Dark Victory

Bette Davis plays Judith, a young, carefree socialite who’s life revolves around partying, raising dogs and training horses.  Lately she has been suffering from strange headaches, and perhaps the reason she sleeps all day is because the light bothers her, but she just ignores these ailments.  After all, she’s young and strong and nothing can touch her, right?  When she has a horse riding accident, due to a sudden change in vision, her symptoms prompt a young brain surgeon to take notice.

Doctor Fredrick Steele (George Brent) is wanting to get out of the prestigious field of brain surgery, the mortality rate is just too depressing.  He’s got a train ticket in hand when he hears of Judith’s case, but as he examines her, he decides to stay.  Though she tries hard not to show it, we and Steele sense how frightened she is.  He suggests she go into surgery, so he can find out exactly what is causing her problems.  Even prepping to go under the knife, the only person who can tame and reach stubborn Judith is Steele.  The scene where he coaxes her to take her anesthetic is wonderfully sweet, more doctors need to be that supportive of their more troublesome patients.

What Steele finds sets the film up for tragedy.  It seems that Judith has an inoperable tumor, and it will kill her within the year.  Hearing one doctor say, “maybe 10 months” like he was just shooting the breeze about the weather is terribly sad, but thankfully Steele is honestly torn up about poor Judith’s fatal condition. Perhaps he has grown attached to the girl.

After Judith has recovered from the operation, Steele decides not to tell her of her upcoming demise.  He doesn’t think it will not do any good to tell a young woman so full of life that it will be cut so sort.  However, he cannot hide his sorrow over the ordeal.  When he visits Judith as she is resuming her party lifestyle, her friend Ann (Geraldine Fitzgerald) notices the gloomy demeanor and asks Steele if Judith really is alright.  He comes clean to Ann, but they both decide it’s better to let Judith live the last of her life in blissful ignorance.  But when romance rises between Judith and Steele, like a reverse Florence Nightingale syndrome, Judith discovers the bitter truth and starts to come to terms with her frivolous lifestyle and tries to meet her early end with dignity and bravery.

The film does a great job of building up the drama and really tries to reel us in to a grand tear-jerker ending.  Even me,  the cynical critic who’s seen it all, was getting a little choked up towards the end.  Maybe because the film wasn’t focusing on a young kid who just wanted to live to party, but a new love still in full bloom.  However, through the lump this film  put in my throat, I was also rolling my eyes.  We know what’s going to happen, and as long as Davis doesn’t let Judith blubber like a baby and down a bottle of booze, we’re supposed to be proud of her but feel sorry for her and Steele as well.  Frankly, that ending was perfect for 1939, but today it feels way to drawn out and predictable.  It’s a wonderful mix of classic and cliche.  If you’re put off by what I just said, the fact that Humphrey Bogart has a wonderful small role as Michael the horse trainer can tip any film fan into checking Dark Victory out.

“When you get inside my head, see if you can find any sense in it.”

The Little Foxes

In Southern aristocratic society at the turn of the twentieth century, Regina (Bette Davis) is focused on becoming independently wealthy from her terminally ill husband, who traditionally would only consider a son a legal heir.  With her brothers, Oscar (Carl Benton Reid) and Ben (Charles Dingle), she decides to convince her husband to make an investment in a cotton mill company. She sends their daughter, Alexandra (Teresa Wright) to travel to Baltimore and bring him home.  They take their time, simply because Horace (Herbert Marshall) is weak, but the brief father-daughter bonding time makes the illness less noticeable.  From the moment he arrives, Regina, Oscar and Ben all just pester Horace and try to persuade him into the investment that will only cripple the local working class.  When Horace declines, Regina is furious but Oscar and Ben find less honest ways to find the extra money.

With all this unhappy money talk stuffing up the house, there are also issues of young Alexandra’s future.  At some points she seems to be following her mother’s terrible example, at other times she resembles her meek and miserable aunt Berdie (Patricia Collinge).  Regina and Oscar want Alexandra to marry her cousin Leo (Dan Duryea), Oscar’s conniving son who misuses his job at the bank.  But there is also David (Richard Carlson), the energetic young man who works for the newspaper and tries to write about the truth people have a right to hear that is kept out of his paper.  David doesn’t act as high class as Alexandra’s meddling family, but he is twice as sincere and confident.  He even sees Alexandra off at the train station in his pajamas.

