Joan Crawford personally bought the film rights to Edna L. Lee's novel "The Queen Bee" for $15,000, then sold them to Columbia under the following conditions: she would star, Jerry Wald would produce, Ranald MacDougall would write the screenplay and direct the film, Charles Lang would be the film's cinematographer and she would have contractual approval of her costume, make-up and hair designers. Each of these conditions was fulfilled.
Joan Crawford makes her first entrance in the film in a white mink coat with a dark brown fox collar. The look of this outfit is copied in Mommie Dearest (1981) when Christina visits Joan and Alfred Steele in their still-under-construction apartment.
After Hollywood's studio system collapsed in the early 1950s, Joan Crawford (who was among the most successful products of that system) quickly adapted to "the new world order," and this film serves as a perfect example of Crawford's business savvy. The star optioned the novel on which this was based, negotiated a contract for herself, and did her best to nurture and promote it into a hit. She performed a similar feat with one of the biggest hit films of her entire career, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962).
The oil portrait of the gentlemen above the fireplace is that of Luke Cosgrave. It was originally created for the 1938 Columbia film Holiday (1938) with Katharine Hepburn.
This film's elegant costumes earned Jean Louis one of the 14 Academy Award nominations he would eventually receive. The following year, he won his only Oscar for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White, for The Solid Gold Cadillac (1956).
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