Silver Screen Standards: A Woman’s Face (1941)

Silver Image Standards: A woman’s face (1941)

Though it’s not as iconic as movies The women (1939) or Mildred Pierce (1945) I really like George Cukor’s murder melodrama A woman’s face (1941) because it gives us – quite literally – a different take on the star, Joan Crawford. When we picture Crawford today, we usually think of the thick-browed, red-lipped, and shoulder-padded version, an image crystallized by Faye Dunaway’s portrayal of Crawford in dearest mother (1981), but fans of classic films already know that Crawford’s long career has taken her through many incarnations, from flapper and chorus girl to Grand Dame Guignol’s diva. In this Hollywood remake of the 1938 Swedish film, starring Ingrid Bergman, Crawford plays a truly dynamic character whose face is only the most obvious thing about her that changes. In many ways it’s a perfect Crawford companion piece to Bette Davis’ Well Voyager (1942), and indeed Davis starred in a 1942 radio version of A woman’s face with Crawford’s co-star Conrad Veidt. If you want to see as many aspects of Joan Crawford as possible in one picture, A woman’s face is an excellent choice.

Crawford plays Anna Holm, a woman whose childhood facial injury has always prevented her from being a part of normal society. She turns to crime to survive and punish those who have marginalized her, but her blackmail schemes eventually lead her to a fateful encounter with plastic surgeon Gustaf Segert (Melvyn Douglas), who agrees to repair her damaged face . After a series of painful surgeries, Anna has a chance to start a new life, but her old partner Torsten Barring (Conrad Veidt) refuses to let her leave the past behind. Those who knew Anna both before and after her transformation reveal the circumstances under which Anna becomes involved in the murder trial that frames the story.

How Grand hotel (1932) and The women, A woman’s face has an impressive ensemble cast, but Crawford is absolutely the star. Supporting her performance are two leads: Melvyn Douglas as the generous but happily married surgeon and Conrad Veidt as the charming but ruthless schemer. The two male leads play the roles of angel and devil in Crawford’s Anna. One pushes them on the path to justice, the other lures them back into darkness. The rest of the cast includes Osa Massen, Reginald Owen, Marjorie Main, Donald Meek, Connie Gilchrist and even George Zucco and Henry Daniell, who have small roles as attorneys in the murder trial. Richard Nichols is a bit of a scene thief as Lars-Erik, which makes it even worse that Torsten, his uncle, wants the child dead. Each of the characters offer a different view of Anna as part of the statement, while the flashbacks show us how each character has interacted with her in the past, expressing anger, longing, sadness, hope and tenderness depending on the circumstances. Each witness brings us a little closer to understanding Anna and her actions, although the film carefully guards some of its secrets up until the climax (and I won’t reveal them here).

Facial disfigurement often appears as a plot point in films, often in problematic ways, using a scar or other marks to denote villains, but A woman’s face rejects this reading to a certain extent. Anna is scarred because her drunk father accidentally set her room on fire when she was a child, and she was also orphaned by the incident. In a society where women must have pretty faces or strong protectors to survive, Anna had neither. She is the victim of a system that failed to protect her, making her even more vulnerable to Torsten’s powers of seduction. However, Gustaf sees her as either his Galatea or his Frankenstein’s Monster, a creation he brings to life, also making him a troubled love interest. Although the film argues that Anna’s toughness was always a facade put up to protect her from the cruelty of the world, it ultimately portrays scarred Anna as a criminal and beautiful Anna as a kind governess, so it’s far from being is not about such a radical reading of the disfigured protagonist as The man who laughs (1928), which of course comes to mind because it also features Conrad Veidt. On the other hand, A woman’s face offers a much more nuanced view of the subject than Stolen Face (1952), in which Lizabeth Scott’s character is just a terrible person no matter what she looks like. It’s also a narrative that focuses on the scarred character’s experience without being a horror story, which is a rarity, especially for a female protagonist. The most iconic example from the horror genre is of course eyes without a face (1960), which ends in a nihilistic glamor of gory glory that we are fortunately spared A woman’s face.

Joan Crawford played the lead role A woman’s face towards the end of her time at MGM; She would eventually leave the studio to join Warner Bros. and achieve Oscar-winning success with her Mildred Pierce. She also received Oscar nominations for Obsessed (1948) and sudden fear (1953), but if you want a full tour of the many faces of Joan Crawford, start with silent films like The unknown (1927) and Our dancing daughters (1928). In addition to the already mentioned big hits, enjoy the variety of films such as dancing lady (1933), The damned do not cry (1950), Johnny guitar (1954) and of course What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962).

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— Jennifer Garlen for Classic Movie Hub

Jennifer Garlen is a contributor to our monthly Silver Screen Standards column. You can read all of Jennifer’s Silver Screen Standards articles here.

Jennifer is a former college professor with a PhD in English Literature and a lifelong passion for films. She writes about classic films on her blog, Virtual Virago, and presents classic film programs for lifelong learning groups and retirement communities. She is the author of Beyond Casablanca: 100 Classic Movies to Watch and its continuation Beyond Casablanca II: 101 must-see classic filmsShe is also co-editor of two books on the works of Jim Henson.