Mr. Skeffington

Resensi Film: Mr. Skeffington

Tahun Keluar: 1944

Negara Asal: USA

Sutradara: Vincent Sherman

Cast: Bette Davis, Claude Rains, Walter Abel

Plot: Fanny Trellis, socialite cantik yang materialistis, mengawini Job Skeffington, pengusaha Yahudi yang mencintainya secara tulus, untuk tujuan convenience ("kemudahan") -- dan membutuhkan waktu yang lama dan nasib buruk yang berentetan untuk menyadarkan Fanny atas keegoisan dirinya tersebut (IMDb).

Berdasarkan novel dengan judul yang sama karya Elizabeth von Arnim, Mr. Skeffington adalah melodrama yang bertumpu pada kekuatan akting dari dua pemeran utamanya: Bette Davis sebagai Fanny Trellis yang self-centered, egois dan Claude Rains sebagai Job Skeffington yang sabar dan pemaaf. Pesan ceritanya sesungguhnya bagus, walaupun temanya sudah umum. Karakterisasi Trellis sebagai ego-sentris terasa unbelievable, tetapi tertolong dengan adanya sub-plot antara dia dan adik kesayangannya, Trippy (Richard Waring) -- namun demikian, Davis membawakan perannya dengan penuh keyakinan sehingga penonton menjadi yakin. Transformasi Davis menjadi "old lady" di akhir film betul-2 mengejutkan, sekaligus mengharukan. Karakterisasi Skeffington sebagai suami yang tidak pernah putus harapan terhadap istrinya juga terasa unbelievable, tetapi tertolong dengan adanya sub-plot antara dia dan sekretarisnya -- namun demikian, Rains membawakan perannya dengan penuh kehangatan sehingga penonton menjadi percaya. Betul-2 peran yang pas untuk Davis, sama seperti gaun yang dia kenakan untuk menggoda semua pria yang dia inginkan, Mr. Skeffington merupakan kemenangan untuk penampilan Davis. Davis dan Rains menerima nominasi Oscar untuk penampilan dalam film ini.

Cerita (***)

Screenplay (***)

Karakter (***)

Akting (****)

Keseluruhan: ***/4

Mr. Skeffington dapat anda temukan di eBay.com

Now, Voyager

Resensi Film: Now, Voyager (**1/2/4)

Tahun Keluar: 1942

Negara Asal: USA

Sutradara: Irving Rapper

Cast: Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Gladys Cooper

Plot: Charlotte Vale, seorang perawan tua, mengalami gangguan mental gara-2 tekanan batin dari ibunya yang menguasai hidupnya. Setelah menjalani perawatan, dia pergi berpesiar dan berkenalan dengan seorang pria yang menyadarkan dirinya untuk menjadi wanita yang utuh dan independen (IMDb).

Berdasarkan novel dengan judul yang sama karya Olive Higgins Prouty, inti ceritanya sesungguhnya berbobot, tetapi ... my oh my, film ini dipenuhi dengan cliché dan sentimentalitas -- seperti opera sabun. Namun demikian, transformasi Bette Davis dari wanita terkungkung menjadi wanita independen betul-2 luar biasa. Penampilan Gladys Cooper sebagai ibu yang menguasai juga sangat menyakinkan, walaupun rada berlebihan. Mereka berdua pantas menerima nominasi Oscar untuk penampilan dalam film ini. Claude Rains, seperti biasanya, memainkan perannya (sebagai Dr. Jaquith) dengan sangat baik, tetapi Paul Henreid tampil rada kaku (sebagai Jerry) dan karakternya (subplot antara dia dan anak perempuannya) terasa tidak masuk akal. Dialog-2nya terasa corny, pretentious -- muluk, tetapi tidak berarti :-) -- misalnya, dialog antara Dr. Jaquith dan Charlotte (Dr. Jaquith mengutip salah satu baris dari puisi Walt Whitman: "Now, Voyager, sail thou forth, to seek and find," atau dialog antara Charlotte dan Jerry:

Oh Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars.

What?! :-)

Kalau bukan gara-2 Bette Davis dan Gladys Cooper, film ini akan terlupakan dengan bergantinya jaman.

