Joan Crawford Movies

Want to know the best Joan Crawford movies?  How about the worst Joan Crawford movies?  Curious about Joan Crawford’s box office grosses or which Joan Crawford movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Joan Crawford movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which one got the worst reviews? Well you have come to the right place…. because we have all of that information and much more.

Even though Joan Crawford (1904-1977) was voted by the American Film Institute as the 10th greatest film actress, I have to admit that I have not seen many of her movies (fourteen to be exact). So how did I write a movie page that ranked all of her movies from 1st to 78th? Lots and lots of research is the answer.

Well the first place I started was IMDb (Internet Movie Database) and saw she had lots of acting credits.  Then I read two of her biographies….Not The Girl Next Door by Charlotte Chandler and Possessed: The Life of Joan Crawford by Donald Spoto. Next I was lucky enough to find this Best of Everything Joan Crawford tribute page on the internet which was jam packed with tons of hard to find box office information from the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. Using the information that I had collected from these sources I was able to finally write this page.

Her IMDb page shows 103 acting credits from 1925-1972. This page ranks 78 Joan Crawford movies from Best to Worst in seven different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos and movies that were not released in North American theaters were not included in the rankings.

Joan Crawford and Clark Gable in 1934's Chained...her 9th biggest box office hit.
Joan Crawford and Clark Gable in 1934’s Chained…her 9th biggest box office hit.

Joan Crawford Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.

78 Joan Crawford Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table

The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.

  • The highlighted movie links take you to that movie’s trailer or a small clip of the Joan movie.
  • Sort Joan Crawford movies by co-stars of her movies
  • Sort Joan Crawford movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort Joan Crawford movies by yearly domestic box office gross
  • Sort Joan Crawford movies by how they were received by critics and audiences.  60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
  • Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Joan Crawford movie received.
  • Sort Joan Crawford movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score.  UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.

Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Joan Crawford Table

  1. Twenty-seven Joan Crawford movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark.  That is a percentage of 34.61% of her movies listed. Mildred Pierce (1945) was her biggest box office hit.
  2. An average Joan Crawford movie grosses $80.50 million in adjusted box office gross.
  3. Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter.  36 of Joan Crawford’s movies are rated as good movies…or 46.15% of her movies.  Johnny Guitar (1954) is her highest rated movie while Trog (1970) was her lowest rated movie.
  4. Fifteen Joan Crawford movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 19.23% of her movies.
  5. Three Joan Crawford movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 3.84% of her movies.
  6. A “good movie” Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score is 60.00.  47 Joan Crawford movies scored higher than that average….or 60.25% of her movies.  Mildred Pierce (1945) got the the highest UMR Score while Trog  (1970) got the lowest UMR Score.
Joan Crawford in 1954's Johnny Guitar
Joan Crawford in 1954’s Johnny Guitar

Possibly Interesting Facts About Joan Crawford

1. Joan Crawford’s birth name was Lucille Fay LeSueur. The only movie that lists her birth name is Pretty Ladies (1925).  How she got the Joan Crawford name comes from Bob Kale.  “Her name was voted on by the public in a movie magazine.  The public’s first choice was Joan Arden.  Since there was already a Joan Arden already making movies….they had to go with the second choice…..Joan Crawford.  She initially hated the name because she thought it was to close to “crawfish”.

2. Joan Crawford was nominated for 3 Oscars® during her career….winning one time for 1945’s Mildred Pierce. Her other two nominated performances were for 1947’s Possessed and 1952’s Sudden Fear. She amazingly was never nominated for a Golden Globe®.

3. Speaking of Possessed….she is one of the few actresses to appear in two movies with the same name that have absolutely nothing to do with each other. Possessed (1931) was about a factory worker and was a romantic movie…while Possessed (1947) was about a woman that is obsessed with a man and how that obsession leads to murder.

4. Joan Crawford was married 4 times in her life. Marriage one was to actor Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (an actor), marriage two was to Franchot Tone (they appeared in 8 movies together), marriage three was to Phillip Terry (an actor) and finally she was married to Alfred Steele (CEO of Pepsi-Cola). Many of her movies at her request/demand had Pepsi placement in them.  Joan Crawford adopted five children. The three girls were Christina, Cathy and Cynthia. The two boys were both called Christopher …although one of the two boys was reclaimed by his birth mother. Christina authored the book…Mommie Dearest….which was turned into a movie starring Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford.

5.  Joan Crawford appeared in two all-star movies….1929’s Hollywood Revue and 1944’s Hollywood Canteen.  Both roles were cameos and were not included in the rankings.  It should be noted that Hollywood Revue was the first time Crawford’s voice was heard in movies….while Hollywood Canteen was one of the biggest box office hits of the 1940s.

6.  One of Joan Crawford’s last project was one of Steven Spielberg’s first projects. She appeared in the TV movie Night Gallery, which had 3 segments (she starred in the 2nd segment, directed by Spielberg) and aired in November of 1969. The actual TV show did not premiere until over a year later, in December of 1970.

7. According to Quigley Publications…..Joan Crawford was a Top Ten Movie Star from 1930 to 1936. She was ranked #1 in 1930, #3 in 1931 and 1932, #10 in 1933, #6 in 1934, #5 in 1935 and #7 in 1936. By the end of 1937 she was considered “box office poison”….without a doubt a case of …”what have you done for me lately”.

8. Joan Crawford and Bette Davis simply hated each other. Their feud lasted for decades and is legendary in the history of Hollywood. Somehow they managed to actually act in a movie together….1962’s Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?. Then again I guess the fact that their two characters in the movie hated each other as well…made the acting pretty easy for them.