Bette Davis puts up a magnificent performance as Regina.  She seems almost unnaturally tall in her gowns that are so tight in the middle.  There’s an air of domination every time she’s seen standing. Her cold expressions make us think that she is always plotting.  And her quick coy manner of speech, always about money or manipulation, tells us that we can never trust her.  Frankly, Davis makes Regina to be a classic, conspiring evil woman who only finds happiness in money and causing others pain and was rightfully nominated as Best Actress.

We see the poisonous effects Regina has on those around her.  Alexandra has a few despicable moments that she knows would make her mother proud.  It’s her father that sheds a positive moral light on Alexandra, making her realize the horrible influences she has been around.

At the heart of the story, adapted from Lillian Hellman’s play, is a moral of caution.  The mill Regina and her brothers want to invest in will thrive on hard labor at terrible wages.  While they are well aware of this, they conspire only with the intention to make themselves rich, not caring that their plan will only bring pain to everyone around them.  The title of the film comes from a line in the Song of Solomon, “Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.”  Alongside this idea of removing the destructive beings is the idea that it is just as wrong to watch the destruction happen without doing anything to stop it.  It’s a tender moment watching all the good hearted characters in the story come together in a moral realization, and so triumphant when they act.

“I’ll die my own way, and I’ll do it without making the world worse. I leave that to you.”

All About Eve

“My name is Addison DeWitt. My native habitat is the theater. In it I toil not, neither do I spin. I am a critic and commentator. I am essential to the theatre.”

Mr. DeWitt may be a bit conceded, but with that ego comes the ability to see one’s true motives.  In All About Eve, we first meet our characters as Eve becomes the youngest person to receive a prestigious award.  We would assume everyone to be proud of this girl who is finally being recognized.  but we are transported back to see the story of how this young girl has climbed so high so quickly, and all the people she’s stepped on along the way.

Eve (Anne Baxter) is first discovered in the rain waiting for ageing actress Margo (Bette Davis) to leave the theater by Karen (Celeste Holm), wife of prestigious play-write Lloyd Richards (Hugh Marlowe).  Karen takes pity on the star-struck girl and brings her to meet her idol.  Margo doesn’t seem likely to warm up to the girl until Eve tells her sob story that has lead her to have nothing to look forward to but the theater and seeing Margo perform.  Moved, Margo takes Eve in and she becomes a helpful assistant.  However, Eve starts overstepping boundaries and gets a taste of the spotlight.  Soon, Margo realizes this ambitious young Eve is using her and her friends to break into theater and become a star.

Lets go back to George Sanders’s Addison DeWitt, an Oscar winning role and hinge to the plot.  He’s our main narrator with flawlessly eloquent speech and dress to match.  While all of Eve’s new acquaintances believe her naive starstruck girl act, only Addison sees through the mask.  Instead of stopping her, he takes the opportunity to write about the budding new star and spreading the word to further her success.  He may be feeding the monster, but when he realizes the reach of her claws he cuts back and knows she really can’t go much higher without him.  She will one day have to take what she has dished out.

This may the greatest role Bette Davis ever played.  Being an aging star slowly conned by a young rival may have been a realistic role for the then just over forty actress.  She plays the role with such an honest gusto and presence proving that her personality can propel her further than Eve’s simple youth and beauty.  Compared to Gloria Swanson’s Norma Desmond, a similar role in Sunset Boulevard, Margo will be alright and still has friends if Eve takes all her stage presence, which is a much happier end that Eve or Norma are likely to find at their going rate.

While All About Eve won for Best Picture, I don’t believe most viewers today would agree.  It’s a fine film with wonderful acting, no doubt, but I feel like the story has been parodied and told so much that today’s viewer isn’t as likely to receive it’s full effect.  But if you enjoy films about treacherous women, fearfully aging stars or enjoy any of the actors, this is a must see.

“The cynicism you refer to, I acquired the day I discovered I was different from little boys!”

Jezebel

Many times, vanity is the driving force behind the poor decisions young women make.  In today’s society, it seems that women are supposed to constantly primp and flaunt what they’ve got.  Makeup is generally expected all the time and breast implants are perfectly acceptable cosmetic surgery. Everyone is in competition to be the prettiest girl at any occasion.  Now and then, we see one woman who has taken her vanity to a socially unacceptable level and cannot come back from the boundary she has pushed.  This is our modern interpretation of a Jezebel, a painted, false or fallen woman.

