Rainy Day

3 min readDec 14, 2020

Here’s a common sense headline from newsmax.com: “Rand Paul: Best Economic Stimulus Is To ‘Reopen’ Economy.”

Last night Movies!, channel 5–2 on ota’s in NYC, ran yet another flick I’d never seen, A Woman’s Face (1941), directed by George Cukor from a play by Francis de Croisset, adapted to the screen by Donald Ogden Stewart and Elliot Paul. Set in Sweden, it’s an exploration of evil. In Conrad Veidt’s character it seems innate. He even makes a couple of references to the devil. In Joan Crawford’s character it seems acquired. Early in life she suffered disfigurement on the right side of her face, and it embittered her. She lashes out verbally, and she coldly blackmails the vulnerable. She is offered a reprieve when a plastic surgeon successfully treats her, but struggles to shed her learned negative instincts. Will she collude with a lover in a plot of murder for profit? Melvyn Douglas plays the doctor. Marjorie Main does an excellent turn as a cranky housekeeper. Denmark’s Osa Massen, completely unfamiliar to me, overdoes it as an easy target, but I wonder if she was directed to do so. She had a decent career, 43 titles under name including three appearances on Perry Mason. Hollywood stalwarts George Zucco and Henry Daniell are on opposites in the courtroom. Doris Day, whom I did not spot, has a cameo during a party scene. Richard Nichols, six or seven at the time, is terrific as the heir of his grandad’s fortune. He worked only as a child, 11 credits from 1939-’44. Still living, he is a retired minister. The tale is told in periodic flashbacks during a murder trial. While it is not wholly satisfying and a bit faulty, it is entertaining, and I admire any attempt at the exploration of such a theme. Ingrid Bergman played the role in the 1938 Swedish version. Greta Garbo turned down the part. Here are Veidt, Crawford & Douglas: