This Woman Is Dangerous (1952)

(On Cable TV, November 2020) I don’t particularly like Joan Crawford-the-person, but as an actress she could have her moments in even the most average films, and it’s a quirk of characterization that makes her the star of This Woman is Dangerous. Trying out permutations on a familiar theme of a gangster eyeing a mundane life, the script makes showcases a woman as the head of a crime gang, and Crawford tears into the role with relish, living up to the title of the film before settling down with a tale of progressive blindness and falling in love with her surgeon. The complications come up when her ex-lover comes back to get her, although the interest of the film diminishes the closer it gets back to a standard crime thriller. By far the best part of the film is the opening, during which Crawford barks orders to her gang and proves that she is not to be trifled with. Her character softens and becomes less interesting as it goes by, although as a quasi-noir crime film, This Woman is Dangerous does have basic watchability.