Maaf, penulis mesti tidak setuju dengan rating film ini di IMDb :-)

Cerita (**1/2)

Screenplay (**1/2)

Karakter (***)

Akting (***)

Keseluruhan: **1/2/4

Now, Voyager dapat anda temukan di eBay.com

Jezebel

Resensi Film: Jezebel (***1/2/4)

Tahun Keluar: 1938

Negara Asal: USA

Sutradara: William Wyler

Cast: Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, George Brent

Plot: Pada jaman Antebellum*) di negara bagian Louisiana, AS, seorang wanita muda berusaha memberontak dari tradisi pada jamannya, dan akhirnya harus kehilangan pria yang dia cintai (IMDb).

Adaptasi dari teater dengan judul yang sama karya Owen Davis, Sr., Jezebel mempunyai plot yang mirip dengan Gone with the Wind (1939). Karakter-2 dalam dua film ini sama-2 berasal dari daerah selatan. Kisah cinta segitiganya juga mirip, dalam Jezebel -- Julie (Bette Davis), Preston (Henry Fonda), dan Buck (George Brent), dalam Gone with the Wind -- Scarlett, Ashley, dan Rhett. Krisisnya juga mirip, dalam Jezebel -- demam kuning (yellow fever), dalam Gone with the Wind -- perang sipil. Akhirnya juga mirip, sama-2 open ending ... mengejutkan, sekaligus menghantui. Meskipun cerita/filmnya diterbitkan/dikeluarkan terlebih dahulu, Jezebel tidak dapat mengalahkan popularitas Gone with the Wind yang didukung oleh cerita yang lebih kaya, karakter-2 yang lebih kompleks, setting produksi yang lebih mahal, dan publisitas yang lebih luas. Mempertimbangkan hal tersebut, beruntung sekali Jezebel dikeluarkan terlebih dahulu. Dan meskipun tidak se-extravagant Gone with the Wind, Jezebel mempunyai cast yang tidak kalah bobotnya dengan cast dalam Gone with the Wind. Bette Davis aktingnya sangat mengesankan sebagai Julie yang keras kepala, dan ketika karakternya berubah drastis -- ketika dia menyadari "harga" yang harus dia bayar, transformasinya juga meyakinkan. Untuk Henry Fonda, penampilannya dalam film ini adalah langkah penting untuk kariernya -- karakter yang dia mainkan, Preston, mencerminkan integritas yang sama yang di kemudian hari menjadi karakteristik dari penampilan Fonda. Jezebel menghasilkan trophy Oscar untuk Davis (aktres terbaik) dan Fay Bainter (aktres pendukung terbaik), dan nominasi Oscar untuk Warner Bros (film terbaik), Max Steiner (musical score terbaik), dan Ernest Haller (cinematography terbaik).

*) periode tahun 1789 sampai tahun 1849

Cerita (***)

Screenplay (***1/2)

Karakter (***1/2)

Akting (****)

Keseluruhan: ***1/2/4

Jezebel dapat anda temukan di eBay.com

The Virgin Queen

Resensi Film: The Virgin Queen (***/4)

Tahun Keluar: 1955
Negara Asal: USA
Sutradara: Henry Koster
Cast: Bette Davis, Richard Todd, Joan Collins, Jay Robinson

Plot: Sir Walter Raleigh harus mengatasi intrik dalam istana agar Ratu Elizabeth I bersedia membiayai proyek eksplorasinya ke dunia baru (IMDb).

