Search - Mommie Dearest on DVD

MPAA Rating: PG Content Advisory: Mild Violence, Violence, Not For Children, Adult Language Movie Release: 1981 DVD Release: 07/17/2001 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Edition: Restored/Remastered,Special Collection Audio Tracks: English, French Subtitles: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 2 hrs 8 mins Studio: Paramount Members Wishing: 1 Genres: Drama, Docudrama, Biopic [feature], Childhood Drama See Also: Mommie Dearest [Hollywood Royalty Edition], Mommie Dearest [I Love the 80's Edition] [Bonus CD], Mommie Dearest [Hollywood Royalty Edition]

When her adoptive mother Joan Crawford died in 1977, erstwhile actress/author Christina Crawford and her brother Christopher were left out of Joan Crawford's will, "for reasons which are well known to them." Industryites have suggested that it may have been this posthumous act of rejection rather than an alleged lifetime of parental abuse that inspired Christina Crawford to pen her scathing autobiography -Mommie Dearest. The 1981 film version of this tome was evidently meant to be taken seriously, but the operatic direction by Frank Perry and the over-the-top portrayal of Joan Crawford by Faye Dunaway (whose makeup is remarkable) has always seemed to inspire loud laughter whenever and where-ever the film is shown. According to the film (and the book that preceded it), Joan Crawford was a licentious, child-beating behemoth, who stalked and postured through life as though it was one of her own pictures-more Strait-jacket than Mildred Pierce. This is the film with the notorious "wire coat hanger" scene, just in case you need a reminder. Surprisingly, one emerges from Mommie Dearest with more sympathy for the monstrous but intensely vulnerable Crawford than for her whining daughter (played as an adult by Diana Scarwid, and as a child by Mara Hobel). Our favorite scene: Joan Crawford dazedly replacing her ailing daughter in the cast of a daytime TV soap opera. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Faye Dunaway - Joan Crawford
Diana Scarwid - Christina Crawford
Steve Forrest - Greg Savitt
Howard Da Silva - Louis B. Mayer
Rutanya Alda - Carol Ann
Mara Hobel - Christina Crawford as child

Mommie Dearest, the film that began as a serious, tell-all biopic on one of Tinseltown's most famous movie queens (and the merciless abuse she bestowed upon her hapless moppet) and ended up as one of the campiest, most popular audience-participation flicks in cinema history, has finally seen the digital light of day through Paramount DVD. The DVD is equipped with Dolby Digital Sound, English 5.1 Surround Sound, a restored English mono soundtrack, a French mono soundtrack, and English subtitles. One of the film's highest achievements, besides Faye Dunaway's legendary (and notorious) portrayal of movie meanie Joan Crawford, was its artistry; everything from the sets to the costumes to the colors transports the viewer directly to 1940s and '50s Hollywood. This DVD beautifully recaptures the film's former brilliance that had been all but lost on VHS, and to see this film in its original widescreen 1.85:1 format is nothing less than spectator heaven. But this pleasure comes at a price. The special features on this DVD are sorely lacking. A film such as this, about film history, is literally bursting with endless possibilities for special features (bios and filmographies on Faye Dunaway and/or Joan Crawford, production notes, audience reception history). Instead, this DVD includes a small number of production stills and a lousy theatrical trailer that gives away most of the film's key scenes. What a shame, considering this highly anticipated DVD could have been so much more. ~ Jose Promis, All Movie Guide