Danny (August 2005)

[Warning: Review contains spoilers!]

Joan Crawford, as Margaret Landi, gets top billing in this maudlin story about a deaf, blind, mute orphan girl (Heather Sears) she meets in Ireland. Joan, dressed like she was ready to open a Pepsi Bottling Plant in County Down, feels sorry for the little waif and takes her under her wing.

On their first night together, Joan teaches Esther to clap her hands whenever she’s got to tee-tee, then promptly enrolls her in the best school for the Deaf and Blind that her money can buy. All doesn’t go smoothly at first. In a fit of frustration, the girl has a temper outburst and Joan slaps her face, later claiming, “I didn’t mean to slap her, but I had to." Something she must have said about Christina on many an occasion.

Miraculously and unbelievably, Esther learns fast and Joan teaches her the manual alphabet and hand-to-mouth lip reading. Although the plot supposedly revolves around the life of a blind girl, the movie really should have been called “The Story Of Margaret Landi," as the focus keeps reverting to her many wardrobe changes. Eventually Joan’s impassioned plea has a favorable benefit on the public and soon the donations start rolling into the “Esther Costello Fund." At that’s when the trouble begins.

Margaret’s estranged husband, Carlo (Rossano Brazzi), who knows a good opportunity when he sees one, comes out of the woodwork and attempts to gain control of the charitable organization and embezzle its funds. And just like a man, he uses his sex appeal to subdue Margaret and then seduce Esther. Jealousy over Carlo’s roving eye and guilt over funneling funds cause Margaret to be suspicious.

By the end of the picture, Carlo rapes Esther and takes her virginity. We can tell by the broken vase and the rainstorm outside. And MIRACULOUSLY Esther regains her sight and hearing!!! Never mind all those years she wasted going to Deaf-Blind School. All she needed was violent SEX to cure her disabilities!

Joan, to her credit, takes hold of the situation and packs a rod, like she did in “Mildred Pierce," “Possessed,” and “Flamingo Road." We then hear that she and Carlo were killed in an “auto accident," but we never get to see it.

This isn’t Joan’s worst picture. After all, she still gets to slap a publicity agent in the face and knock a drink out of Brazzi’s hand. But the problem for me, is the plot’s credibility. Esther is no more Helen Keller than Margaret is Anne Sullivan. It was directed by David Miller, who also helmed “Sudden Fear” a few years earlier. Another story line I never could believe one word of.

But it was fun to see Bessie Love in a brief cameo appearance as a rich society lady in the art gallery. I also read that Ramon Novarro visited the set. I like to imagine the conversation about the old “Metro” days that these three dynamos must have had behind the scenes.