In Jezebel, Julie (Bette Davis) is a confident, headstrong Southern Belle in the 1850’s.  She rides a dangerously wild horse and is practically engaged to Preston (Henry Fonda) a successful young banker.  When Preston is busy at an important bank meeting, he breaks his promise to go to Julie’s dress fitting.  Fueled by vanity and an I’ll show him attitude, Julie decides to wear a red dress to the ball.  In Antebellum Louisiana, the idea of an unmarried girl wearing anything but white is unheard of and scandalous.  Everyone desperately tries to talk Julie out of it, but the selfish girl won’t budge.

At the ball, everyone stares disgusted and offended at Julie in the red dress.  Even her parents seem to slink away in disappointment.  Preston tries to defend her at first, but he’s being shunned as well.  Against her will, he takes Julie out on the dance floor to finish what she’s started and people leave, not even wanting to dance near such a harlot.  The scene nearly feels like a nightmare.  We see the humiliation take over the pride within Julie.  Her stubborn decision to wear the red dress will cost Julie her Preston.

A whole year goes by with Julie having no suitors or social life.  When she hears that Preston will be visiting again she tries to make amends to win him back, but he’s already been taken.  He’s married Amy (Fay Bainter), a northern girl.  Regaining her spite, Julie starts fueling a North vs South debate that ends up in an old fashioned duel.  There’s also a yellow fever outbreak that causes heartbreak, widespread terror and a chance for atonement.

Bette Davis gives a beautiful Oscar winning performance as Julie.  She’s tenacious, bold and confident with such grace and poise.  When she realizes the consequences of her actions, the lament and shame in her eyes is moving.  She’s beautifully coy in her push on the North and South debate.  But her most moving scenes are toward the ending with Bainter’s Amy, who also took home an Oscar for her supporting role.

With today’s media building up the self-entitled generation with shows like My Sweet Sixteen, Jezebel is the movie every spoiled girl needs to be shown.  The story is a wonderful cautionary tale, that I would not mind seeing in a modern remake.  That’s a rare thing for me to say.  Until we’ve found a film maker who can do this story justice, sit your kids down with this film and have a good talk about social expectations and the consequences of defiance.

“Child, you’re out of your mind. You know you can’t wear red to the Olympus Ball.”

Watch on the Rhine

Kurt Muller (Paul Lukas) is a leader of an underground movement, but recently things have gotten so bad for him that he and his family decide to flee to America.  Kurt’s mother-in-law, Fanny Farrelly (Lucile Watson), lives there with her other children.  She prepares excitedly for her family to arrive.  She hasn’t seen her daughter (Bette Davis) in eighteen years and has never met her children.  What a happy family reunion!  Fanny thinks that they are simply leaving the country to avoid the rise of Nazi power, but they have been fighting it for years and moving around frequently to keep hidden.

Fun little game in mid-review:  Describe Snidely Whiplash in two words.  Quickly, no time to think!  If you said mustache and pointy nose, that also describes the Duke, our villain sporting the classic villain look.

Duke Teck de Brancovis (George Coulouris) is a Romanian Count currently residing in the Farrelly household with his wife.  This is never clearly explained, but we assume either he or the wife is on friendly terms and we can assume that this is a way to help them during their financial crisis.  The Duke is constantly hanging out at the German Embassy, gambling with the Nazis and learning the latest from Germany.  Anyway, now we’ve got a wannabe Nazi in the same house as an anti-Nazi underground group leader from Germany.  Cue tension!

Now, the first half of the film just feels muddled.  We see Fanny running around for her daughter’s arrival and picking up candy for her grandkids, so we think this will become a fun comedy with a full house.  But then the Duke gets snoopy and we learn more about Kurt’s past, then it switches to the utmost seriousness.  Meanwhile, the kids are being entertained and the littlest one is especially cheeky and long winded.  Yes, it’s hard to tell where this story is going to end up for a while.

I believe this whole confusing part is to show the difference between American thinking and European thinking.  In Europe, everyone is experiencing everything going to hell first hand.  Whereas, in America, they can only read about it in the papers and can just go about their day worrying about candy.  There’s even an interesting line right after Fanny and her son leave the room, leaving only Kurt and the Duke where they say, “The New World has left the room.”  Only then can they discuss European matters with the brutal truth.

Watch on the Rhine has some good ideas to present and the whole family motif is meant to show sacrifice, but the one word I found to fully describe this film was, “Meh.”  Take it or leave it, I wasn’t engrossed, but I wasn’t bored and begging for it to end.  In fact, it’s in the last half hour that I enjoyed it the most.  If you enjoy stories about fleeing German Nazis or rebellion in WWII, go for it, otherwise, just watch Casablanca to check off ’43.