Drama sejarah ini menitikberatkan pada hubungan antara Ratu Elizabeth I dan Sir Walter Raleigh. Film ini adalah kesempatan kedua Bette Davis memainkan peran Ratu Elizabeth I; kesempatan pertama adalah ketika dia berusia 31 tahun dalam film The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) -- saat itu, usianya yang muda sama sekali bukan halangan bagi Davis untuk memerankan karakter yang jauh lebih tua dari dirinya. Sekarang, dalam film ini, Davis dengan sangat menyakinkan memainkan peran Elizabeth I yang keras kepala dan penuh passion untuk menemukan cinta sejati di antara para pengikutnya yang selalu berusaha mengambil hati dari dirinya, dan tentu saja untuk membuat kerajaannya kuat dan berkembang. Davis dengan sangat tepat menampilkan esensi dari perannya, yaitu: loneliness (kesendirian) dan nobility (kedarahbiruan) dari posisinya sebagai Ratu. Davis menggunakan make-up yang kompleks, yang sama sekali bukan dirinya, tetapi sebuah façade (topeng) yang dia animasikan di depan kamera. Dari balik topeng ini, Davis memproyeksikan karakter yang sebagian wanita, sebagian pria, sebagian monster, sebagian pengabdi, dan sebagian penguasa. Davis menampilkan Elizabeth I yang kuat, berkuasa, tetapi sekaligus patut dikasihani. Walaupun tidak sematang permainan Davis, Richard Todd berhasil mengimbangi Davis sebagai pria yang patut menerima ketertarikan dan kepercayaan Elizabeth I. Film ini betul-2 tour-de-force dari kemampuan akting Bette Davis.

Cerita (***)
Screenplay (***)
Karakter (***1/2)
Akting (***1/2)

Keseluruhan: ***/4

The Virgin Queen dapat anda temukan di eBay.com

The Watcher in the Woods

Movie Review: The Watcher in the Woods (** out of 4 stars)

Year of Release: 1980

Country of Origin: USA, UK

Director: John Hough

Cast: Bette Davis, Lynn-Holly Johnson, Kyle Richards, Carroll Baker

Plot outline: When an American family moves into a beautiful old English house in a wooded area, strange, paranormal things happen. One daughter sees, and the other daughter hears, the voice of a teenage girl who mysteriously disappeared during a total solar eclipse decades before (IMDb).

The story (**)

How the story unfolds (** The atmosphere is pretty good. The movie’s failing is in the ending. You get the sense that while the filmmakers had a good storyline they never quite figured out how to resolve it.)

The characters (** Bette Davis still had incredible presence, and spit her lines out in that inimitable style that could have intimidated Clint Eastwood. It did not, however, phase Lynn-Holly Johnson in the slightest. She wambles on obliviously, leaving only questions as to whether her hair, voice, or facial expressions are most absurd, disproportionate, or inappropriate, in her wake.)

The acting (**)

Overall rating ** out of 4 stars

The Petrified Forest

Movie Review: The Petrified Forest

Year of Release: 1936
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Archie Mayo
Cast: Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, Genevieve Tobin, Dick Foran, Humphrey Bogart

Plot outline: A waitress, a hobo and a bank robber get mixed up at a lonely diner in the desert (IMDb).

The Petrified Forest is a tight, well-written thriller with a knockout cast. Leslie Howard manages to mix just the right amounts of vulnerability, courage, and despair into his role as a disenchanted writer coming to terms with his own failed ambitions. On paper, the part could come off as pretentious or whiny, but Howard plays it perfectly without ever stooping to sentiment. Opposite him, Bette Davis is the very epitome of the wide-eyed dreamer. Though her role is written a bit thinner than Howard’s, Davis makes up for it with sheer charisma, winning the audience over the same way she wins over Howard’s character. Overshadowing both Davis and Howard though, is Humphrey Bogart. The Petrified Forest served as his first big break in Hollywood. While it wouldn’t be until High Sierra some five years later that he would graduate from supporting actor to star, it was this movie that made him a name. And for good reason. The script gives him a great role to work with. As Duke Mantee, Bogart is a force of nature, a chaotic whirlwind. Further, the script does a fantastic job of fleshing out Mantee with minimal dialog, creating a pair of anti-heroes in Howard and Bogart’s characters that have more in common than one would think. And that’s the movie’s strength. It’s not a hostage drama at all, but an exploration of dreams and ambitions, both gone and yet to come. That the script has the guts to follow this theme through to the end is, ultimately, what makes the movie, as a typical “Hollywood ending" would have killed it. The Petrified Forest’s only weakness lies in the sets, as the desert backdrops are so ridiculously fake they can be distracting early on, but it’s a small blemish on an excellent story. (FML)

My judgement: *** out of 4 stars

The Anniversary

Movie Review: The Anniversary

Year of Release: 1968
Country of Origin: UK
Director: Roy Ward Baker
Cast: Bette Davis, Sheila Hancock, Jack Hedley, James Cossins, Christian Roberts, Elaine Taylor

Plot outline: A very possessive matriarch uses the excuse of a family reunion to strengthen her grip over her relatives (IMDb).

