this movie be sort of a guilty pleasure you know and a film you like watch despite the fact that it not exactly well act or intellectual fare . i will be the first to admit that the movie be very histrionic ( in particular ms. crawford performance ) and be pure soap opera a well but i still enjoy the film immensely . the film open with a nice young lady ( lucy marlow ) come to visit her bitchy cousin ( joan crawford ) . ms. crawford act incredibly kind and sweet and ms. marlow be completely take in by this performance . however and the rest of the household ( include joan husband and sister in law ) seem far less take by joan kindness go so far a to warn lucy it all an act . and and eventually and joan evil and controlling and horrid nature seeps through and the audience come to realize many thing represent she hat her own child ( that must have be a big acting stretch ) and hat everyone around her and must be 100 % in control of everyone and be like a wild animal when crossed . her evil way eventually lead to her sister in law committing suicide and her husband begin plot to murder her . exactly how this be all resolve and i will leave to you i would hate to spoil it . a for the problem with the plot and there be several . if you do not think and they would not pose a problem . however and the romance between lucy and joan hubby ( barry sullivan ) seem completely illogical and from out of left field . it do not make much sense and it just wasn not at all convincing . second and joan be so bad and so cruel and so gosh darn awful and it really hard to imagine it take anyone so long to try and kill her . perhaps this be just a little too far fetch . all in all and this movie be very typical of crawford movie of the 1940s and 50 . she play the bitchy and control role a lot and base on report from christina crawford and these role weren not far from the truth . fun to watch impossible to live with .