Released in 1941 - In the fine tradition of a classic, Hollywood, glamor film, this Joan Crawford vehicle from MGM delivers a fairly entertaining bit of melodrama that builds quite nicely into its high-speed climax (on horse-driven sleighs, no less).
Joan Crawford plays Anna Holm, a conniving member of a ruthless blackmailing ring who are operating very successfully within the fair city of Stockholm, Sweden.
Featuring some very good make-up effects, Anna, whose face (on its right side) has been badly disfigured by a burning accident many years ago, has her own ax to grind as she cold-heartedly dishes out a very special brand of criminal treachery.
With its story told mainly through flashbacks, Anna is accused of cold-blooded murder and witnesses to Anna's activities are individually called into the courtroom in order to give testimony that points decidedly against Anna's innocence to this crime.
As our story gets underway, Anna meets, by chance, a skilled plastic surgeon who offers his surgical expertise in order to help repair her badly-scarred face. Seeing this as her hope for starting a new life, Anna agrees to undergo cosmetic surgery, but with her new transformation she finds that the ties to her dark past are so much stronger than she had realized.
Filmed in glossy b&w, A Woman's Face was competently directed by George Cukor whose other notable films from the 1940s and 50s include Gaslight, Adam's Rib, The Philadelphia Story, and A Star Is Born.
Joan Crawford plays Anna Holm, a conniving member of a ruthless blackmailing ring who are operating very successfully within the fair city of Stockholm, Sweden.
Featuring some very good make-up effects, Anna, whose face (on its right side) has been badly disfigured by a burning accident many years ago, has her own ax to grind as she cold-heartedly dishes out a very special brand of criminal treachery.
With its story told mainly through flashbacks, Anna is accused of cold-blooded murder and witnesses to Anna's activities are individually called into the courtroom in order to give testimony that points decidedly against Anna's innocence to this crime.
As our story gets underway, Anna meets, by chance, a skilled plastic surgeon who offers his surgical expertise in order to help repair her badly-scarred face. Seeing this as her hope for starting a new life, Anna agrees to undergo cosmetic surgery, but with her new transformation she finds that the ties to her dark past are so much stronger than she had realized.
Filmed in glossy b&w, A Woman's Face was competently directed by George Cukor whose other notable films from the 1940s and 50s include Gaslight, Adam's Rib, The Philadelphia Story, and A Star Is Born.