Without any doubt, her CUTTEST performance EVER -only comparable to her WONDERFUL job in The Whales of August (1987). She looks absolutely GORGEOUS as 'Gabby Maple', the young, naive, innocent girl who loves poetry.
Come up and see me sometime...
-Mae West-
Yeah certainly one of the films in which she's at her most adoreable, along with Kid Galahad.
Don't worry darling. If you can paint, I can walk. Anything can happen.
Totally agree
Thanks for writing.
Fran.-
Come up and see me sometime...
-Mae West-
I recently saw her in a complitely different role in The Virgin Queen (1955). It's amazing how versatile she actually is- so different in all her movies, you can't relate one Bette character to another. I can see why is she the most mentioned while talking about the greatest actresses.
Don't worry darling. If you can paint, I can walk. Anything can happen.
Once more, you're totally right.
I must confess that I didn't see The Virgin Queen yet. But I saw another similar one: the amazing The Privates Lifes of Elizabeth And Essex (1939), where she also portrayed the Queen Elizabeth I (by the way, it will be released on DVD format very soon, I think the next month or april).
Of course she still IS the greatest one
Thanks again.
Fran.-
Come up and see me sometime...
-Mae West-
I've seen only some clips of The Private Lives of of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), but from what I heard I must see it- the famous scene in which she's slapping Errol Flynn can't be missed:)
I totally agree that she's the greatest actress of all, and she also has something special cause she can make me watch anything in which she's in a million times. For example I can't help but watch Madame Sin everytime it's on tv- not because of the rather weak movie, but because she's so damn good in it.
Don't worry darling. If you can paint, I can walk. Anything can happen.
That sequence you mentioned is one of the greatest-funnies of the movie, and certainly you can't miss it. But the rest of this great movie is dramatic, with some wonderful romantic moments. It also was one of her best performances ever!
I think I do feel the same. I have seen some of her movies A LOT of times: for example, one of my favorites, Dead Ringer (1964) or Jezebel (1938). I think I never will be bored of them...
...all because, like you said... she's so damn good in it!
Come up and see me sometime...
-Mae West-
She's definitely a real cutie in this movie. I would say that only in Jezebel and maybe The Man Who Came to Dinner did she look better.
shareI quite agree. Bette Davis is just darling in this charming film. Sure it's got flaws in the sound/filming, but tell me why I could care less. I just loved it!
shareI do it as well!
Thanks for writing.
Fran.-
Come up and see me sometime...
-Mae West-
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I have seen just about all of Bette Davis classics, but The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex did nothing for me. Errol and Oliva were the stand outs.
But you are, Blanche! You ARE in that chair!
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I think she was cute/adorable/charming in a totally believable way, and would be equally so in "Dark Victory".
shareShe was amazing, extremely believable in this role. She gives this film life right away, she's a total breath of fresh air. This is my favorite performance I've seen of her so far.
My body's a cage, it's been used and abused...and I...LIKE IT!!
Beautifully said! She's absolutely lovely in it, and it's a pity that this performance of hers is often either overlooked or underrated. She certainly did a great job and I wish it was better remembered and taken into account.
Animal crackers in my soup
Monkeys and rabbits loop the loop
No doubt. This whole film is way too overlooked I think. It really is one of my all time favorites. A lot of very conservative people seem to have a hard time with some of the messages in this film however. I really think that's one of the major reasons why it isn't more known and respected. It definitely deserves more praise and higher classic status in my view.
My body's a cage, it's been used and abused...and I...LIKE IT!!
Quite right - it deserves proper classic status, but as you said, perhaps because of the progressive messages in the film, it'll be known as a classic only amongst those who recognise the triumph here of great theatre becoming great cinema. Howard, Davis & Bogart certainly deserve their praises, but let's not forget the sensitivities of the director Archie Mayo too, who kept the focus on the human essence of the characters.
I can imagine conservatives resisting the messages of The Petrified Forest - not only in 1936, but also today. I know a few people in my neighbourhood who'd walk out if they hear such "sacrilege" like nature striking back at mankind or the value of a woman to a man. Yet, it's not all futile. I was raised in such an ultra-conservative environment, and saw everything in black & white while growing up. But it was thanks to exposure to works of real meaning (performing arts, music, literature, photography) that my mind began to open and I could escape from the containing effect of fundamentalist thought. I'm pretty sure The Petrified Forest had a similar positive effect on many viewers with inquiring minds but who haven't expanded their intellectual horizons yet. It must have given them some pause for thought, at least.
How come consevative = bad but conservation = good?
Fundamentalist = bad but fundamental = good?
The words are similar (same stem) but are used in different contexts - surely that's not too hard to figure out. Word morphology (in any language) doesn't follow strict logical rules like, say, maths.
I love Davis in this film and with Leslie Howard. I found it more similar to Dark Victory because she played the anti-bitch for a change. I lliked the sound of her voice during her younger years. Too bad is was so affected by smoking. Just 14 years later, In All About Eve, it sounded quite a bit tougher.
shareI love too her pairings with Leslie Howard, despite they didn't like each other and most people would say there was no chemistry between both of them. I think quite the opposite: they look great together, as an on-screen couple, and I wish they had made a couple more movies together, at least. I guess my favorites are this one and "Of Human Bondage".
As for her voice, I have to admit it's kind of strange sometimes to hear that sweet voice of hers while a young girl! Although, I really love her voice from any stage of her career, even the husky-affected one of the mid and late years. It is so distinctive, and I'm sure she used it very cleverly to make a self-parody sometimes. She did have a great sense of humor about herself.
Animal crackers in my soup
Monkeys and rabbits loop the loop
Bette Davis's films tend more to be seen from the later period. Like Baby Jane, which was a great film. But when I first came upon them, I missed that element of self parody, an element that was clear to me when I saw it recently. But when you take a look at her whole career, like the forties film A Stolen Life, recently on TCM, and Petrified Forest, which i have on dvd, from the thirties (merely as examples), you come away with a sense of her great range and, in her earlier years, a charming beauty. Great great actress.
shareBeautifully expressed, kenny-164. She was quite versatile and played so many kinds of characters in her early-mid years, even though she "is" Margo Channing or Baby Jane Hudson only on most people's minds. When I became I fan, I started by her lesser known films (The Bride Came C.O.D., The Catered Affair, June Bride, etc.), then I kind of first got a wider picture of her movie persona. Most people tend to forget she could do anything when necessary. And I agree that she was beautiful and smoking hot in her early years and then some.
Animal crackers in my soup
Monkeys and rabbits loop the loop
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Uncle,
I did not say she was a GREAT beauty, but to miss that in her earlier years she had beauty is simply wrong. And how do you get I did not say she deserved acknowledgement as an actress???
As for the roles she chose, I do not dispute there was an element of guts involved, but she herself I take it explained it more as a challenge to her craft to take roles where the character was, in general terms, difficult.
You must have been having a bad day when you posted that. I am being generous.
I'm re-watching Petrified Forest which I've seen many times, but I've always been so dazzled by Bogart that I sort of overlooked Bette's performance. This time I'm paying attention, and I'm really impressed by the intelligence of her acting. She really was great. And beautiful.
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