Already a major star for nearly 25 years as the 1950's rolled in, a maturing Joan Crawford was more handsome than beautiful, which isn't bad for a movie star if she's not afraid of becoming a camp icon. Crawford gets some great monologues and a fairly decent story, but the script and direction are not at their best in this rising from the gutter mob moll Cinderella story. The film opens up with the discovery of a corpse and the search for a socialite (Crawford) mixed up with him. The wealthy society widow, having no tax returns filed with the IRS, turns up in a factory town, banging on the door of an elderly couple who turn out to be her estranged parents. From here, the film flashes back to her life there, an unhappy marriage to factory worker Richard Egan, the sudden shocking end of that marriage thanks to the final straw breaking, and her entrance into big city society through modeling, through political connections and through mob boss David Brian who has his finger in every political pie. Biting off more than she can chew, she refuses to get out, and an intelligence you don't get in a factory town makes her a rare female entry in a man's world, and one that could destroy her life...or worse.Nineteen years before this, the young and beautiful Joan Crawford escaped from a factory town in the MGM pre-code drama "Possessed" and became a politician's mistress under the respectability of being a young widow. That film had the benefit of Crawford's youth and earthiness, a young Clark Gable, the solid direction of Clarence Brown, but most importantly, the MGM gloss. This has the benefit of Crawford's toughness (mixed with hidden vulnerability), an interesting film noir set-up and a fairly glossy atmosphere. It's obvious that even as stunning as Crawford still is, she wouldn't have it as easy as her character of Ethel/Lorna has it here, and that she'd become so tough in only a short period of time. Steve Cochran as a nasty thug who aggressively pulls Crawford into his web and Selena Royle as a society matron with shady contacts are decent in supporting roles. It's an amusing melodrama that Crawford makes more tolerable, but also an example of why she faced decline as the 1950's marched on. Vincent Sherman directs with the determination to make this rise above what it is, but that's simply just an impossible task.

The Damned Don't Cry! Is directed by Vincent Sherman and collectively written by Gertrude Walker, Harold Medford and Jerome Weidman. It stars Joan Crawford, David Brian, Steve Cochran and Kent Smith. Music is by Daniele Amfitheatrof and cinematography by Ted McCord.Loosely based on the relationship between Bugsy Siegel and Virginia Hill, story has Crawford as Ethel Whitehead, a weary housewife who decides to break off from her hum-drum existence to climb the social ladder: But at what consequence?Part gangster's moll tale, part lady led melodrama, The Damned Don't Cry! Is enjoyable enough entertainment as a Crawford vehicle. At 45 years of age when she made this, some scenes, such as her doing some slinky modelling work, just don't sit right and stretch credulity, but she commands the screen like an ageless swan hiding a dark seductive heart. The film as a whole is a bit hit and miss, with its themes of disillusionment, morality and social standings jostling for attention in the narrative, while the reliance on clichés and parody for parody's sake irks a touch, but it's good and solid black and white fun. Especially if you happen to be a Joan Crawford fan. 6.5/10

You usually don't think of Joan Crawford in Film Noir, but director Vincent Sherman has her over-acting in a gripping melodrama. Ethel Whitehead(Crawford)is a working class housewife that leaves her oilfield working husband(Richard Egan)after their child is killed on his new bike. She heads to New York City with her sites on a man with money by transforming herself in a socialite named Lorna Hansen Forbes. She tries using sex appeal and wits to find a better life. She will settle to be the mistress of a mob boss(David Brian). Money and notoriety is really not enough; her life soon comes full circle when she is implicated with the death of her lover's West Coast rival(Steve Cochran). I just can't see a 46 yr old Crawford being lusted over by men half her age. But Crawford is Crawford. Very "watchable" flick. Others in the cast: Selena Royle, Kent Smith, Hugh Sanders and Jacqueline deWitt.

5 years after "Mildred Pierce" and Joan Crawford is at it again. Again, she is poor and is willing to climb to the top no matter what. In this film, she becomes involved with organized crime and becomes a real pro in being used to infiltrate other wayward mobsters.From poverty to that Mildred Pierce mink, Crawford gave a truly memorable performance. She will stop at nothing to get to the top.Along the way, she seduces timid accountant, played masterfully by Kent Smith, to join the mob only two realize that the two of them are trapped.Another favorite co-star of Crawford, David Brian appears as the head mobster who is against violence but must come to grips with it when renegade hood, the always terrific Steve Cochran, seduces Crawford and then goes after her when he discovers that she is a Brian stooge.This is a gripping film-noir at its best.