60-year-old Bette Davis is in rare form here as the hideous matriarch of Bill MacIlwraith’s darkly comedic play. With her colour-coordinated eye patches, relentless demands, and constant stream of vitriolic put-downs, she emerges as one of cinema’s true villains. The words coming out of this anti-mother’s mouth are almost beyond belief - to her daughter-in-law (Sheila Hancock) she says matter-of-factly, “I don’t think you are a good mother, but it’s not my place to say so”, and “Natural good manners told me when to put the plug in.” To her youngest son (Christian Roberts) she states, “I promise you I’ll have your skin for rags, and wipe the faces of your children with them!” McIlwraith’s play is clearly a black comedy, but one which unfortunately doesn’t offer quite enough relief to redeem its overriding negativity. The narrative trajectory is relentless - while mother Taggart’s children try their best to stand up to her, she’s constantly one-upping them, and the effect is disheartening. There are many moments of shocking, laugh-out-loud humour, but ultimately this movie is more unpleasant than enjoyable, and one keeps watching simply to see what ghastly action or statement the incomparable Davis will come up with next. (FF)

My judgement: **1/2 out of 4 stars

Of Human Bondage

Movie Review: Of Human Bondage

Year of Release: 1934
Country of Origin: USA
Director: John Cromwell
Cast: Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, Frances Dee, Kay Johnson, Reginald Denny

Plot outline: A medical student risks his future when he falls for a low-class waitress (IMDb).

Bette Davis appears miscast in early scenes, she struggles with a cockney accent, but her enormous, predatory eyes are well suited for the role. When she rails at her now-aloof benefactor, calling him a "gimpy-legged monster", she does so with a frightening intensity. Leslie Howard's gentle character is compared with that of fellow doctor Griffiths (Reginald Denny) and salesman Miller (Alan Hale). Mildred prefers these men because they are more like her, hedonistic and fun-loving. She is bored to tears by Howard, who prefers to spend his evenings serenely reading medical texts. Davis, in turn, is compared with beautiful, selfless wallflowers Sally (Frances Dee) and Norah (Kay Johnson), who throw themselves at the feet of Howard to little avail. The moral of the story seems to be that opposites attract, perhaps because we only want what is virtually impossible to have. Try as they might, our sensitive leads lack the pluck to simply take what they want instead of begging for it. Miller may be hopelessly shallow and conceited, but he is also more successful in his career. In early Hayes Code fashion, however, things do not work out as well for bad girl Mildred. (BK)

My judgement: **1/2 out of 4 stars

The Letter

Movie Review: The Letter

Year of Release: 1940
Country of Origin: USA
Director: William Wyler
Cast: Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, James Stephenson, Gale Sondergaard

Plot outline: A woman claims to have killed a man in self-defense, until a blackmailer turns up with incriminating evidence (IMDb).

W. Somerset Maugham's play was translated to the big screen by Casablanca's main scribe, Howard Koch; and while the story still retains classic film noir elements of adultery, murder, and guilt, The Letter also preserves a depiction of the English that's amusingly melodramatic: in spite of the emotional turmoil and mortal danger, Bette Davis (with an affected snotty accent) and weak-willed hubby Herbert Marshall remain tightly reserved; yet these veneers of wily restraint help maintain audience suspicion that every character seems to harbor a dark secret, best kept buried. (MRH)

My judgement: **1/2 out of 4 stars

The Nanny

Movie Review: The Nanny

Year of Release: 1965
Country of Origin: UK
Director: Seth Holt
Cast: Bette Davis, Wendy Craig, Jill Bennett, William Dix

Plot outline: A disturbed young man, Joey, tries to prove his nanny is out to kill him (IMDb).

