Product Description

Joan Crawford turns in one of the most emotionally charged performances of her career as a playwright who must use her plotting skills to save her own life, in this beautifully crafted film noir thriller. Nominated for four Academy Awards, "Sudden Fear" is an unbeatable combination of lush melodrama and drop-dead suspense.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #45543 in DVD
• Brand: Kino Video
• Released on: 2003-09-02
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 110 minutes

Amazon.com
Sudden Fear is one of those noir gems about a love-hate relationship between a husband and wife that's doomed from the very beginning. Jack Palance plays an ambitious actor rebuffed by playwright and heiress Joan Crawford. He later romances and marries her before falling under the dark spell of ex-girlfriend Gloria Grahame. When Palance and Grahame plot to get her fortune, the evil scheme backfires with ironically twisted results. Palance has no idea how much his wife truly loves him, and she has no idea how sinister he truly is. It's a fascinating if contrived film, with wonderful nuances and sensitive performances by the three leads. --Bill Desowitz

Customer Reviews

Joan's Oscar-Nominated Role!
This movie is one of Joan's best films. She made it in the 50's during a slow time in her career after "Mildred Pierce". This was sort of Joan's come-back picture of the 50's. And boy did Joan know how to come back with a vengeance!

Joan plays Myra Hudson (I wonder if she's related to Blanche Hudson?) a successful (and rich) playwright. Myra is re-introduced (she recently fired Lester as lead-actor from her previous Broadway play) to Lester Blaine (played by the very handsome Jack Palance) on a train trip back to her home, from NY.

Myra and Jack soon fall in love and quickly marry. Their marriage seems perfect. Joan's character is an older, successful, beautiful, and highly intelligent women. And Lester wasn't at all intimidated Myra's successes.

...In fact Lester welcomes her success and her money. He soon meets up with his former flame, Irene Neves (played by Gloria Grahame). Irene and Lester plot to murder Myra so they can run away with all of her money.

Myra inadvertently learns of their deceitful plot and thus the title "Sudden Fear" is born! It's now a race against time to see if Myra can sidestep the murder plot.

Joan is absolutely devastatingly beautiful in this picture, and she had such a graceful and elegant presence that always took center stage in this picture. This movie is a must-see for any Joan Crawford fan. I have seen all of her movies and this is right up there with the very best films she made during the 30's & 40's.

Fear with a Twist and then Some
This is a first-class thriller based on the novel by Edna Sherry of an affluent playwright who discovers her new husband is planning to kill her. You see, she done him wrong at an earlier date. Now it's retribution time. But who is outdoing whom? Twists abound. Joan Crawford (Oscar nominated) and Jack Palance (his first Oscar nomination) are excellent. The cast also includes Gloria Grahame, Bruce Bennett, Virginia Huston and Touch (Mike) Connors. The effective Black and White cinematography is by Charles Lang (also Oscar nominated). This film also boasts one of Elmer Bernstein's earliest scores. Bernstein has been a leading writer of film scores since the mid-1950s, when his work on THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM (1955) and THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956) elevated him into the front rank of Hollywood composers. His score for THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960) made him immortal and launched him into a string of successful Western scores through that decade. However, he highly has been noted for his strong use of solo instruments and his facility with the jazz idiom. 1999's WILD, WILD WEST returned him to his beloved Western.

Suspense That Shows Joan Crawford Had What It Takes!
One of the best Joan Crawford movies I have ever seen. It really kept me interested the entire time (but to be honest, I could watch her do the dishes and be pleased!) Myra Hudson overhears her husband, a man she has adored, plot her murder with his mistress. Using her ingenious mind, she plots her own revenge against her unfaithful husband and his mistress. Not one minute of the movie is wasted. She honestly deserved the Academy Award nomination she received. Sit back! Watch the show! Be thoroughly entertained by one of the best!