i love this movie and and own a copy of it . it what i would call a melodrama and but have great character and good pacing and a tightly write script . in addition and george dun music score be beautiful and haunt . joan crawford dominate the movie and and her performance be over the top at time and but i think the other actor hold their own very well ms. crawford do not overpower them . the other character wendell corey a the naive and deluded husband and lucile watson a the bos shrewd but likable wife and and viola roach ( i think ) a the craigs housekeeper be all well flesh out character and and the performance be excellent . i do not think there an actor in the whole movie who isn not memorable . the length to which harriet go to insure the perfection of her home be comical and at time . she scold mrs. harold ( sp . ) and the housekeeper and for not remember to close the drape after 11 represent00 every morning . when she and clare and her cousin and be out of town visit harriet mother and harriet have clare call everybody under the sun in her neighborhood to find out why there nobody home . clare tell harriet that when she get no answer at the craig number and she even have the operator check the number to be sure the phone wasn not out of order . there be many memorable scene in this film and but some that i think be particularly good be the scene where harriet visit her mentally ill mother in a sanitarium . harriet simply can not penetrate the state of oblivion that her mother dwells in to block out the world and and she at a loss to know what to do and or how to communicate with her mother . ms. crawford do a good job of convey her sadness and frustration . it be a poignant scene and serve to humanize harriet and point up the fact that she do have genuine feeling for someone . afterward and she confide her worry to the doctor and play by katherine warren and and the conversation between the two woman be very revealing . i also enjoy the scene where she and mrs. harold lock horn about the running of the house mrs. harold isn not intimidate by harriet and and give as good a she get . this be a great vehicle for joan crawford and wendell corey and and in fact and everybody in the movie . give it a look .