Mildred Pierce is a 1945 American drama film starring Joan Crawford, Ann Blyth, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, and Eve Arden in a film noir about a long-suffering mother and her ungrateful daughter. The screenplay by Ranald MacDougall, William Faulkner, and Catherine Turney was based upon the 1941 novel Mildred Pierce by James M. Cain. The film was directed by Michael Curtiz and produced by Jerry Wald with Jack L. Warner as executive producer. Mildred Pierce was Crawford's first starring film for Warner Bros. after leaving MGM, and won her the Academy Award for Best Actress. While the novel is... told by a third-person narrator in strict chronological order, the film uses voice-over narration . The story is framed by the questioning of Mildred by police after they discover the body of her second husband, Monte Beragon. The film, in noir fashion, opens with Beragon being shot. He murmurs the name "Mildred" as he collapses and dies. The police are led to believe that the murderer is restaurant owner Mildred Pierce's first husband, Bert Pierce , who under interrogation confesses to the crime.
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| Release date: | September 24, 1945 |
| Directed by: | Michael Curtiz |
| Runtime: | 111 Minutes |
| Producer: | Jerry Wald |
| Editor: | David Weisbart |
| Music by: | Max Steiner |
| Cinematography: | Ernest Haller |
| Screenplay by: | Ranald MacDougall, William Faulkner, Catherine Turney |
| Adapted from: | Mildred Pierce |