The Nanny is a rather quiet, cautious thriller that gives Bette Davis more room for characterization than most of her later movies. She does a marvelous job of keeping her psycho nature under control for the movie's first half. As a "barmy" governess hiding several dark secrets, she starts out with a benign expression under incredibly silly beetle brows, with subtle, sinister flashes of malignancy underneath her severe composure. Director Seth Holt lights her harshly, and lingers over the interesting, very British faces of the rest of the cast, especially William Dix's Joey. Holt creates an atmosphere of gray ominousness and is content to let his measured compositions build atmosphere, but when the plot revelations start, the movie's careful psychological detail is abandoned for melodrama, and Davis is filmed like a ghoul (or "Boris Karloff in skirts," as she once laughingly described herself in this period). The last scene is perfunctory and unbelievable, but the movie is worth seeing for its tense first half, and for Davis' carefully controlled performance of joyless, sometimes sadistic servitude. (DC, DS)

My judgement: **1/2 out of 4 stars

Pocketful of Miracles

Movie Review: Pocketful of Miracles

Year of Release: 1961
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Frank Capra
Cast: Glenn Ford, Bette Davis, Hope Lange

Plot outline: A good-hearted gangster turns an old apple seller into a society matron so she can impress her daughter (IMDb).

The story, which alternates uneasily between wit and sentiment, is based on the 1933 Lady for a Day which was also directed by Frank Capra. It has to do with an impoverished apple-seller (Bette Davis) who would have her long lost daughter (Ann-Margret) believe that she is a lady of means. This is simple enough when the daughter is on the other side of the globe, but when she comes trotting over for a look-see, mama is in trouble. Enter mama's favorite apple-polisher, influential Dave the Dude (Glenn Ford), who hastily sets up an elaborate masquerade with the aid of a horde of typical 1930s Runyon-esquehoodlums who are hard as nails on the surface, but all whipped cream on the inside. The picture seems too long, considering that there's never any doubt as to the outcome, and it's also too lethargic, but there are sporadic compensations of line and situation that reward the patience. Fortunately Capra has assembled some of Hollywood's outstanding character players for the chore. For the romantic leads, there are no James Stewart and Jean Arthur (probably Capra's most formidable star-pairing), but Ford and Hope Lange. As a comedy team, they get by - particularly Ford. Lange is more suitable for serious roles. Davis has the meaty role of Apple Annie and, except for a tendency to overemotional in closeups, she handles it with depth and finesse. But, the best lines in the picture go to Peter Falk, who just about walks off with the movie when he's on. (V)

My judgement: **1/2 out of 4 stars

Death on the Nile

Movie Review: Death on the Nile

Year of Release: 1978
Country of Origin: UK
Director: John Guillermin
Cast: Peter Ustinov, Jane Birkin, Lois Chiles, Bette Davis

Plot outline: Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot investigates the murder of an heiress during an Egyptian tour (IMDb).

Death on the Nile is a classic whodunnit in every sense. It follows the conventions of the genre like they were handed down from Mount Sinai. Naturally there is a murder, a group of suspects conveniently contained in a confined space, and a brilliant detective to put all the pieces together. Along the way we discover tantalizing clues that may or may not point to the truth. These clues are doled out slowly, often in half-overheard conversations or in a furtive glance or gesture. Death on the Nile benefits from a romantic, exotic locale to work with, the Nile, along with the famous Egyptian pyramids and other monuments, makes for a far more interesting backdrop than even the most lavish English manor house. Peter Ustinov plays Hercule Poirot with a whimsical humor, a lightness that belies the detective's razor-sharp intellect. Poirot is assisted by David Niven's Colonel Race. Poirot and Race have some of the best scenes in the movie together as they needle each other with their witty banter. The rest of the supporting cast is a delight to watch as well. Although they are too many to mention everyone individually, there are a few that really stand out. Particularly amusing were Bette Davis and Maggie Smith as the wealthy, acid-tongued Mrs. Van Schuyler and her cantankerous nurse, Miss Bowers. Angela Lansbury was a riot as Salome Otterbourne, a lusty, tippling writer of lurid romance novels. Jack Warden does quite well with a German accent as Dr. Ludwig Bessner, a doctor of questionable skills and methods. Finally, Mia Farrow is impressive as Jackie, the rejected former lover of Linnet's husband. (V)

My judgement: **1/2 out of 4 stars

All About Eve

Movie Review: All About Eve

Year of Release: 1950
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Cast: Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, Celeste Holm, Gary Merrill, Hugh Marlowe

Plot outline: An ingenue insinuates herself in to the company of an established but aging stage actress and her circle of theater friends (IMDb).

