James M. Cain, the author who gave us Double Indemnity, has long been a Hollywood favorite for screen adaptations. This time its Cain’s Mildred Pierce on the marquee, with a lavish miniseries adaptation from HBO.
Here’s a taste, for those who like their drama historical:
Book Jacket:
Mildred Pierce had gorgeous legs, a way with a skillet, and a bone-deep core of toughness. She used those attributes to survive a divorce and poverty and to claw her way out of the lower middle class. But Mildred also had two weaknesses: a yen for shiftless men, and an unreasoning devotion to a monstrous daughter.
Out of these elements, Cain creates a novel of acute social observation and devastating emotional violence, with a heroine whose ambitions and sufferings are never less than recognizable.
The last time Mildred Pierce was on screen was in 1945 – Joan Crawford starred as Mildred and won an Oscar for her performance.
Safe to say this miniseries will garner an Emmy or two, or ten..
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