Product Details

• Format: Black & White, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Mpi Home Video
• VHS Release Date: June 20, 2000
• Run Time: 57 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0788601903
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #350,925 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Joan Crawford was a study in paradoxes. She adopted at least as many children as she had husbands, but she took in these children during her single years. She was known as a tough customer with unbridled ambition, but she apparently never got over her insecurities stemming from an impoverished, fatherless upbringing and 6th-grade education. This 53-minute biography, part of The Hollywood Collection, covers her personal and professional life until her death in 1977. A couple of her lesser-known directors, several actors (including Cliff Robertson), a costumer, a film historian, and one of her children appear on camera to give viewers a broader picture of the often- stereotyped icon. Movie stills, film clips (The Women, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?), and audio tape of Crawford fill in the gaps. Conspicuously absent is the daughter who wrote the "wire hangers" tell-all, but the controversy is mentioned and the stories refuted. Most fascinating, perhaps, is the fact that she was considered over the hill and fired by one studio before her Oscar-winning role in Mildred Pierce. Her story is not a pretty one, but it is a resilient one. --Kimberly Heinrichs

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a tribute to THE STAR!, April 4, 2000

By 

Thomas Lathinghouse (DeFuniak Springs, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Joan Crawford: Always the Star [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is a treasured part of my Joan Crawford collection. It is a beautifully put-together tribute to Joan Crawford. It has clips from many of her movies and personal anecdotes from some of her co-stars. It is wonderful to see the transition from one stage to another of her long, excellent career. It is indeed a must for her many fans. It made me even more honored to be a fan of this wonderful Hollywood legend.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Flawless Biography Of A Genuine Star!, November 13, 2000

By 

AncientLegends (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Joan Crawford: Always the Star [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This video is such an excellent tribute to Joan Crawford. During the course of the video, we first take a look at the troubled life of young Lucille Le Sueur, then we move to her early MGM beginnings as Joan Crawford, and finally to Joan Crawford the star. Every Joan Crawford fan should own this video. It is touching, uplifting, inspirational & ultimately sad. The video is full of clips of Joan's films from "Rain", "Mildred Pierce", "Humoresque", to "Sudden Fear" "Autumn Leaves" and many more. A few of Joan's friends and co-workers are also interviewed, from Cliff Robertson(Autumn Leaves), Diane Baker(The Best Of Everything, Strait-Jacket) and also biographers and directors. Also as a treat for fans we are given clips of an older Joan handing out Pepsi bottles at a party and discussing her life, which is rare footage! Also as another treat for fans the whole "Mommie Dearest" issue is addressed by Joan's friends and even her daughter Cindy as a fake moneymaking scheme concocted by Christina as an act of jealousy and envy. By the end of the video we see Joan's last years & days of her life and how her end came to her while alone and it is truely depressing. Joan truely was and still is a great star and this video definitely acknowledges that.

5 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars No Christina!!, April 1, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Joan Crawford: Always the Star [VHS] (VHS Tape)

It was interesting to hear from Joan's other adopted daughter, Cindy, because I have never seen her speak publicly about her mother. Still, it is hard to think of Crawford as anyone but "Mommie". It was so sad during the last five or ten minutes of this tape when people are talking about Christina's "vicious" book and discrediting her. She was the victim, not the perpitrator, and her book, and interviews, express how genuine and sincere she is. Even when she went on talk shows promoting the book upon it's release, people would say "No, Joan couldn't do that!" and Christina would say "I was THERE!". I still believe her wholeheartedly.

That aside, this biography was kind of boring. Except seeing Cindy (and not even that much), I didn't learn anything new. I would recommend the documentary that comes along with the "Mildred Pierce" DVD. Excellent!