Joan Crawford spent her early career working at Metro Goldwyn Mayer. She was popular and was proclaimed the first “Queen of the Movies” in 1937 by Life magazine and she remained a respected MGM actress with her film still earned profits. However, her popularity declined in the late 1930s. and in 1937, she unexpectedly slipped from seventh to fortieth place at the box office, and her public popularity also began to wane.
She left MGM in 1943. Proving that she still had what it takes, her career took a decided upward turn after she signed with Warner Brothers the following year.
Appearing in numerous Warner Bros. melodramas and “films noir” she was quite successful until in 1952 she had her second decline so she left Warners. After that, she freelanced, notably for RKO keeping her career alive until the early 1970’s.
Read about her MGM departure and move to Warner Brothers below:
The MGM Decline
From Wikipedia:
Richard Boleslawski’s comedy-drama The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1937) teamed her opposite William Powell for the first time; it was also her first film in years to lose money at the box office. She co-starred opposite Franchot Tone for the seventh and final time in The Bride Wore Red (1937). The film was generally unfavorably reviewed by the majority of critics, with one critic calling it the “same ole rags-to-riches story” Crawford had been making for years. It also ran a financial loss, becoming one of MGM’s biggest failures of the year. Mannequin did, as the New York Times stated, “restore Crawford to her throne as queen of the working girls”. Most other reviews were positive, and the film managed to generate a minor profit, but it did not resurrect Crawford’s popularity.
However, the death blow was on May 3, 1938, when Crawford—along with MGM colleagues Greta Garbo, Norma Shearer, Luise Rainer, and John Barrymore, as well as Katharine Hepburn, Fred Astaire, Dolores del Río and others—were dubbed “Box Office Poison” in an open letter in the Independent Film Journal. The list was submitted by Harry Brandt, president of the Independent Theatre Owners Association of America. Brandt stated that while these stars had “unquestioned” dramatic abilities, their high salaries did not reflect in their ticket sales, thus hurting the movie exhibitors involved. Joan’s follow-up movie, The Shining Hour (1938), co-starring Margaret Sullavan and Melvyn Douglas, was well received by critics, but a box office flop.
Still she remained a staple at MGM and he made a comeback with her role as home-wrecker Crystal Allen in The Women in 1939. And a year later, she broke from formula, playing the unglamorous role of Julie in Strange Cargo (1940), her eighth and final film with Clark Gable. She then starred as a facially disfigured blackmailer in A Woman’s Face (1941), a remake of the Swedish film En kvinnas ansikte which had starred Ingrid Bergman in the lead role three years earlier. While the film was only a moderate box office success, her performance was hailed by many critics.
Then, after eighteen years, Crawford’s contract with MGM was terminated by mutual consent on June 29, 1943. In lieu of the last film remaining under her contract, MGM bought her out for $100,000. During World War II she was a member of American Women’s Voluntary Services.
While the contract with MGM was considered “mutual consent,” Joan was not a happy person by this move. She knew that her days as an actress may be numbered, so she found another way to continue her career by moving to Warner Brothers.
Move to Warner Brothers
From Wikipedia:
Joan signed a $500,000 contract with Warner Brothers for a three movie deal and was placed on the payroll on July 1, 1943. Her first film for the studio was Hollywood Canteen (1944), an all-star morale-booster film that teamed her with several other top movie stars at the time.
She wanted to play the title role in Mildred Pierce (1945), but Bette Davis was the studio’s first choice. However, Davis turned the role down. Director Michael Curtiz did not want Crawford to play the part, claiming Davis could be replaced with Barbara Stanwyck, Olivia de Havilland, or Joan Fontaine. However, Warner Brothers went against Curtiz’s wishes and cast Crawford in the film. Throughout the entire production of the movie, Curtiz criticized Crawford. He has been quoted as having told Jack Warner, “She comes over here with her high-hat airs and her goddamn shoulder pads… why should I waste my time directing a has-been?” Curtiz demanded Crawford prove her suitability by taking a screen test. After the test, Curtiz agreed to Crawford’s casting. Mildred Pierce was a resounding critical and commercial success. It epitomized the lush visual style and the hard-boiled film noir sensibility that defined Warner Bros. movies of the late 1940s, earning Crawford the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
The success of Mildred Pierce revived Crawford’s movie career. For several years, she reigned as one of the most respected and most successful actresses in Hollywood. In 1946, she starred opposite John Garfield in Humoresque, a romantic drama of a love affair between an older woman and a younger man. She starred alongside Van Heflin in Possessed (1947), for which she received a second Academy Award nomination, although she did not win. In Daisy Kenyon (1947), she appeared opposite Dana Andrews and Henry Fonda, and in Flamingo Road (1949) she played a carnival dancer opposite Zachary Scott and David Brian. She made a cameo appearance in It’s a Great Feeling (1949), poking fun at her own screen image. In 1950, she starred in the film noir, The Damned Don’t Cry!, and starred in Harriet Craig.
After the completion of This Woman Is Dangerous (1952), a film Crawford called her “worst”, she asked to be released from her Warner Brothers contract. By this time she felt Warners was losing interest in her and she decided it was time to move on.[citation needed] Later that same year, she received her third and final Academy Award nomination for Sudden Fear for RKO Radio Pictures. In 1953, she appeared in her final film for MGM, Torch Song. The movie received favorable reviews and moderate success at the box office.
