Lucy Marlow | Scott's Film Reviews-1,476 Reviews posted!!! COMING SOON-MY TOP 250 FILMS!!

Queen Bee-1955

Director Ranald MacDougall

Starring Joan Crawford, Barry Sullivan, Betsy Palmer

Scott’s Review #1,288

Reviewed August 10, 2022

Grade: B+

Queen Bee (1955) is a drama served in a straight-up Southern style. It is highly recommended only for fans of legendary screen actress Joan Crawford. Made during her career’s downward turn, the character is tailor-made for the actress and her fans.

She struts across the silver screen in flashy gowns and heavy makeup, admiring herself in the mirror and firmly ensconced in bitch mode. With matching garish eyebrows and a sassy smirk, she chews up and spits out every character she crosses paths with.

Otherwise, audience members unfamiliar with or otherwise turned off by Crawford should probably avoid Queen Bee. There is little character development or interesting story other than watching her cause havoc.

Set in the 1950s American South, the vicious and conniving Eva Phillips (Crawford) takes pleasure in making the lives of those around her miserable, especially her husband, Avery (Barry Sullivan), who is so depressed he resorts to heavy drinking and becomes an alcoholic.

Meanwhile, when Eva discovers her sister-in-law (Betsy Palmer) intends to wed her former lover Judson (John Ireland), she decides to ruin their engagement for no reason other than being nasty.

Eva’s niece, Jennifer Stewart (Lucy Marlow), arrives in town and moves in with the family. She becomes Eva’s confidante. Everyone warns her not to cross paths with the scheming vixen, but she must learn how deadly Eva is.

At some point early on, Queen Bee turns from high drama into soap opera camp and becomes silly and plot-driven. It’s also melodramatic and stagey, especially once events spin out of control.

Despite a talented supporting cast, Crawford is the headliner. The part is written with her in mind and intended as a comeback vehicle when her career was dusty and needed a dash of drama.

It’s a delight to watch Crawford as Eva, pouring her heart and soul into a role that allows her to be as vicious as she wants. I guess, in some way, you could say Eva’s manipulative motivation is her claim for love, but that’s a stretch and hardly justifies leading one character to suicide.

At the end of the film, Eva gets her due in proper form, which left me—and likely most audiences—clapping with happiness.

Speaking of the supporting cast, I practically squealed with delight at the appearance of Betsy Palmer, forever known to horror audiences as the knife-wielding maniac on Friday the 13th (1980). Jaw-dropping is to see her play a weak, vulnerable character with no bloody ax anywhere in sight.

Barry Sullivan’s performance as Avery is also noteworthy, as is Fay Wray’s small and odd cameo appearance (King Kong, 1933).

Director Ranald MacDougall wrote the screenplay for Mildred Pierce (1945), which won Crawford the Academy Award and was deemed a significant comeback for her. He also wrote Queen Bee clearly with the idea that she would star and perhaps lightning would strike twice.

It didn’t save for two surprising technical Academy Award nominations.

Palmer’s Carol offers the most poignant character summarization of Eva. She tells Jennifer that she once read a book about bees and feels that Eva is like a queen bee who stings all her competitors to death.

Queen Bee (1955) is highly recommended for late-night satisfaction. It immerses the reader in an hour and a half of delightful wickedness from Joan Crawford.

Her scheming Atlanta socialite Eva is towards the top of a list of characters one loves to hate.

Oscar Nominations: Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White

A Star is Born-1954

Director George Cukor

Starring Judy Garland, James Mason

Scott’s Review #175

Reviewed September 25, 2014

Grade: B+

A Star Is Born (1954) was considered Judy Garland’s much-touted comeback film and was very expensive for Warner Bros. to produce.

Garland delivers her finest career performance, even better than her portrayal of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (1939). The performance is multi-faceted, complex, comical, silly, poised, emotional, dramatic, and heartfelt.

Playing Esther Blodgett- later changed to Vicki Lester for more Hollywood potential, she is a struggling lounge singer who meets a successful actor named Norman Maine, played wonderfully by James Mason.

Esther saves Norman from public humiliation at a function where he attempts to take the stage while inebriated. They strike up a friendship, and he convinces her to pursue films. However, through a series of misunderstandings, she assumes he has ditched her.

Determined to become a star anyway, Esther forges her path to success. They reconnect, and Norman recognizes her talent and pursues her professionally and romantically. They marry, and she becomes a star while his career hits the skids, mainly due to his alcoholism.

The talented Mason and Garland are at the forefront of the film and are the reasons for its success.

A few key scenes stand out to me as powerful or essential- The scene involving a musical number over a dinner of sandwiches in their posh living room is wonderfully merry and light; a delivery boy who does not know who Norman is ruins the mood and causes jealousy to come to a head in his marriage to Esther.

Garland’s emotional scenes are excellent, especially in her dressing room, where she crumbles when she realizes Mason has hit rock bottom.

The best scene is the Academy Awards scene, where a drunken Norman causes a public spectacle as Esther receives her top honor, spoiling her night and accidentally hitting her in the face in front of millions.

What a forgiving woman Esther is for staying with him and ultimately choosing him at the risk of ruining her career.

An interesting aspect of the story is that Garland’s character is not some ugly duckling transformed into Hollywood royalty—she already has the talent. She needs a break but is not down on her luck or starving. She makes a decent living with a touring band and is torn about leaving them.

The musical numbers are inspiring and one is reminded why Garland is such a star as she belts them out of the park like nobody’s business, however, they do little to further the plot.

The film sometimes drags a bit, as is often the case in the first half, but the second half (post-intermission) is brilliant, and the ending is tragic yet heartwarming.

Will Esther’s career continue to flourish?

A major flaw with the film is the usage of still frames with dialogue overlapping due to lost footage. This makes following the story very tough, and the continuity is affected. It also looks ridiculous, and for the viewer to be captured by the story and only view a discolored still shot with audio is disappointing.

Indeed, this can be corrected.

A Star Is Born (1954) is the perfect vehicle for Garland to return to her grand position among the Hollywood treasures.

Oscar Nominations: Best Actor-James Mason, Best Actress-Judy Garland, Best Scoring of a Musical Picture, Best Song-“The Man That Got Away,” Best Art Direction, Color, Best Costume Design, Color