All About Eve is a withering satire - witty, mature and worldly-wise. Obviously, Mankiewicz had been observing the theatre and its charming folks for years with something less than an idolater's rosy illusions and zeal. And now, with the excellent assistance of Bette Davis and a truly sterling cast, he is wading into the theatre's middle with all claws slashing and settling a lot of scores. If anything, he has been even too full of fight - too full of cutlass-edged derision of Broadway's theatrical tribe. Apparently his dormant dander and his creative zest were so aroused that he let himself go on this picture and didn't know when to stop. For two hours and eighteen minutes have been taken by him to achieve the ripping apart of an illusion which might have been comfortably done in an hour and a half. And that's the one trouble with this picture. It beats the horse after it is dead. But that said, the rest is boundless tribute to Mankiewicz and his cast for ranging a gallery of people that dazzle, horrify and fascinate. Although the title character - the self-seeking, ruthless Eve, who would make a black-widow spider look like a lady bug - is the motivating figure in the story and is played by Anne Baxter with icy calm, the focal figure and most intriguing character is the actress whom Bette Davis plays. This lady, an aging, acid creature with a cankerous ego and a stinging tongue, is the end-all of Broadway disenchantment, and Davis plays her to a fare-thee-well. Of the men, George Sanders is walking wormwood, neatly wrapped in a mahogany veneer, as a vicious and powerful drama critic who has a licentious list towards pretty girls; Gary Merrill is warm and reassuring as a director with good sense and a heart, and Hugh Marlowe is brittle and boyish as a playwright with more glibness than brains. Celeste Holm is appealingly normal and naive as the latter's wife and Thelma Ritter is screamingly funny as a wised-up maid until she is summarily lopped off. (NYT)

My judgement: *** out of 4 stars

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex

Movie Review: The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex

Year of Release: 1939
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland

Plot outline: A dramatization of the tempestuous relationship between Queen Elizabeth I of England and the Earl of Essex (IMDb).

Based on the successful Broadway play, Elizabeth the Queen, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex is a lavish Technicolor costumer allowing full scope to Davis' histrionics and Flynn's derring-do. The gorgeous sets and costumed elegance are pure 1930s Warner Bros., and the movie's passions are as bold as its colors: Davis' 63-year-old Queen is ardent (the actress was really 31); Flynn is suitably dashing. But, Davis was infamously disapproving of her costar's "unprofessional" attitude (Flynn does seem uncomfortably hammy in his scenes with Davis), while he found her to be insufferably self-important. Many years later, however, Davis viewed the movie; and at the movie's end Davis admitted, "I was wrong, wrong, wrong. Flynn was brilliant! " Olivia de Havilland is wasted in the role of a lady-in-waiting who carries a torch for Essex. If the scenes of Essex' triumphant return to London after winning the battle of Cadiz seem familiar, it is because they were reused as stock footage in Warner Bros. (HE)

My judgement: **1/2 out of 4 stars

Hush ... Hush, Sweet Charlotte

Movie Review: Hush ... Hush, Sweet Charlotte

Year of Release: 1964
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Robert Aldrich
Cast: Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorehead

Plot outline: The arrival of a lost relative, engulfs terror upon an aging southern belle, forever plagued by a horrifying family secret (IMDb).

