Queen Bee (film)
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| Queen Bee | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Ranald MacDougall |
| Written by | Edna L. Lee (novel) Ranald MacDougall |
| Starring | Joan Crawford |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 1955 |
| Running time | 95 min. |
| Country | U.S.A. |
| Language | English |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Queen Bee is a 1955 drama film directed by Ranald MacDougall, starring Joan Crawford, Barry Sullivan and Betsy Palmer. It was adapted to screen by Ranald MacDougall from the novel by Edna L. Lee.
[edit] Plot summary
Jennifer Stewart (Lucy Marlow) is a young woman from Chicago who comes down to Georgia to visit her cousin, Eva Phillips (Joan Crawford) and her wealthy family. Jennifer thinks that Eva is a sweet, charming, lovable Southern belle; but as it turns out, she doesn't know Eva as well as she thinks! Eva is actually a rotten, egotistical, corruptive woman, a "queen bee" who "stings" and manipulates anyone who tries to stop her from getting anything she wants...even if it's an ex-lover ("Any man's my man if I want it that way!"). Eva's husband, John Avery Phillips (Barry Sullivan), is a wealthy plantation owner. Avery (whose nickname is "Beauty" because of a scar on his face) knows what a horrible woman Eva is and always turns to alcohol to drown out his pain of living with her. Eva's other relatives include sister-in-law Carol Lee Phillips (Betsy Palmer) and children Ted (Tim Hovey) and Trissa (Linda Bennett). When Eva learns that her ex-lover, Judson Prentiss (John Ireland), and Carol Lee are planning to get married, she does all that she can to prevent the marriage from happening...and succeeds! She lies to Carol Lee, saying that Judson is seeing other women, and Carol Lee hangs herself shortly thereafter. When Eva learns of Carol Lee's suicide, she breaks down in tears and smears cold cream all over her vanity mirror so that she can't see herself cry! Meanwhile, Jennifer and Avery begin having their own affair. To get rid of Eva, Avery comes up with a plan to kill her and he will even sacrifice his own life at the same time! He will act like he wants to plan a second honeymoon for Eva and himself, claim to take Eva to a party that they are invited to one night, then drive off a highway which will kill them both. But when Judson hears of this, he prevents this from happening and drives Eva to the party himself. When Judson tells Eva about Avery's plan, she refuses to believe it and demands Judson to take her back home. When Judson refuses, he and Eva fight over control of the car's steering wheel. As a result, the car falls off a highway and down a steep hill and kills both Eva and Judson.
[edit] Notes
In her memoir and exposé Mommie Dearest, Joan Crawford's daughter Christina claimed that her mother did not act in the film; rather she behaved as usual.
[edit] External links
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