Joan Crawford Collection Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Joan Crawford Collection Blu-ray Movie Review

From poison to antidote.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III October 29, 2025

Warner Archive has been stepping up their multi-disc collection efforts in recent months, and that's very good news indeed for anyone looking to fill up their shelves on the cheap: these low-risk sets simply bundle together a handful of like-minded titles in a space-saving format at wallet-saving prices. For pure value, look no further.

The wide majority of WAC's October collection slate focuses on some of Hollywood's biggest leading ladies including Judy Garland, Bette Davis, and Joan Crawford. The latter gets her well-deserved time in the spotlight with this Joan Crawford Collection, which includes a quartet of solid films released during an 18-year window including 1932's Grand Hotel (where she's actually third-billed behind Greta Garbo and John Barrymore), 1939's The Women, 1947's terrific Possessed, and 1950's underrated The Damned Don't Cry. All feature good to very good A/V presentations and a few extras too; despite it collecting mostly older discs (only The Damned Don't Cry was authored within the last decade), it's solidly consistent and a great mini-retrospective. Just grab Mildred Pierce and you're all set.

For full synopses and reviews of each film in this collection, please follow the links below.

Grand Hotel (reviewed by Michael Reuben) - "The brainchild of wunderkind producer Irving Thalberg, it broke the mold of studio pictures before it. When one takes a step back from the lavish decor and costumes, what's most striking about the guests of Grand Hotel is that they're all in trouble, spiritually, physically or financially. There isn't one among them for whom anyone would confidently forecast a bright future. Thalberg's instincts for what the audience wanted were legendary. In 1932, the year that FDR was first elected to the White House, the effects of the Depression were being felt everywhere. While audiences might have been willing to enjoy the escapism of seeing opulence on the screen, perhaps Thalberg sensed that they didn't want to see characters enjoying that opulence without penalty."

The Women (reviewed by Michael Reuben) - "...The Women is a classic.... but very much a product of its time. It plays out in the hermetically sealed world of Park Avenue society in the Thirties, the American equivalent of an English drawing room. (You'd never know there was a Depression.) These are the original "ladies who lunch": pampered, idle, with plenty of time on their hands to make trouble for one another—which, in Clare Booth Luce's original Broadway hit, is exactly what women do when men aren't around. The plot depends on manners and morals of a bygone era, when belonging to the right crowd was just as important as having wealth, extramarital affairs led to social ostracism and divorce required a trip to Reno. Remove The Women from its original context, and it no longer holds up, as writer/director Diane English discovered when she tried to remake it for the modern era in 2008."

Possessed (reviewed by Michael Reuben) - "Often cited as the best performance of Crawford's career, Possessed is a film that doesn't hesitate to risk going off the deep end, over the top or off the charts; choose your favorite metaphor for the extreme, and Possessed fulfills it. Because of its visual style and overtly Freudian psychology, Possessed is often called a film noir. Classics of film noir like Double Indemnity or Out of the Past are stories about venal people whose actions are motivated by lust and greed, usually more the latter than the former, but the heroine of Possessed (if you can call her that) is driven by an irrational passion of which the motivation remains obscure. Some commentators have called it amour fou ("crazy love"), which is as good a description as any. One of the main reasons that Crawford is so impressive in the role is that she is able to make this insanity believable, as her character struggles (and fails) to control it, while it slowly corrodes a life that, to all outward appearances, should be idyllic."

The Damned Don't Cry (reviewed by Randy Miller III) - Crawford dons a serious face and fur coat once again in this Vincent Sherman film, a briskly-paced and entertaining noir that finds her headstrong character, Ethel Whitehead, on the fast-track to social prominence -- and a totally new identity -- after a tragic accident and crumbling marriage send her packing to greener pastures. Supported by a solid script, extremely memorable supporting performances, and an appropriately heavy atmosphere, it's the kind of film that's easy to get lost in once things get moving.

Joan Crawford Collection Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

For details about each film's 1080p transfer, please follow the review links below.

Grand Hotel

The Women

Possessed

The Damned Don't Cry

Joan Crawford Collection Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Likewise, for more details about each audio mix, you know what to do by now.

Grand Hotel

The Women

Possessed

The Damned Don't Cry

Joan Crawford Collection Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This six-disc set ships in a hinged keepcase with separate hubs for each disc. Like other WAC collections, this one simply repurposes existing poster-themed covers as a paneled collage. One or more bonus features, identical to those found on the previous Blu-rays, can be found on each disc. Follow the review links for full coverage.

Grand Hotel

The Women

Possessed

The Damned Don't Cry

Joan Crawford Collection Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Joan Crawfod's infamous roller-coaster of a career is well documented and, though Warner Archive's new four-disc set only scratches the surface of her best-loved films (either as lead or a supporting actress), it still serves as a fairly well-rounded primer for newcomers. Seasoned fans will enjoy it too. Like the other actor and genre-themed multi-disc sets released by Warner Archive in recent months, this budget-priced collection offers universally good to great A/V merits and several interesting bonus features too, so it obviously comes firmly Recommended.