Mildred Pierce is a 1945 American drama film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Joan Crawford, Jack Carson and Zachary Scott and featuring Eve Arden, Ann Blyth and Bruce Bennett, in a film noir about a long-suffering mother and her ungrateful daughter. The screenplay, by Ranald MacDougall and the uncredited William Faulkner and Catherine Turney, is based upon the 1941 novel Mildred Pierce by James M. Cain. The film was produced by Jerry Wald, with studio head Jack L. Warner as executive producer.