thriller part courtroom drama, A Woman's Face gives Crawford the kind of role that showed off all her talents as an actress. This film, along with Mildred Pierce, Possessed, and Humoresque, ranks as one of her best. The entire cast is top notch.

Douglas is fine as the compassionate surgeon and Veidt is terrific as the murderous uncle. Marjorie Main has one of her best roles as the jealous housekeeper. Reginald Owen, Connie Gilchrist, and Donald Meek are Crawford's band of thieves. Albert Basserman is the old counsel. Richard Nichols is the cute kid. Osa Massen is Douglas' pig of a wife. Henry Kolker is the judge and Henry Daniell a lawyer.

Great direction (George Cukor) and cinematography. Exciting sleigh race at the finale. But first and foremost this is a Joan Crawford picture. Why didn't she get Oscar nominated for this gem?

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
An excellent movie!, 28 March 2006
8/10
Author: Box134 from Canada

An exciting cast, an excellent story, excellent acting. Joan Crawford is perfect as a malevolent blackmailer who has a change of heart after her facial disfigurement is repaired.

The story progresses in an interesting way, with the plot unfolding during a murder trial. Each witness builds the story line, and the script has many unexpected plot twists, making this film anything but predictable.

This film is a good example of how skillful film makers create special effects without high-tech gadgetry. It's wonderful that we have films like this to show us what real movie-making is like.

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
The Female Frankenstein, 27 March 2006
10/10
Author: nycritic

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Scarred on the outside, scarred on the inside. That is the central theme of A WOMAN'S FACE, George Cukor's 1941 film that starred Joan Crawford in what could be the best role of her entire career. As Anna Holm, she continued her winning streak of critical performances even though the film itself garnered no awards of any kind. With this film it seems she believed she was back on track at MGM because she campaigned to star in THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE in the central role but was denied the chance because Louis B. Mayer did not want to see her play "more cripples or maimed women." It's because of this that A WOMAN'S FACE was her last quality film at MGM; she'd do three more films of much lesser quality before leaving MGM for good and going into a two year hiatus before making her great "comeback" in MILDRED PIERCE.

Joan Crawford herself was quoted as saying that her Oscar win for MILDRED PIERCE was more a tribute to her career as a whole up until then and credited A WOMAN'S FACE for her 1946 win. When comparing the two, she gave great performances in each, but somehow, as Anna Holm she was more effective in her restraint, the inner hurt coming out in her expressive eyes and defeated look throughout. Much, if not all, of the credit could be given to Cukor himself who was keen on erasing all of the quirks that made her the star and the fact that she trusted his direction only enhanced the resulting product. Watching the sequence when her disfigured face is shown for the first time when she takes her hat off -- as if she were expecting a reaction of horror of the character who witnesses it -- and seeing the anguish in her eyes which betray her sarcastic view on life, it is possible to see the real actress within. Another scene has her recite the events that led to her disfigurement. Her voice remains in one note, her expression almost blank -- she is on the edge of pain itself, a freak being told to spill its guts out as to why she became a freak. A great moment in film and acting, as she could have overdone it at any time, and chose not to.

A WOMAN'S FACE is linked, albeit in an indirect way, to film noir. I don't believe it is, and much of it is due to a sunnier, glossy feel the film develops during a dance sequence. Film noir is unrelenting and grim. This movie is closer to romantic suspense, even when scenes involving romantic encounters are almost nowhere to be seen. It's possible that Cukor's visual style is to blame. However, Anna Holm is a woman in the middle of a blackmail ring and thus living in the underbelly of a society that has betrayed her, so it must be considered as such. The opening sequence in which she is led by guards to her cell is done in odd angles and we never see her face, only her back. She is dressed in black throughout the entire film. We only see the left side of her face throughout the first half, and Cukor is able to use the simplest of things -- lighting, objects placed on the right side of Crawford's face, throwing a sliver of light on top of her uncovered eye after yet another operation, illuminating her left profile during her court scene. Suspense is well-drawn, we want to see her unwrap the gauze, and that simple notion drives the entire movie. Very sharp.

A WOMAN'S FACE is thus, one of Crawford's finest efforts filled with small moments -- watch her take a walk in the park and react to daylight with a bouquet of flowers in her arms -- among the greater scenes. Great support by Melvin Douglas, Marjorie Main (in a dramatic, dour turn), and especially Conrad Veidt, excellent as the scheming Torsten. A shame it got lost in the awards shuffle come 1942 and that it ultimately went to Joan Fontaine for SUSPICION. Recommendable.

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Garbo's loss - Crawford's gain, 11 January 2006
8/10
Author: blanche-2 from United States

Thanks to "A Woman's Face," Joan Crawford's slumped career had a badly needed revival, and Greta Garbo's career ended. Garbo had a choice of "A Woman's Face" or "Two-Faced Woman," but she refused to play a character with a deformity. So she made the disastrous "Two-Faced Woman" instead and retired, her face free of scars and her life free of films.

Ingrid Bergman made the original movie in Sweden, and in the hands of MGM, it translated quite well with a superb performance from Joan Crawford, perhaps the best of her career, as a scarred, bitter woman who makes her living from blackmail. Her story is told in a series of flashbacks, as each character testifies at the woman's trial.

The performances, from MGM's able stable, are very good - Melvyn Douglas as a doctor, Conrad Veidt as an evil man who wants to use Crawford for his own ends (he described himself in this film as "Lucifer in a tuxedo"), Osa Massen, Albert Basserman, Donald Meek, Henry Daniell, George Zucco, and Marjorie Main. Richard Nichols, as the little boy Lars-Erik, sports the same southern accent in Sweden as he did in France in "All This and Heaven, Too." Crawford is excellent, and one wonders if the role of Anna didn't strike a chord with her given her difficult childhood. Under Cukor's direction, she handles the role beautifully.

