Monday, January 11, 2010

Radio review – BP#24 – “Craig’s Wife” (1946) **1/2

This was a popular play, filmed in 1928, 1936 and 1953, about a perfectionist housewife determined to own a clean house and to drive people away from her husband. She’s a monster but is given a good motivation – her mother was passed over for a new wife who lost the house – so I think many women thought “good for you” for a bit, even as they enjoyed her come-uppance (I think a similar thing applied to the Glenn Close character in Fatal Attraction).

You probably lose something not seeing the perfect house, and the husband smashing the vase at the end. The film endorses love and honesty as important things in marriage, but it’s not as though Mrs Craig can go out and get a job. It would be fascinating to see this revived. They play was written by George Kelly - uncle of Grace.

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