Joan Crawford is so Wonderfully Good–When She is Bad!!!

I watched Queen Bee (1955) with Joan Crawford and I gotta say, yeah, it’s campy, but as a die hard Joan Crawford fan, I loved it. Let’s just say that this movie was a prelude to the Joan’s future in films. It prepared her for the horror flicks she’d do soon after this film. Joan plays a beautiful, but wicked, southern bell named Eva; she spends her day making all those around her miserable. She is married to Avery, played hard-faced and ominously by Barry Sullivan. Avery is a millionaire who lives in a southern mansion. He is very unhappy in his marriage and drowns his woes in alcohol. Eva (Joan Crawford) is the Queen Bee, the head honcho, and her sting is deadly. This is the one character in this movie you love to hate.

Avery’s sister Carol Lee played by Betsy Palmer is engaged to marry Avery’s right hand man Judson Prentiss played with fitting sadness and nervousness by John Ireland. Eva doesn’t like this because he belongs to her, at least in her mind he does. You see Judson was Eva’s lover once and she is about to reveal it to Carol. She is going to make sure Carol gets it in the gut. What Eva doesn’t realize is the tragic consequences this will have not only on Carol, but on her precious self as well.

Lucy Marlow plays the naïve, gullible, and slow learner, cousin to Eva, Jennifer. Viewers will get easily frustrated with this one. She is “out to lunch” for most of the movie. Because of her naiveté the Queen bee fools her for quite a bit. But Jennifer finally realizes who Eva really is. Jennifer and Avery fall in love and end up basically having the last laugh. The Queen bee has met her match.

It’s a well-acted soap opera type of movie. If you are a Joan Crawford fan you will love it. The weak part of the movie is having a weak Jennifer be a cousin to this calculating and wicked woman. It’s like watching Sesame Street’s “one of these things doesn’t belong here.” But the movie is good; it’s no Mildred Pierce, but good nonetheless.