Customer Reviews

Joan Crawford: Always the Star [VHS]

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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.

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.

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!