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 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
- 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.
- An average Joan Crawford movie grosses $80.50 million in adjusted box office gross.
- 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.
- Fifteen Joan Crawford movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 19.23% of her movies.
- Three Joan Crawford movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 3.84% of her movies.
- 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.
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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For comments….all you need is a name and a comment….please ignore the rest.
1 I have been reviewing all of the exchanges in the Crawford saga and it occurred to me that even if we ignore Joan’s long list of profitable movies, even if we ignore her massive run of stand alone and top billed movies, even if we ignore the longevity of her Oscar winning career – even if we ignore all of that and take at face value her overall Cogerson grosses as the definitive yardstick only 5 other actresses in the entire history of movies according to Bruce have appeared in films that have collectively grossed more than those of Joan. Even then the difference between Joan’s figure and No 2 actress in Bruce’s 100 – Olivia De Havilland and her great Gone with the Wind supporting role advantage – is over all of the billions involved just $580 million. The No 1 in the table had of course massive top star support throughout the heyday of her career. In fact the average difference between Joan’s figure and those of all 5 actresses above her in Bruce’s table is again $580 million not even the equivalent of the adjusted domestic gross of just one latter-day blockbuster hit like Home Alone or Spider Man (2002)
2 Accordingly if Crawford is not regarded as a box office giant among females I am at a loss to understand how Bruce at least within the parameters of YOUR contentions can applaud as he has done throughout his pages the success of virtually any other actress in his Top 100 and certainly the dozens below Joan including Judy Garland.
3 Indeed I am reminded of an episode in the 1950s comedy series Sgt Bilko in which a competition for “best looking soldier in the Army” is held and there is a mix-up in the paperwork so that Pte Duane Doberman’s commanding officer is told that Duane probably the worst looking soldier in the platoon has won the competition. “Oh my goodness,” moans Col Hall, “If it gets out that Doberman is the best looking they’ll be queuing up to see what the rest of us look like!”
Hey Bob…love the shout out to Sgt. Bilko. Joan is a Top 10 box office actress of all-time….and I think in another 50 years she will still be in the Top 10. Of the current actresses…only Jennifer Lawrence has a chance to crack that Top 10.
I am thinking about sharing your Crawford comments on https://www.facebook.com/groups/JoanCrawfordChatRoom/ I think they would really enjoy reading all of your Crawford information. It is one of the best movie facebook pages out there.
JOAN CRAWFORD TALKING PICTURES AT MGM FROM 1929-1942 FOR WHICH PROFIT/LOSS STATEMENTS AVAILABLE – Flops asterisked
1929 Untamed-PROFIT
1930 Our Blushing Brides – PROFIT
1930 Paid-PROFIT
1931 Dance Fools Dance PROFIT
1931 Laughing Sinners – PROFIT
1931 This Modern Age– PROFIT
1931 Possessed-PROFIT
1932 Letty Lynton-PROFIT
1932 Rain-Loss ****
1933 Today we Live – Loss despite Gary Cooper as co-star****
1933 Dancing Lady PROFIT
1934 Chained –PROFIT
1934 Forsaking all Others –PROFIT
1935 No More Ladies – PROFIT
1935 I Live my Life- PROFIT
1936 The Gorgeous Hussy-PROFIT
1936 Love on the Run – PROFIT
1937 The Last of Mrs Cheyney PROFIT
1938 Mannequin-PROFIT
1938 The Shining Hour –Loss****
1939 Ice Follies of 1939 –Loss****
1940 The Women PROFIT
1949 Strange Cargo-PROFIT
1940 Susan and God –Loss****
1941 A Woman’s Face – Loss****
1941-When Ladies Meet-PROFIT
1942Reunion in France-PROFIT
NOTES
(1) It will be seen that Joan’s final two films for MGM were profitable. So were her next 3 under her Warners contract
(2) In Reunion in France she was billed above the Duke.
(3) Detailed profit/loss figures for this table are in Wikipedia
COMMENTS ON JOHN’S CRAWFORD PROFIT/LOSS STATS
(1) A rerun of The Women put the movie into profit. Most stars have flops and can go through patches where they have a sporadic run of hits. Even the much vaunted Cooper had no sooner started in the talkies than he was in a flop but it would be foolish to deny he was a great box office star. To gauge the extent of a performer’s box office success it is better to survey a period of reasonable length. My next post does so. “Take the long view. Always take the long view. I always do that.” Sheriff Barrett to Matt Morgan (Kirk Douglas) in Last Train from Gun Hill
(2) The suggestion that an avuncular attitude on the part of Mayer perhaps permitted Joan’s domination would be worth considering were it not for the fact that for the 16 years after Joan left MGM she continued to without exception have first billing and to enjoy co-star approval.
