Mildred Pierce (1945)
Monte Beragon, the second husband of Mildred Pierce, is murdered. The police tell Mildred her first husband, Bert Pierce, has confessed. Mildred protests that he is too kind to commit murder and reveals her story to the officer in flashback. Mildred and Bert are unhappily married. After Bert splits with his business partner, Wally Fay, Mildred must sell her baked goods to support the family. Bert accuses Mildred of favoring their two daughters over him. Their quarrel intensifies after a phone call from Bert’s mistress, Maggie Biederhof, and they separate. Mildred retains custody of 16-year-old Veda, a bratty social climber, and 10-year-old Kay, a tomboy. Mildred’s principal goal is to provide material possessions for Veda, who longs for high social status and is ashamed of her mother being a baker.
Mildred hides her other job as a waitress, but Veda learns the truth and treats her mother with disdain. Mildred meets Monte Beragon, a Pasadena society playboy with an almost-depleted inheritance. Beragon owns the building that Mildred wants to purchase for a restaurant, and he pursues a romantic interest in her. While the two are at his beach house for a weekend, Kay contracts pneumonia and dies after a trip with Veda and Bert. Mildred channels her grief into work and throws herself into opening a new restaurant. With help from her friend and former supervisor, Ida Corwin, Mildred’s restaurant is successful. Wally helps Mildred buy the property, and soon she owns a chain of restaurants throughout Southern California.
Date of download: 2015-11-11T17:22:34+00:00
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Monte Beragon, the second husband of Mildred Pierce, is murdered. The police tell Mildred her first husband, Bert Pierce, has confessed. Mildred protests that he is too kind to commit murder and reveals her story to the officer in flashback. Mildred and Bert are unhappily married. After Bert splits with his business partner, Wally Fay, Mildred must sell her baked goods to support the family. Bert accuses Mildred of favoring their two daughters over him. Their quarrel intensifies after a phone call from Bert’s mistress, Maggie Biederhof, and they separate. Mildred retains custody of 16-year-old Veda, a bratty social climber, and 10-year-old Kay, a tomboy. Mildred’s principal goal is to provide material possessions for Veda, who longs for high social status and is ashamed of her mother being a baker.
Mildred hides her other job as a waitress, but Veda learns the truth and treats her mother with disdain. Mildred meets Monte Beragon, a Pasadena society playboy with an almost-depleted inheritance. Beragon owns the building that Mildred wants to purchase for a restaurant, and he pursues a romantic interest in her. While the two are at his beach house for a weekend, Kay contracts pneumonia and dies after a trip with Veda and Bert. Mildred channels her grief into work and throws herself into opening a new restaurant. With help from her friend and former supervisor, Ida Corwin, Mildred’s restaurant is successful. Wally helps Mildred buy the property, and soon she owns a chain of restaurants throughout Southern California.