Bette Davis plays the looniest character in this movie. But there are other mildly mad and murderous characters drifting in and out this house of horrors, so it is safe and fair to describe it as a comparable looney bin. But so calculated and coldly carpentered is the tale of murder, mayhem and deceit that Mr. Aldrich stages in this mansion that it soon appears grossly contrived, purposely sadistic and brutally sickening. So, instead of coming out funny, as did What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, it comes out grisly, pretentious, disgusting and profoundly annoying. By the unwritten rule of criticism, I won't tell you who the plotters are - nor, indeed, will I try to tell you the details of the plot. That is mainly because it is so fuzzy and full of ridiculous holes, which apparently has not bothered Mr. Aldrich in his grim bent to generate shock. But the fact that it is so fuzzy is only another reason to resent the darkly-lit, crudely-gimmicked horror he has tried to perpetrate. Resentable, too, is the acting - the style of acting - done in this movie. It is weirdly exaggerated for sensational effects and nothing more. Miss Davis, with heavy eyebrows and lines in her face, is plainly directed to accomplish a straight melodramatic tour de force. Olivia de Havilland is closer to normal as a relative of the demented woman who comes to be with her, but Joseph Gotten overdoes and over-accents the seamy role of the family physician. Agnes Moorehead as her weird and crone-like servant is allowed to get away with some of the broadest mugging and snarling ever done by a respectable actress on the screen. Cecil Kellaway and Mary Astor mumble and fumble lesser roles. (NYT)

My judgement: ** out of 4 stars

Dark Victory

Movie Review: Dark Victory

Year of Release: 1939
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Edmund Goulding
Cast: Bette Davis, George Brent, Humphrey Bogart, Geraldine Fitzgerald

Plot outline: A young socialite is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour and must decide whether she'll meet her final days with dignity (IMDb).

Based on the unsuccessful 1934 play of the same title by George Brewer and Bertram Bloch, Dark Victory is one of Bette Davis' quintessential romantic dramas. Edmund Goulding gets sensitive work from three central characters who virtually hold the movie together: Bette Davis' Judith Traherne - a young, carefree, hedonistic Long Island socialite/heiress with a passion for horses, fast cars and too much smoking and drinking; George Brent's Dr. Frederick Steele - a caring doctor; and Geraldine Fitzgerald's Ann King - a reliable, trustworthy friend and personal secretary. Davis was at the top of her game when the movie was made. Despite her performance that displays a marvelous gamut of emotions which layer her facial features and body language, I found the movie somewhat too sentimental, too melodramatic. I guess it's a melodrama of a now unfashionable kind. Her performance seems a bit overacted, but maybe because of the style of the times. Her character, had the movie been made today, could be that unsympathetic rich bitch who parties hard, hasn't a care in the world and is a victim of her own whims much like Paris Hilton. Nevertheless, Judith is not without her good points - she's flighty and impulsive but not a mean person. Some of the dialogue sounds corny now, like the caring doctor saying, "Women never meant anything to me before." I found the final death scene too staged, too arranged. If you like romantic dramas with a substantial dose of sentimentality and melodrama, you might like this movie.

My judgement: **1/2 out of 4 stars

The Great Lie

Movie Review: The Great Lie

Year of Release: 1941
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Edmund Goulding
Cast: Bette Davis, George Brent, Mary Astor

Plot outline: After a newlywed's husband apparently dies in a plane crash, she discovers that her rival for his affections is now pregnant with his child; she then makes a truce with her (IMDb).

If it had not been for smart writing and great performance by the two leading ladies, Bette Davis and Mary Astor, the movie would have been just like any other soapies. The writing wastes no time mapping out the plot and the characters, cutting out all the unnecessary sentimentality that is often found in melodramatic soapies. Bette Davis surprisingly takes a softer role as a gentle but hapless heroine, giving Mary Astor a meaty role as a cold, heartless, unmitigated bitch. The best scenes are when Davis and Astor confront and interact with each other, culminating in a marvelous bitch-fest in a shack in the middle of Arizona desert as Astor rebels against Davis' control. Davis' performance is great - as always, but Astor steals the show and walks away with an Oscar. I also like the swift ending that ends the movie on high notes. The choice of great classical Piano Concerto #1 in B Flat Minor by Tchaikovsky as the musical score that heightens the tension between the characters throughout the movie is superb too. I am giving this movie three stars solely because of their great performances.

My judgement: *** out of 4 stars