(3) Following her departure from MGM Crawford signed a 3 picture deal with Warner Bros. All of them crashed the Cogerson $100 million barrier, one of them Mildred Pierce being Joan’s highest grossing film ever and winning her an Oscar and another of the 3 Possessed with Van Heflin earning her a further Oscar nomination. Thus at the age of 43 she had completed nearly 2 decades as a profit earning star and 5 years later at the age of 48 she had a 3rd Oscar nomination for Sudden Fear (1952). The survey of W o C has shown that most actresses are well gone by then having suffered the “curse of 39”
(4) I have NEVER said Crawford was the biggest box star of her time but that she was one of them and used her box office clout to dominate like no other in her heyday. Over the 30 years from 1929 until 1959 Joan was second billed only twice and first billed in her other 51 movies. That staggering statistic along with the long list of continual profitable films that I will now provide should be enough for common sense to kick in and without ‘cherry picking’ of the occasional flop there be an acceptance that Crawford was a commanding star performer in her day
Hey Bob…..lots of great information in these comments. I think at this point John has stopped arguing with you about Crawford. As I said in another comment…..I would say that almost all of the UMR subjects are amongst the greatest of all-time. This is like debating the greatest QB of all-time or the greatest soccer (hey I am American…lol) player of all-time. No matter how much you believe something…no matter what point is made….it will never make the other person change their mind. In my country there has been a great debate of the better player…Peyton Manning or Tom Brady…..in the end…they are both great players.
I am sure you have probably discovered this website before….but it actually gives the actually profit and loss on many Joan Crawford movies. https://www.joancrawfordbest.com/boxoffice.htm
ADJUSTED WORLDWIDE GROSSES
1 GABLE/LOY STAND ALONE DUO MOVIES
Too Hot to Handle – $300,000,000 million
Parnell – 205,000,000
Men in White – 153,000,000
TOTAL $658,000,000 MILLION
2 CRAWFORD/GABLE STAND ALONE DUO MOVIES
Dancing Lady – $252,000,000 million
Love on the Run -210,000,000
Chained-209,000,000
Possessed -181,000,000***
Strange Cargo-165,000,000
Dance Fools Dance-151,000,000***
Laughing Sinners-92,000,000***
TOTAL $1,254,000,000 BILLION
***In these 3 movies Crawford was billed alone above the title in the posters on Wikipedia and Clark was either billed below the title or not mentioned on the posters.
3 Were she alive today I’m sure my Joan would be pleased that at least one loyal fan was defending her corner against detractors who for some strange reason are rewriting movie history and airbrushing out her greatness. Anyway for the sake of balance it was only fair that this more realistic interpretation of the facts and figures be recorded on this site because as it stood your presentation was simply proving the old adage that “There are lies, damned lies and statistics.” Indeed I am reminded of a murder where it was crucial for the police to establish the precise time of death and they asked a key witness if the deceased had been alive at 10am and the witness not wanting to admit the time but not wishing to lie either replies “There was still life in him at 10am.” The witness later told friends that the man had been dead but that a fly had been buzzing around in his open mouth. “My team’s on the floor.”
1 Last week you gave me some figures that compared the domestic grosses of Gable/Loy with those of Crawford/Gable and at the back of my mind there seemed to me something wrong with the comparisons that you were making but I could not quite put my finger on it so I said that I would mull over the figures and maybe get back to you. I’ve duly reviewed all the stats and information available about the movies concerned and concluded that indeed your comparisons were flawed as in 4 of the Loy films and 1 of the Crawford films the duos were not the stand alone stars:
(1) In Forsaking All Others Robert Montgomery shared above-the title billing with Joan and Clark. [Astaire was in Dancing Lady but played himself in a supporting role and was not billed above the title and was not a star at that point and not mentioned on posters]
(2) In Night Flight Helen Hayes was the leading lady and Myrna was billed last as one of 6 ensemble stars who included the 2 Barrymores, Robert Montgomery and of course Clark
(3) In Test Pilot Clark and Myrna had Tracy as an above the title co-star who after San Francisco and Fury made him a star had back-to-back Oscars in 1937/38.
(4) In Wife V Secretary Harlow joined Clark and Myrna and was billed before Loy. Jimmy Stewart was in that one too but in a supporting role that did not attract star billing.
(5) In Manhattan Melodrama William Powell joined the Gable/Loy duo and was billed before Loy.
“My story was true accurate but it was not true.” Reporter Sally Field to Newman in Absence of Malice
3. In a separate post I will send you revised comparison tables of WORLDWIDE figures for those movies in which the couples were stand-alone duos without the assistance of other big stars at that time. I think that is the proper way to make comparisons as clearly a film with multiple big stars/more than two leading stars in it has an advantage over one with just two major performers. I think that is is only fair and indeed essential that when comparing box office performance everyone in the comparisons is on a level playing field.
Good stuff!