THE DAMNED DON'T CRY **

One of Joan Crawford's lesser-known vehicles but this cross between a 'woman's picture' and a film noir has been unjustly neglected. Vincent Sherman made "The Damned Don't Cry" in 1950, five years after Joan's Oscar-winning turn as "Mildred Pierce" and there are very slight similarities between the two films. Sherman may not have been a Michael Curtiz but he was one of the more reliable directors of melodramas in Hollywood even when dealing with an over-aged Crawford.

She starts the picture as a slightly frumpy housewife but after walking out on hubbie Richard Egan she finds those over-aged Crawford looks are enough to launch her into a not very salubrious society where men like David Brain and Steve Cochran are competing for her over-aged charms. Her character is as hard as nails which suited Joan down to the ground and in her brassy way she's actually very good here and the film, while minor, is still thoroughly enjoyable. Worth rediscovering.