Daisy Kenyon (Fox Film Noir)
starring: Joan Crawford, Dana Andrews, Henry Fonda, Ruth Warrick, Martha Stewart
directed by: Otto Preminger
directed by: Otto Preminger
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Product Description:
Studio: TcfheRelease Date: 03/11/2008Run time: 99 minutesRating: Nr
Amazon.com:
Otto Preminger's Daisy Kenyon is an unsung beauty from Hollywood's golden age, a remarkably good and intelligent movie that's all the more gratifying because it could so easily have come out formulaic and sappy. In 1947 it was regarded (and implicitly shrugged off) as a "women's picture" or, more specifically, a "Joan Crawford picture." But there's more going on here. This was shortly after the Oscar for Mildred Pierce revived the actress's career, and the nature of a Crawford picture was changing since she had entered her (gasp) 40s. New York careerwoman Daisy (a magazine illustrator) is trying to break off her longtime affair with a high-profile lawyer and family man (Dana Andrews), and tentatively beginning a relationship with an attractive WWII veteran and widower (Henry Fonda). The men's roles are as important as Crawford's, and neither man is entirely what he first seems--Andrews a self-centered manipulator in all arenas, Fonda a poetic New Englander who used to design boats. Enough ambivalence, wounded psyches, and intimate violence surface to make the movie a kissing cousin to film noir... albeit a variation of noir in which no gun is pulled. Noir also leaks in through the gorgeous Fox craftsmanship. Leon Shamroy's lustrous lighting paints the characters and their studio-made, persuasively three-dimensional environs with insinuating shadow, while still serving director Preminger's penchant for fluid camerawork and mise-en-scène that doesn't dictate our attitudes toward the characters. The production is a model of Hollywood professionalism at every level, and the three star performances are each atypical and complex, with Crawford more restrained and thoughtful than we're accustomed to seeing her. And speaking of model performances, plan to rewatch the film while listening to the commentary by Foster Hirsch, author of the excellent critical biography, Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would Be King; Hirsch is especially sharp on Preminger's stylistic choices and the underappreciated Dana Andrews. --Richard T. Jameson
Studio: TcfheRelease Date: 03/11/2008Run time: 99 minutesRating: Nr
Amazon.com:
Otto Preminger's Daisy Kenyon is an unsung beauty from Hollywood's golden age, a remarkably good and intelligent movie that's all the more gratifying because it could so easily have come out formulaic and sappy. In 1947 it was regarded (and implicitly shrugged off) as a "women's picture" or, more specifically, a "Joan Crawford picture." But there's more going on here. This was shortly after the Oscar for Mildred Pierce revived the actress's career, and the nature of a Crawford picture was changing since she had entered her (gasp) 40s. New York careerwoman Daisy (a magazine illustrator) is trying to break off her longtime affair with a high-profile lawyer and family man (Dana Andrews), and tentatively beginning a relationship with an attractive WWII veteran and widower (Henry Fonda). The men's roles are as important as Crawford's, and neither man is entirely what he first seems--Andrews a self-centered manipulator in all arenas, Fonda a poetic New Englander who used to design boats. Enough ambivalence, wounded psyches, and intimate violence surface to make the movie a kissing cousin to film noir... albeit a variation of noir in which no gun is pulled. Noir also leaks in through the gorgeous Fox craftsmanship. Leon Shamroy's lustrous lighting paints the characters and their studio-made, persuasively three-dimensional environs with insinuating shadow, while still serving director Preminger's penchant for fluid camerawork and mise-en-scène that doesn't dictate our attitudes toward the characters. The production is a model of Hollywood professionalism at every level, and the three star performances are each atypical and complex, with Crawford more restrained and thoughtful than we're accustomed to seeing her. And speaking of model performances, plan to rewatch the film while listening to the commentary by Foster Hirsch, author of the excellent critical biography, Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would Be King; Hirsch is especially sharp on Preminger's stylistic choices and the underappreciated Dana Andrews. --Richard T. Jameson
Related Items:
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- Black Widow (Fox Film Noir)
- Portrait In Black / Madame X (Double Feature)
- The Joan Crawford Collection, Vol. 2 (A Woman's Face / Flamingo Road / Sadie McKee / Strange Cargo / Torch Song)
- TCM Archives - Forbidden Hollywood Collection, Vol. 2 (The Divorcee / A Free Soul / Night Nurse / Three on a Match / Female)
- see more
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- For Crawford fans only !
