You definitely need to re-watch the movie, carefully and in its entirety.
Anna never "changes" the way you're implying, "away from the dark side", she was never an evil woman to begin with. Due to the scarring on her face she was unable to lead a "normal" life, partly due to her own discomfort and self-image issues, but largely because society wasn't accepting of her. There was no way for her to have a "normal" job and manage to maintain any sense of emotional security (by hiding her face or being out of public view) - that left her very few options, apart from crime, to support herself. Even marriage was "out of the question" for her even though she reveals at the end that it's something she's always longed for . She has no alternative but to try her absolute hardest to be cold, mean and tough in order to protect the vulnerable woman she actually is (pay close attention to the scene with the ruffled shirt toward the beginning of the film) once she's accepted that crime is really the only way she can support herself and not constantly contend with people treating her like she's somehow less than human.
"How could anyone even contemplate murdering such sweet little child unless they were evil themselves?? ... Conrad Veidt's character is so satanic - how could anyone be sucked into that, no matter what hardships they've endured in life?"
Ignoring the fact that there are a lot of people around the world who contemplate both infanticide and filicide for "non-evil reasons", it was very easy for Anna to consider killing Lars-Erik in order to secure Torsten's (Conrad Veidt) affections. She truly thinks she's in love with him because he's the first man to 'recognize' that she's a woman, even before the plastic surgery which repairs her face. Even though she doesn't fool herself that he's in love with her, the fact that he treats her like she's human and female, the fact that he looks at her without disgust, makes her crave his attention so that, yes, she considers killing the child . You really do need to just put aside what you think you were seeing and watch the entire movie sometime, had you done so back when you originally posted you would have seen that Anna not only does not kill the boy, she saves his life by killing his uncle, and that is what she's on trial for .
It is truly one of Joan Crawford's best performances, so give it a chance.
~@~ Victor Hugo: Imagination is intelligence with an erection.
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Regina_Giddens
14 years ago
^ I agree with everything you said. I'll add that she never really wanted to kill him. She was loved starved, and Torsten was the first man to ever pay any attention to her. She was manipulated into believing that killing him was the only way to secure any affection from anyone, but she never actually wanted to do it. She was made to believe that she had to do it.
She'd never done anything like that before. There's a huge difference between blackmail and murder, even when Anna was scarred, she probably would not have been able to kill the little boy.
But you are, Blanche. You are in that chair!
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jobseeker95479
14 years ago
There is one thing I don't understand, did the staff of that tavern get involved in the blackmail *before* or *after* Anna get acquainted with Torsten? I mean does the tavern just a setup for blackmail right from the start or just Torsten uses his charm to smooth talk everyone into his scheme? If that is the latter I found that hard to believe, particularly with the contempt the staff have over Anna. In fact the whole blackmail is very unconvincing, why would Vera turn to Rundvik when she was being blackmailed? But I can accept that the blackmail is just a setup to the rest of the story
Much has been said about Joan's performance. While I agree she was better than usual in this movie, I found Conrad Veidt's role is much more demanding. It is easy to understand why Anna fell into Torsten's spell *at the beginning* but since she has transformed herself into a normal (and supposedly beautiful) woman half way into the movie, it is much harder to convince the audience Torsten can still have the pull on Anna but somehow Veidt makes it believable. I particularly like the way he feign innocence when he lured Anna into *his* plot of murdering his nephew -- 'Do you realize what *you* are suggesting?'
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SusanJL
14 years ago
Uhhhh.....when you are called by the name "Satan" - and don't object in the least - I think you may be considered an evil woman.
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