A very good movie, and an exciting sleigh ride at the end that you won't want to miss.

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
One of Joan Crawford's greatest performances!, 23 September 1998
7/10
Author: Patrick Sullivan (sullivpj@sce.com) from Los Angeles, California

The fact that Joan Crawford failed to win an Oscar nomination for her magnificent performance in this film is a travesty! Her talents as an actress were never more evident in her portrayal of a bitter woman who hates the world because of her disfigurement.

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6 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
A story more intriguing than 'Mildred Pierce'...an odd and fascinating film..., 11 May 2001
Author: Neil Doyle from U.S.A.

Joan Crawford has one of her more complex roles and plays it brilliantly in 'A Woman's Face'. It ranks with her work in 'Mildred Pierce' and 'Possessed'. Matching her is Conrad Veidt, always the suave villain (who also specialized in playing Nazi types). Crawford excels as a scarred woman who undergoes plastic surgery to change her life. The situations become more melodramatic as the plot gets thicker and there are a few too many flashbacks--but overall, the effect is a stunning film that makes you think about how one's appearance shapes one's life--for better or worse.

Certain sequences have a stark, no holds barred manner of storytelling, grim and suspenseful--as when Anna Holm considers pushing a child to his death from a cable car. The wintry landscapes and glittering interiors are all handsomely photographed. Melvyn Douglas doesn't register too strongly at all. It's strictly Crawford's picture with some superb help from Conrad Veidt.

The pace is rather leisurely under George Cukor's direction but quickens midway to a smashing climax. By all means, see it. A strong melodrama with some unexpected twists.

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
The face that returns your gaze (possible spoilers), 22 March 2001
8/10
Author: Alice Liddel (-darragh@excite.com) from dublin, ireland

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

It's not every classic-era Hollywood film that has as its heroine a thief, blackmailer, murderer and intended infanticide (as well, of course, as a poet and musician - this IS Joan Crawford), but this isn't your average classic-era Hollywood film. it is one of Cukor's best, and echoes its theme of transformation - from scarred freak to beauty; from independent transgressor to adoring wife; from poor daughter of drunk to frequenter of chateaux; from warped criminal to protector of innocence - in its very form, as it moves from rich melodrama to unbelievably tense Hitchcockian thriller, in a way Cukor would do later with 'Gaslight'; or in the way it turns from christian allegory (Barring identifies himself with the Devil; Segert the 'scientist' (like Elaine Benes' pediatrist boyfriend, this plastic surgeon has ideas above his station) as Frankenstein/God; and Anna is repeatedly referred to as an angel, not always ironically) to a savage critique of the cinema and its assumptions, or vice versa.

Every great director has an overriding theme he asserts and develops throughout his oeuvre. The common element in Cukor's films is his recurrent interest in the theatricality of everyday life, the way identity is conceived as a performance, to be constantly negotiated through an artificial society. Think of Eliza becoming a 'lady' in 'My Fair Lady'. 'A Woman's face' opens with a court-bill proclaiming the case to be tried; it is like a play-bill, and Cukor pulls back to reveal a group of potential punters reading it. The trial itself is theatricalised, from the shoving, gasping audience, to the ritualistic introduction of the dramatis personae, while the film is full of role-playing and deception, where costume is of crucial importance; of playwrights devising plays for actresses (poets or not).

This elaborate artifice points to the pathos of the main theme, that of a potentially beautiful woman hideously scarred and mocked by her peers. It is a cliche that good looks can mask a vicious heart, and vice versa, but Anna's case is more complex. In a world of appearances, where one's character is literally judged by the face one presents to the world, than Anna must play her role. As her face is horribly disfigured, than so must her soul, her body reuniting the division enacted by Dorian Gray. Likewise, when her face is restored, or, more accurately, recreated, she becomes a nicer person. No wonder, even today, most young girls want some kind of reconstructive surgery - it's an easy ticket to moral and social improvement.

Cukor is too sympathetic to his heroines to allow this poisonous morality to stand. His film is one of the great melodramas, as he reveals the limitations of female experience in a self-interested male world. Barring picks on Anna because he sees her self-loathing can be manipulated for his own ends. Although Anna is a criminal, she is a moral force - she plays on the hypocrisy of the bourgeoisie; the scene where she strikes Segert has an overwhelming S&M charge, and is mirrored later when Barring whips his pursuers.

In the first half, Anna is a femme fatale, economically independent, preying on a weak middle-class. Her normalising into society, first by improving her face, is shown as an imprisonment - the barred door leading to Barring's (get it?) apartment; the hall of mirrors her identity gets lost in as she admires herself (an amazing shot); the literal prison she finds herself in after the murder; the ironic bars that overlook the seemingly redemptive talk of marriage with Segert; the uncertain ending, where Anna hasn't been acquitted yet - Cukor knows she's just exchanging one prison for another.

This sense of entrapment is embodied in the narrative, where her story is submerged in a host of others' stories, all unreliable and diminishing, reducing her to a woman's face. This wider social analysis of women's role is tied specifically to the role of actresses in the film industry, their dependence on facial beauty, their collusion in 'false' or unrealistic images of femininity - the film is full of lamps being switched on to light up women's faces, but they are harsh and exposing rather than flattering. The initially sadistic concept of disfiguring Joan Crawford becomes a sympathetic narrative of her plight.

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