This so-so film is absolutely not a film noir and is boring and silly.
I give two stars simply because it has Dana Andrew in it.
I cannot stand Crawford but Her fans will love it !
I thought Andrew and Fonda could save it.....NOPE !
Rating: 
- Crawford
Joan ,Joan. This movie is so Joan Crawford . She was so beautiful . I especially like the men in her life.I liked how different they were ,yet how so a like .This film has everything from child abuse to the triangular love affair.Through it all Daisy remains her strong independent self.
Rating: 
- DULL AND VAPID.ONE OF JOAN'S WORST FILMS
Few of Joan's Crawford's films were good.This film is not an example of a good one.First this is a bland soap opera through and through.It starts off completely dull and does not improve.
The "noirish aspect" of this film is indeed present but Director Otto Preminger's handling of the material is incompetent.The screenplay lacks focus and direction and all the characters except for Fonda's are unlikeable.Fonda himself hated this picture and his role and only agreed to appear ... Read More
Rating: 
- Daisy Kenyon
This is one of Joan Crawford's finest performances.She was too old to play Daisy and she knew it, but she saw a chance to give a controlled, sincere performance.She fought for and got two of the hottest male stars of the time, Dana Andrews and Henry Fonda.Andrews was just off of LAURA and Fonda had just returned from the War.They both excel in their roles.Of course a key light does follow Joan highlighted her expressive eyes in many scenes, but other than that, the whole production is top drawer. ... Read More
Rating: 
- Enjoyable Women's Film
This "Fox Film Noir" series release is misleading.Despite starring Mildred Pierce's Joan Crawford, re-teaming Otto Preminger and Dana Andrews (Laura, Fallen Angel), and featuring Martha Stewart (In a Lonely Place), this film is by no means a "film noir," but it is a fine and enjoyable (but pretty much routine) vehicle for Joan Crawford, on loan-out to Fox from WB during her post-Mildred Pierce comeback phase, as a working "girl" torn between two lovers.Dana Andrews and Henry Fonda, as her suitors, an unhappily ... Read More
- For Crawford fans only ! This so-so film is absolutely not a film noir and is boring and silly.
I give two stars simply because it has Dana Andrew in it.
I cannot stand Crawford but Her fans will love it !
I thought Andrew and Fonda could save it.....NOPE !
- CrawfordJoan ,Joan. This movie is so Joan Crawford . She was so beautiful . I especially like the men in her life.I liked how different they were ,yet how so a like .This film has everything from child abuse to the triangular love affair.Through it all Daisy remains her strong independent self.
- DULL AND VAPID.ONE OF JOAN'S WORST FILMSFew of Joan's Crawford's films were good.This film is not an example of a good one.First this is a bland soap opera through and through.It starts off completely dull and does not improve.
The "noirish aspect" of this film is indeed present but Director Otto Preminger's handling of the material is incompetent.The screenplay lacks focus and direction and all the characters except for Fonda's are unlikeable.Fonda himself hated this picture and his role and only agreed to appear ... Read More
- Daisy KenyonThis is one of Joan Crawford's finest performances.She was too old to play Daisy and she knew it, but she saw a chance to give a controlled, sincere performance.She fought for and got two of the hottest male stars of the time, Dana Andrews and Henry Fonda.Andrews was just off of LAURA and Fonda had just returned from the War.They both excel in their roles.Of course a key light does follow Joan highlighted her expressive eyes in many scenes, but other than that, the whole production is top drawer. ... Read More
- Enjoyable Women's FilmThis "Fox Film Noir" series release is misleading.Despite starring Mildred Pierce's Joan Crawford, re-teaming Otto Preminger and Dana Andrews (Laura, Fallen Angel), and featuring Martha Stewart (In a Lonely Place), this film is by no means a "film noir," but it is a fine and enjoyable (but pretty much routine) vehicle for Joan Crawford, on loan-out to Fox from WB during her post-Mildred Pierce comeback phase, as a working "girl" torn between two lovers.Dana Andrews and Henry Fonda, as her suitors, an unhappily ... Read More
