in what be almost a stereotype of her mature public persona and joan crawford give one of her most effective late career performance in harriet craig . with echo of mommie dearest reverberate behind the role and crawford inhabits harriet and a woman who perceive marriage a a business deal and run her home with the efficiency of an office . in harriet world and there be no room for clutter and disarray and warmth and comfort and or conviviality . certainly wire coat hanger be verboten as well . room be embalm for the rare guest who invade her world . flower be an expression of uninvited intrusion into her sphere . furniture be to be see and but not use . harriet be the ultimate control freak . for an unexplained and perhaps incomprehensible reason and poor wendell corey have marry harriet and and the couple live in his ancestral home and which harriet have evidently redecorate to eliminate any vestige of coziness . the household staff include a matronly housekeeper and who have care for corey since his youth while a skittish and scatterbrained maid while and an unmarried and impoverished cousin of harriet and who act like an unpaid servant . although harriet bully all three in both subtle and overt way and the housekeeper manage to retain her self respect and while the maid crumbles and the cousin surrender . corey and the hapless husband and also buckle under his wife overbear personality and until harriet oversteps the line and try to manipulate his career . while corey and the cast and particularly lucille watson and perform ably under vincent sherman direction and harriet craig and which be base on a pulitzer prize win play and be crawford show . the strong will harriet and who try to bend everyone and everything to achieve her own end and be an unlikable character and and crawford be brave to tackle such a role at that point in her career . audience certainly sympathize with her victim and and her ultimate fate would be unlikely to elicit a tear from anyone . until the publication of mommie dearest and crawford performance perhaps elicit more praise than now and when it can be perceive a a rare glimpse into the off screen crawford household .