Whether Joan Crawford mattered artistically is debatable; that she still matters culturally is Samuel Garza Bernstein's exuberantly argued thesis. In Starring Joan Crawford: The Films, the Fantasy, and the Modern Relevance of a Silver Screen Icon, Bernstein holds a loupe to Crawford's deathless high-camp persona--both on--and offscreen.
Mildred Pierce (1945) Oscar winner Crawford's unstinting self-promotion defines her indomitable image. She was born Lucille LeSueur in San Antonio, Tex., at some point between 1903 and 1908; whatever her famously guarded birth year, her childhood was, Bernstein recounts, Dickensian, her determination to succeed in show business that "of a Kardashian." As Bernstein walks readers through what he considers the five phases of Crawford's career, he identifies its peaks--"We love it when she is strong and gets what she wants. But it is also a little scary"--and valleys: "This is not the career of a movie star. It is, however, the career of a future drag icon." Naturally, Bernstein has something to say about the Crawford bio treatments Mommie Dearest (1981) and Feud: Bette and Joan (2017).
Starring Joan Crawford is a splendid pastiche. Bernstein (Mr. Confidential) supplies copious photos; film-by-film synopses with original credits; the odd reproduced-in-full article by or about Crawford; and recaps of his fantasy Crawford vehicles (e.g., 2023's Barbie). Bernstein implicitly makes the case that humor and serious criticism aren't unnatural bedfellows, as when he offers this measure of Crawford's still-thriving legacy: "The enduring mystique of Casablanca notwithstanding, Ingrid Bergman has no memes or fridge magnets." --Nell Beram, author and freelance writer