Charlotte Canelli is the library director of the Morrill Memorial Library in Norwood, Massachusetts. Read Charlotte's column in the November 27, 2014 edition of the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin.
As a follower of Kate Winslet since the “Titanic” days, I chanced to come across a recommendation of her appearance in an HBO miniseries (available on DVD at our library). The description of the five-part series, “Mildred Pierce,” intrigued me.
One reason is that I’ve always been fascinated by the depression, the setting for “Mildred Pierce.” Growing up I’d listened to stories by my grandmother, my mother and aunts and uncles who endured those years in the 30s. Living in a Massachusetts mill town, many of my mother's family scraped by to make ends meet during the Depression's darkest days. I am also the owner of a quilt created by my great-grandmother in the 30s. It was crafted from scraps of clothing that had been carefully ripped apart and remade into dresses and shirts for the large family. During my own quilting days, I remade that worn quilt and named it “Aunties’ Dresses”; I had heard the tale of which calico piece had earlier been a grown-up dress. That same dress became a child’s shirt in the 1930s and it later became my inherited quilt.
Another reason “Mildred Pierce” intrigued me is that I'd had never heard of James Cain, the author of the book from which the movie was made. Cain was born in 1892 (the year my grandfather was born) and became successful writing American crime fiction or what were termed “hardboiled novels.” Cain is the author of “The Postman Always Rings Twice” and “Double Indemnity”, both scandalous stories about naïve and silly men who were destroyed by the femmes fatale. The pair of books became extremely successful (and classic) movies. Cain is the author of another 20 books, most noir fiction.
In 2012, Cain’s unpublished last book was discovered and sent to press. Cain never published it because he was never quite finished with "Cocktail Waitress", writing it for two years before he died in 1977 at the age of 85.
The cover of “Cocktail Waitress” was devised to look much like Cain’s books did when they hit the bookstores shelves in the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s. There is a hint of the sensual and the criminal: a sexy waitress, a martini, a man’s hand holding a cigarette. Reviewers wrote that it was pure Cain – sensational and shocking.
Interestingly, Cain’s story of Mildred Pierce does not contain a murder. Interesting, because most (if not all) of Cain’s stories contain crime and murder which are essential elements of noir fiction.
Yet, “Mildred Pierce” is scandalous. It's the story of a divorcee, wronged by her cheating husband, left during the Depression to raise two daughters. Mildred is resilient and adventurous in both her business and her love life and she picks herself up by her bootstraps pretty quickly. She eventually becomes the owner of a very successful restaurant and bakery business. In “Mildred Pierce” there is intrigue and romance, family drama, financial scandal, and tragedy. Mildred loses her youngest daughter, Lucy, and tries too hard to raise her eldest, a narcissist who falls in love with Mildred’s second husband. Oh, this is scandalous and shocking.
“Mildred Pierce,” published in 1941, became a film by the same name in 1945. The Motion Picture Production Code, a set of industry censorship guidelines in film, was in place between the 30s and 60s and the film was altered to fit that code. The sexual relationships had to be toned down or replaced. The screenwriters decided to add murder to the film instead. Mildred’s eldest daughter, Veda, murders her stepfather (with whom she is enamored, but the love is not mutual). The movie censors, of course, required that Veda pay the price for her sins and she is found out and led off to jail.
William Faulkner, among others, wrote the screenplay and Joan Crawford starred in the film as Mildred Pierce. Crawford won the 1945 Academy Award for best actress in the role in 1946. There was remarkable competition that year with film versions of “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” and “National Velvet,” Hitchcock’s “Spellbound” and Bing Crosby’s performance in “The Bells of St. Mary’s.”
Unlike the 1945 film, the “Mildred Pierce” miniseries produced by HBO in 2011 is incredibly faithful to the original story by Cain. It employs dialog from Cain’s book and scenes follow in chronological order. The murder that appears in the 1945 film does not take place in the HBO version. Instead, daughter Veda and her stepfather fall in love and take off together for New York. Mildred is left to remarry her first husband (the girlfriend has conveniently left him) and Mildred and Bert live happily ever after. At least they live ever after drowning their mutual sorrow over the fact that they have produced such a despicable child.
(Humorously, Stuart Kaminsky, popular author of his Toby Peters gumshoe novels, wrote “Mildred Pierced” in 2003 (accent on “pierced.) Principal character Peters finds himself in the employ of Joan Crawford. He is called on to investigate the death of a woman named Mildred who is murdered in a public park, mysteriously pierced by the operator of a crossbow. Joan Crawford, on her way to filming Mildred Pierce, is a key witness of the murder.)
I enjoyed the miniseries, "Mildred Pierce." I was annoyed by her daughter, humored by her lover, and in complete awe of the 30s and 40s fashions, most likely made one day into family quilts.
There are many copies of Cain’s books (in digital and audio format, as well) in Minuteman libraries and many copies of the movies on DVD that are based on his novels.
