If there was a hit play on Broadway, you know that in the mid to late 1930's and 40's that Bette Davis was looking at as a potential vehicle for herself. There was "The Petrified Forest", "Jezebel", "Dark Victory", "The Little Foxes" and "The Man Who Came to Dinner", and one that received the Pulitzer prize, this play by Zoe Atkins, gloriously filmed in the greatest year that the movies have ever known.
Not all spinsters start off as old maids, and in the case of Bette's Charlotte, she was a lovely young woman who made one "mistake" with the now deceased civil war hero George Brent. Only the audience is aware that she has had a baby by him, taking care of her as a foundling, but only to stand by as her cousin Delia (Miriam Hopkins) arranges to adopt the little girl. Forgetting who raised her growing up, the young Tina (Jane Bryan) grows to hate her "Aunt Charlotte", now sour looking and stern, while Delia hasn't seemed to age at all.
It's obvious that the egotistical Hopkins cared more about image than reality, while Davis doesn't give a crap, only wanting to play the part as written. That's not to dismiss Hopkins, giving a sincere performance, only changing her hair style slightly to indicate the passage of time. Donald Crisp as an old family friend is superb, while Louise Fazenda's old nurse delightfully loyal.This is excellent on every level, and I mark Davis's performance as even better than the one she managed to be nominated for in a year of hits, "Dark Victory". Davis doesn't even mind a shadow covering half her face, as if during this scene (where she practices disciplining Bryan) to indicate the shadow of a life her existence has become. I could watch all of Davis's classics back to back with only a break for sleep, and never be tired of them.
Not all spinsters start off as old maids, and in the case of Bette's Charlotte, she was a lovely young woman who made one "mistake" with the now deceased civil war hero George Brent. Only the audience is aware that she has had a baby by him, taking care of her as a foundling, but only to stand by as her cousin Delia (Miriam Hopkins) arranges to adopt the little girl. Forgetting who raised her growing up, the young Tina (Jane Bryan) grows to hate her "Aunt Charlotte", now sour looking and stern, while Delia hasn't seemed to age at all.
It's obvious that the egotistical Hopkins cared more about image than reality, while Davis doesn't give a crap, only wanting to play the part as written. That's not to dismiss Hopkins, giving a sincere performance, only changing her hair style slightly to indicate the passage of time. Donald Crisp as an old family friend is superb, while Louise Fazenda's old nurse delightfully loyal.This is excellent on every level, and I mark Davis's performance as even better than the one she managed to be nominated for in a year of hits, "Dark Victory". Davis doesn't even mind a shadow covering half her face, as if during this scene (where she practices disciplining Bryan) to indicate the shadow of a life her existence has become. I could watch all of Davis's classics back to back with only a break for sleep, and never be tired of them.