9. Joan Crawford was Fred Astaire‘s first on screen dance partner. The two appeared in 1933’s Dancing Lady. Others in the cast….Clark Gable, Franchot Tone (her 2nd husband) and the Three Stooges.

10. One of the best collection of Joan Crawford fans can be found on Facebook at Joan Crawford Chat Room.  If you are a Joan Crawford you have to join this group….it is easily the best movie group on Facebook that I have come across….and I am in many Facebook movie groups.

Check out Joan Crawford‘s career compared to current and classic actors.  Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.

This is the 3rd home for my Joan Crawford movie page….but this is a brand new You Tube video…made especially for my new and hopefully final home for my Joan Crawford page.

But Wait…We Have More Joan Crawford Movie Stats…How About Adjusted Worldwide Grosses on 59 Joan Crawford Movies

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225 thoughts on “Joan Crawford Movies”

  1. I saw most of Joan Crawford’s films except for those filmed in the 20s and 30s. My favorites were Mildred Pierce, Baby Jane and Johnny Guitar. Joan could project venom on the screen like none other. I was surprised when she agreed to make Baby Jane with Bette Davis, having read about their life-long feud with each other. But she did get even with Bette when she accepted that Oscar for Anne Bancroft. Thanks for your comprehensive research, Bruce.

    Reply

    1. Hey drbj….thanks as always for the visit and the comment….as said before their feud would make a wonderful movie.

      Reply

  2. So great to see you back writing these comprehensive hubs here on fascinating actors and actresses! I loved Joan in both Baby Jane and Mommie Dearest, as always exploring stated too. Except I like Bette Davis more in Baby Jane.

    Thanks for putting this comprehensive movie page together and adding the interesting facts as to her real name and such. Very interesting!

    Reply

    1. Hey Faith….glad to write a new hub…I have really slowed down over the last year….but I figured I should get this information out there before I lost it for good….as it has been sitting in some notebooks for the last 10 months or so.

      Bette Davis had the better role in Baby Jane….poor Joan just gets abused the whole movie.

      Reply

  3. This was really interesting. I have her movie, Mildred Pierce. I haven’t seen any of her old movies. I liked Baby jane and Mommie dearest. Joan was a great actress. I wonder why she and Bette hated each other so much. I guess she was a terrible mother if Mommie dearest is true. Voted up,,Thank you..

    Reply

    1. Thanks for stopping by and comment always exploring. Mildred Pierce is a classic. As for their feud….lots of rumors of what caused the riff…I think it started as they were the 2 biggest stars at the time fighting for the same roles…and it just mushroomed over time. The truth will never been known…..though reading comments they made about each other makes for some pretty interesting reading.

      Reply

  4. A Cogerson movie page, how rare these days, I haven’t published anything in 2 months. The good old days are gone buddy.

    Not the biggest fan of Joan Crawford, I’ve seen less than you, just 7 films.

    1 from the box office ten and 3 from the critics ten. I still have not seen Mildred Pierce.

    I have Baby Jane on DVD and StraitJacket is a guilty pleasure, I used to own that on Super 8 would you believe.

    Lots of facts here I didn’t know, Crawford being Astaire’s first dancing partner, before Ginger! 🙂

    Yep Bette and Joan hated each other, when Joan died Bette said “you should not speak ill of the dead, only good. Joan Crawford is dead, good!”

    Another worthy movie page Bruce, excellent work amigo.

    Reply

    1. Hey Steve…I would have to agree with you….about the good old days being gone…..but maybe things will get better. I am surprised I have you beat in the tally count. I am sure Flora would blow both us out of the water with her tally count….but I think she has quit all the ways I had to contact her…so we may never know.

      I was surprised StraitJacket got such decent reviews….and I will have to add that on my list of movies to watch.

      I still think the feud between Crawford and Davis would make an excellent film….maybe one day.

      Reply

  5. Very good article. I’ve always enjoyed most of Crawford’s movies that I’ve seen. Really like the tidbits of info you shared. I knew she had adopted some children but did not realize there were 5 of them. I wonder if see was bad to all of them as she was portrayed by her daughter. I’ve seen the movie that was done by Faye Dunaway and it’s pretty good.

    Madonna’s resemblance is almost freaky. Had no idea.

    In the movie “Baby Jane” you can feel the hatred between Davis and Crawford. I saw a Crawford interview years ago and she said the scene that Davis ties her up in the bed caused her to have back problems because she was so tightly bond. And she said she just knew that Davis enjoyed that scene best of all. I think it’s very interesting that 2 such famous actors known for hating each other were cast in a movie like that, but I imagine that’s one of the reasons the movie was such a success.

    Keep em coming.

    Reply

    1. Hey PaisleeGal….I appreciate the compliment. Not sure what the other adopted children thought about Crawford….all the girls are still alive but Christopher passed away in 2006.

      As soon as I saw the Crawford photo I immediately thought of Madonna in her 1980s fashions…..it looks exactly like the same hairdo, scarf and jacket….that can not be a coincidence.

      I read the same thing about the filming on Baby Jane….Bette Davis got an Oscar nomination for the role…while Crawford did not ……but on Oscar night….Crawford accepted the Oscar for the winner Anne Bancroft who was not in attendance….I think that really got Davis fired up

      Reply

      1. What movie did Anne Bancroft win for that year? I just bet it got Davis smoking even without a cigarette in her mouth.

        Reply

        1. Hey PaisleeGal…..she won for the Miracle Worker….and she was appearing in a play in New York and did not think it was worth the trip because she did not think she would win…. Crawford asked if she could accept the award if Banecroft won…..so Crawford ended up doing the acceptance speech…..and yes indeed Ms. Davis was steaming hot.

          Reply

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