writers_reign I remember stumbling on this several years ago and admiring Barry Sullivan's dialogue, both the dialogue itself and the way Sullivan delivered it. Although one line that stayed in my mind appears to be missing I still get a kick out of Sullivan's dialogue and even John Ireleand, a graduate of the Charlton Heston Redwood School Of Acting, weighs in with a half decent performance and handles a couple of Sullivan left-over zingers with something approaching style. They are, of course, merely the hors d'ouevres, setting up the palate for the caviar that is Joan Crawford and arguably the best example of late-blooming Crawford on celluloid. Although we're smack dab in the middle of decaying magnolia country no one makes much of a stab at a Southern accent but almost everyone makes a decent fist of this out-and-out meller.

billpappas-1 Oh, Joan, That hairdo, those eyebrows, hide the children. Someone said she looked like she was wearing 'warrior makeup'. But, we love ya, Joan when you're as bad as you can be. This was before the Joker in the Batman movies.Other reviewers have already laid out the plot but there are a few scenes that simply delight me. There's the one where a seated John Ireland has a telephone cord gently wrapped around his neck by Joan while she's on the phone.In another scene, she is talking to her young niece or whoever she is while semi-reclining on the sofa. Meanwhile Joan has her leg elevated admiring it and pointing her foot in her high heel shoe, somewhat distracted by its shapeliness, I guess.Then, while the young woman and Betsy Palmer are on the floor looking at blueprints of the house Betsy will live in, they don't hear Joan enter till you see her high heel shoe with its ankle strap stepping on the blueprints and ruining their fun.Another delightful moment is when Barry Sullivan, 'Beauty' is in his office pacing in front of his desk where Joan is seated out of camera range while he is trying to tell her he wants a divorce. It's a heavy, serious scene. The camera pans over to Joan who is admiring herself in her compact make up mirror in a wonderfully blasé, Joan Crawford way.These little moments are worth sitting through some of the tedious plot development. There is one scene where Barry Sullivan is having a long dialog with John Ireland in Sullivan's bedroom while he is dressing for a formal dinner. The dialog is one long shot while Sullivan is tying his bow tie, something we don't see in today's movies with all the quick edits. Today's actors don't seem to be able to do a long scene without cuts like in these old movies.I guess Joan didn't mind playing a character that was so nasty that the audience cheered her demise at the end of the film.

janiceferrero A guilty pleasure if I ever saw one. Directect by Ranald McDougall, even his name reads like a misspell, he was the writer of Mildred Pierce and clearly Crawford trusted him. Look at her entrance, from a distance, a subtle and no so subtle game of light and music. The turgid tale of evil and deception suffers from holes in every angle but this is not the sort of picture that can afford that kind of scrutiny. This is a showcase for the late term Crawford die hard fans. You wont be able to help but admire her devastating self confidence. She knew every trick in the book as an actress as well as a character. Queen Bee goes bye fast very fast and the moral compass is determined by Lucy Marlow when in fact it needed a sort of Anne Baxter or someone with a bit more gravitas. To be seen with a bunch of like minded friends and laugh out loud.

fimimix I really think that Ms. Crawford ("Eva Phillips") kept a bunch of writers on-salary to write these movies particularly for her. Randall MacDougall certainly was one of those ! Can't you see her deciding which lines to "keep" and which ones to "ditch" ?? "Avery Phillips" (Barry Sullivan) was truly good in his alcoholic role - didn't you know the end of the movie would involve a car-accident when he picked up "Eva's" keys from his desk? I really didn't understand why the niece committed suicide - it was plain to me that "Eva" had hitched-up with every male in The South. John Ireland ("Judson Prentiss") was good in his role, as were Betsy Palmer and all the rest.The star of the show, of course, is the wardrobe Ms. Crawford wears. I recall the TV-appeal they had her to do for poor people all around the world, some time ago. Everyone in the world could have, at that time, been fed if they just hocked the necklace she was wearing. True Crawford ! "Poor people, but keep you hands off my necklace !"Yeah, the drag-queens really got some fodder for their acts, especially the fabulous Charles Pearce, who did an act about a bitch-fight between Bette Davis and Crawford, just by turning his wig around......but by using his own material. For those of you who didn't have the privilege of seeing Pearce perform, you missed some great talent....almost as famous as the ladies he mimicked.You weren't aware that the lighting for this movie were designed to highlight Crawford's eyes - thick brows, or not ?I think this film was a story of Crawford's real life - her own daughter couldn't sit through it. I loved "Queen Bee", because it made me laugh at such meanness, although I've known a lot of those people, too. You gotta admit one thing: NO ONE does "queen of mean" like Crawford did. Today's actresses don't have it in them to be mean AND glamorous - younger people may not realize that movies, in those days, ALWAYS had lines in them to say "how beautiful" the leading lady was.I'm not a hard-core fan of hers, but I truly enjoyed Crawford in "Queen Bee". Bravo to all!