A Woman's Face (1941)

Once again, George Cukor directs an MGM feature with a feminine focus in the title and a nasty role for Joan Crawford. This one has a tighter plot and is set in Sweden, thanks to the play on which it's based. (OK, I'm having trouble finding good info on the play, but there was a Swedish adaptation in 1938.)

Blackmail ringleader Anna (Crawford) has spent most of her life with burn scars on the right half of her face, aversions to fire and mirrors, and misanthropy, especially toward beautiful people, tho she makes an exception for seductive Torsten (Conrad Veidt). When she unexpectedly meets a great and charitable plastic surgeon, Gustaf (Melvyn Douglas)...well, see how Crawford usually looked on screen in those days. Anna's a lot less bitter once people admire her appearance, but wickedness doesn't dry up overnight, especially if you've been keeping wicked company. In particular, Torsten hopes she still has what it takes to serve as a governess to his four-year-old nephew, Lars-Erik (Richard Nichols), only to bump him off to secure Torsten a bigger inheritance from Uncle Magnus (Albert Bassermann).

Perhaps the most unusual thing about this story is its presentation as a series of flashbacks care of different witnesses at Anna's trial. It takes a while to find out exactly whose murder she stands accused of and whether she's guilty as charged, assuming reliable testimonies. In the end, we still don't learn everything.

Gustaf knows enough about Anna to remain uncertain what kind of life she'll lead without scars. He keeps following her around, looking for signs that he should never have given such a gift to someone so evil. Anna resents this stalking at first, but you can guess how both their feelings evolve.

I didn't know going in that this was a melodrama, but it became clear soon enough. Emotions come awfully strong, not least from Anna; even in a culture that may have treated disfigurement worse than ours does, she shouldn't be that temperamental all the time. Sometimes I felt like I was missing something, because characters behave in ways I didn't expect. I think the worst offender on this count is Vera (Osa Massen), Gustaf's adulterous wife, who doesn't know the best way to react to Anna's blackmail attempt and fallout. Also, the motive for wanting Lars-Erik dead is covered so briefly that I needed to read a synopsis later to have any idea.

You might be wondering just how bad Anna looks on screen pre-surgery. I'd say about as bad as '41 Hollywood would allow. Not exactly a side-swapped Harvey Two-Face, but not The Enchanted Cottage either; more like the 2004 Phantom of the Opera. The camera rarely lets us see the scars at all, let alone close up.

Overwrought tho it may be, I can see how AWF advanced Crawford's career. It makes for an entertaining watch, whether you find the gestalt more beautiful or ugly.