Few things are more amusing to me than the Hollywood myth that Joan Crawford, especially in middle age (she was 50 when this movie was made), was the most intensely sexy, desirable woman who ever lived. That myth finds no more fervent expression than in this movie. Wow. The story is all carefully crafted to rotate around the myth rather like a vast conglomeration of space debris and dust rotating around a giant, frozen planet.<br /><br />And it works...if you like Joan Crawford melodramas. I've never seen a better one. The plot is absurd, which is to say that it's perfect. The supporting cast is also right on the money: the willowy niece, the bitter, alcoholic husband, the emotionally destroyed belle, the suave neighbor and his unstable sister. All of the actors (except maybe the children) easily outperform Crawford (in terms of creating genuine, believable characters), which is exactly what this kind of movie needs. She's the (tragi-)comic center; everyone else provides the contrast.<br /><br />The plot is about as subtle as an atomic bomb, with explosions dropped in at regular intervals ("No, I'm going to shoot this dog") to move the plot forward in roughly the same way that a bulldozer shoves a house off its foundation. Which is perfect. This is melodrama. Subtlety is not of the essence. Keep the atomic bombs coming.<br /><br />The movie's greatest strength, though, is the overall production. The costumes and the sets and the superb, creepy lighting are of the very highest caliber. Forceful but not completely ridiculous. Just when you think the stark, interior scenes with deep shadows have become too much, they switch to a bright, airy outdoor scene.<br /><br />The ending is predictable and "tragic" and yet "happy" at the same time, which is to say, melodramatic and chuckle-inducing. But it didn't leave me feeling annoyed, as some of Crawford's movies do. Instead, it made me resolve to put this movie on my DVD wish list. I definitely want to see it again.