''Queen Bee'' is a 1955 American film starring Joan Crawford, John Ireland, Betsy Palmer, and

Barry Sullivan Barry Sullivan may refer to: *Barry Sullivan (American actor) (1912–1994), US film and Broadway actor *Barry Sullivan (stage actor) (1821–1891), Irish born stage actor active in Britain and Australia *Barry Sullivan (lawyer), Chicago lawyer and ...

. The film was directed by Ranald MacDougall and produced by Jerry Wald. The screenplay by MacDougall was based upon the 1949 novel ''The Queen Bee'' by Edna L. Lee. The film tells the story about a Southern family dominated by a ruthless woman and the havoc her threats and intimidation cause to those around her.

Plot

Eva Phillips ( Joan Crawford) dominates her Georgia mansion and her husband Avery (

), an alcoholic mill owner who hates his wife. A cousin, Jennifer Stewart (

Lucy Marlow Lucy Marlow ( Lucy Ann McAleer; November 20, 1932 – December 18, 2018) was an American film and television actress. She may be best-known for playing the role of Helen in the 1955 film ''My Sister Eileen''. Biography Marlow was born in Los Ang ...

), is pressured into moving in with the family, and she watches in horror as Eva maneuvers to prevent the marriage of Avery's sister Carol ( Betsy Palmer) to Judson Prentiss ( John Ireland). Carol tells Jennifer to watch out for Eva, and that she read a book about bees and feels that Eva is like a queen bee who stings all her competitors to death. Jennifer refuses to believe such bad sentiments about Eva, and eventually becomes the putative personal assistant to Eva. That same night, Eva and Jud have a meeting in a darkened room where he tells her that their relationship and anything they had together was over because he is marrying Carol. Eva rejects this and begins to kiss him, but Judson stops kissing her after a few seconds once he realizes that he is falling back into her trap. Meanwhile, Jennifer witnesses this rendezvous from the top of the staircase and is shocked. Jud turns the light on and tells Eva that he is serious, and she warns him that he will ultimately be sorry for refusing her. When Carol and Jud's engagement is announced to Eva, Eva strongly hints at her former affair with Jud, and Carol commits suicide by hanging herself in the barn. Jennifer and Avery are drawn together and share a furtive kiss when he tells her that he is aware of Eva and Jud's past. Eva senses the developing relationship and increases her malevolent actions, and tells Avery to not interact with Jennifer any longer. When he refuses, she threatens a scandalous divorce in the press. Meanwhile, Jud, still guilty over Carol's death, leaves the house for a few weeks, but comes back one day for work. He finds out from Jennifer that it was really Eva who told Carol about his earlier relationship with Eva, not Avery as he had assumed. Now, for different reasons, both men are determined to avenge it. Avery changes his attitude completely, and acts as though he is in love with Eva. She changes her attitude and says that she is done being manipulative because her husband finally loves her. However, Jud sees through the charade and confronts Avery that his true motives for being nice to Eva is so that she will trust him enough so that he can kill her. Jud preempts his plan on the night Avery intends to commit murder-suicide and takes Eva driving. When Eva discerns that he wants her dead, she frantically attacks him, resulting in a crash over a cliff, killing them both. Now, Jennifer and Avery are free to love each other.

Cast

* Joan Crawford as Eva Phillips * John Ireland as Judson Prentiss * Betsy Palmer as Carol Lee Phillips *

as Avery Phillips *

as Jennifer Stewart * William Leslie as Ty McKinnon * Fay Wray as Sue McKinnon *

Bill Walker Bill Walker may refer to: Australian rules football * Bill A. Walker (1886–1934), Australian rules footballer for Essendon * Bill Walker (Australian footballer, born 1883) (1883–1971), Australian rules footballer for Fitzroy * Bill J. V. Wal ...

as Sam the butler (uncredited) * Katherine Anderson as Miss Breen *

Tim Hovey Tim Hovey (June 19, 1945 – September 9, 1989) was a former American child actor during the 1950s. He later became a musician, road manager and an audio engineer for rock bands. Acting career Born in Los Angeles, California, Hovey was di ...

as Ted Phillips * Linda Bennett as Tessa Phillips

Reception

Bosley Crowther of ''The New York Times'' noted "

iss Crawford The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (J ...

is the height of mellifluous meanness and frank insincerity." William K. Zinsser of the ''New York Herald Tribune'' wrote "Miss Crawford plays her role with such silky villainy we long to see her dispatched."

Accolades

''Queen Bee'' was nominated in two categories at the

28th Academy Awards The 28th Academy Awards were held on March 21, 1956 to honor the films of 1955, at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles, California. At just 90 minutes, '' Marty'' became the shortest film to win Best Picture, as well as the second to have ...

in 1956 for

Best Cinematography This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

( Charles Lang) and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White ( Jean Louis).

Home media

''Queen Bee'' was released on Region 1 DVD by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment in 2001. It was also re-released on DVD in the TCM Vault Collection four disc DVD set "Joan Crawford in the 1950s" in November 2012. On November 8, 2013, it was re-released again on DVD as part of Sony Pictures' "Choice Collection" online program. Before all of the DVD releases, the film was put on VHS in the early 1990s.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Queen Bee 1955 films 1955 drama films 1955 directorial debut films American black-and-white films American drama films Columbia Pictures films 1950s English-language films Film noir Films scored by George Duning Films based on American novels Films directed by Ranald MacDougall Films produced by Jerry Wald Films set in Georgia (U.S. state) Films with screenplays by Ranald MacDougall 1950s American films English-language drama films