Sorry for the confusion during the mid-review game, I guess that was three words.  Those of you who guessed “top hat” can have an extra point for my mistake.

The Letter

The film opens on a full moon night in Singapore, where Leslie (Bette Davis) has just shot and killed a man.  She tells her husband and lawyer, Howard, with much conviction, that it was in self defense against a friend who wanted to be her lover.  But when the victim’s wife, a native to Singapore, brings forth a letter from Leslie to her husband, a simple self defense case gets messy.

Davis is remarkable in the role of Leslie.  There are so many interesting things that she brings to life.  When first telling her story, Leslie is calm, has an almost coy expression then becomes more dramatic, as if suddenly remembering the tragedy (and her need to act upset).  While in jail, everyone is surprised how well she’s holding up, surely jail time would rattle her.  Perhaps it’s knitting lace that keeps her so calm, or maybe she knows she’s getting away with murder.

The foreign Singapore setting is never forgotten.  The huge leaves of rubber plants help stifle the thick air.  Fans are always swirling.  When Leslie and her lawyer go to buy the letter back, the foreign land suddenly feels like a Chinese pawn shop.  The native widow is tall and intimidating with all her jewelry, like a stoic warrior.  It’s a wonderful scene to see how easily she can put Leslie in her place.

Director William Wyler is masterful at weaving the story.  He makes sure to catch our concern, pull it tight and then reveal the next clue in this murder.  But he’s just working up to his crowning achievement, Ben Hur.

One of my favorite things about this film is the way the moonlight is used.  It’s mostly at the beginning and end, perhaps suggesting a duration of time within the story.  In the beginning, the moon hides behind clouds and shadows hide things from the viewer.  We see its light through the horizontal blinds and reflecting off the wet rubber leaves.  After the man is murdered, the moon slides out, revealing the body and the calm horror on Leslie’s face.  I cannot reveal how the moon works in the end, but it’s just as wonderful.

If you enjoy blackmail, Bette Davis or William Wyler’s work, I suggest The Letter. But if you’re weighing this against the other films for 1940, there are more interesting ones out there, Rebecca is similar in content and excels in everything.

“Strange that a man can live with a woman for ten years and not know the first thing about her.”

All This, and Heaven Too

First off, I’d like to apologize for the Netflix.  If you decide to rent All This, and Heaven Too from them, do not read their summery on the envelope, unless you want the surprises spoiled for you.  It was poor judgment on their part to put such a pivotal moment, that doesn’t happen until nearly the second hour, in the printed summary.  Now that we’ve cleared that bit of foul air, we can move along.

All This, and Heaven Too is the story of Henriette Deluzy-Desportes (Bette Davis), a young woman trying to move on from a horrible past.  In the present, she has just started as a new school teacher, but some students recognize her from some sort of scandalous rumors.  Realizing the rumors flying around her classroom, she decides to clear the air and tell her class the whole story.  From there the film goes into flashback, and the real story.

Henriette moved to Paris to become a governess for a prestigious family.  She takes care of the children for the Duc and Duchesse de Praslin.  From the moment Henriette arrives, she can tell the marriage is extremely strained.  Still, she is true to her duties and even nurses their youngest child and only son from a near death illness.  Her care through such a crisis earns her the affections of all the children and the father (Charles Boyer).  But the mother can only see Henriette as a threatening wedge driving between her and her family.

It seems that Henriette has the easiest job in the world, since the kids are perfect little angels.  There are four of them, between the approximate ages of thirteen and four.  Each of them is obedient, adorable and their affection to their governess grows by the minute.

I guess the children had to be a wonderful as possible to contrast against their mother, the Duchesse.  She was played by Barbara O’Neil and earned a nomination for Best actress.  Excuse the language, but she played a hell of a bitch.  The Duchesse is so paranoid and clingy towards her husband, it’s no wonder he tries to find an escape.  Showing love toward her children is not an easy task for her.  Her son actually becomes to deathly ill because she insists taking him out on a carriage ride, knowing that he was already sniffling.  Worst of all, she forces him to ride backwards, a way that always makes him sick.  By the time that her jealousy starts to boil, the viewers have little sympathy left for her.

But we always root for Henriette, through all the trials she faces, and that’s what makes this film so great.  We, the viewers always know who is right and wrong, so when things get messy, we become emotionally charged.

All This, and Heaven Too is a delightful little gem to dust off.  The film is suitable for most ages and with fellow kids to watch, little ones are more likely to sit through it.

“Happiness isn’t a little cake which we can cut up to fill our appetites.”