MovieChat Forums > The Old Maid (1939) Discussion > Better Than Dark Victory IMHO

Better Than Dark Victory IMHO

posted 17 years ago by rockwell_lancer
13 replies | jump to latest

I think this movie has been overshadowed by Dark Victory, but I like it more. It's quite the melodrama, yet quite plausible considering the story starts in 1861.
I think Davis and Miriam Hopkins play very well together. (Miriam Hopkins could sometimes overact - although she often palyed high strung self absorbed women, and after all - don't those types overact?) But I think she is really superb in this film. George Brent has a small role but he does very well with it and conveys a lot of feeling in his few scenes.

[–] Rob_Dan 17 years ago

I agree with you, The Old Maid is better than Dark Victory! The acting is superb, the sets are great in other words I rate The Old maid higher than Dark Victory. Dark Victory is also a wonderful movie,too!!

[–] larkpraise 17 years ago

Dark Victory is overrated and I think Bette's performance is uneven. The Old Maid happens to be Bette's all-time biggest box office hit and her performance as Charlotte is touching and real. One of her best. Its true though, The Old Maid outgrossed every other film of Bette's released in 1939....including Dark Victory and has remained the biggest box office success of all DAVIS pictures.

[–] zaborwi 17 years ago

Yes, i have to agree with you...this is by far my favorite BD movie...the story is compelling from start to finish. I am glad I read the other posts too...I never had a very high opinion of Tina - what a mean spolied child was my original reaction...now I can see (thanks everyone) that it is not her fault.

I like Dark Victory as well...but this one gets my highest praise

[–] Devans00 16 years ago

Although Humphrey Bogart looked wonderful as the stable hand in Dark Victory, I enjoyed The Old Maid even more. First off, I have a problem with movies that have a blind character, so that alone blocked Dark Victory being chosen the best of those two movies.

I like movies where actors can play a range of emotions from very subtle to more extreme. Bette Davis handled the range very well in The Old Maid. The unnaturalness and bothersome performance of the actor playing Tina was jarring when compared next to Davis and Hopkins. It was like some high school drama chick sneaked into a play with two accomplished stage veterans.

If a more polished actor had played the adult Clementina, The Old Maid could have become a more well known classic. Maybe even give Gone With the Wind or Jezabel a run for their money.

No two persons ever watch the same movie.

[–] boxerrebellion 7 years ago

More well known than GWTW? No, not by a long shot. Old Maid was a great film, and I loved it - but it did not have the cinematography that GWTW did, nor did it have mesmerizing male leads.

[–] netshopper-2 14 years ago

What a year for Bette in 1939!

Dark Victory
The Old Maid
Juarez
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex

The Old Maid proved to the doubters in the studio something about her and that was that she had many acting facets they hadn't tapped before.

[–] csu16387 14 years ago

MUCH better than Dark Victory. I'm no Bette Davis fan, but she gives a beautiful, heartfelt performance here. Her anger and bitterness is understood due to her sacrifice and not being able to enjoy the life she wanted. The ending is wonderful, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't tear up a bit.

Miriam Hopkins is fine here as well, but it's true she overacts at times. As mentioned, Hopkins has played self-absorbed characters before so she's in her element.

Some of the WB melodramas are hit and miss with me. The Old Maid was a big hit with me... one of Bette Davis' more underrated performances.

"Now what kind of man are YOU dude?"

[–] Harold_Robbins 11 years ago

I just watched it again and echo the sentiments here - her performance as Charlotte Lovell eclipses her work in the better-known, more celebrated DARK VICTORY.

"In my case, self-absorption is completely justified."

[–] HarlowMGM 11 years ago

I'll go even farther and say THE OLD MAID is Bette Davis' best performance of the 1930's, better even than her Oscar-winning JEZEBEL. I don't know why it's so much less known than her other major films (WB didn't even put it in one of the BD box sets until volume three!)

[–] seahawk3133 11 years ago

I enjoyed Dark Victory a lot, but The Old Maid is better.

Every additional Bette Davis movie I watch just solidifies that she is the best actress of all time

[–] fang123horn 8 years ago

I'm going to watch Dark Victory soon for the first time but I just finished watching The Old Maid and I have to say that this is WB's answer for Gone With The Wind. Yes its not as long and sweeping and epic as that film was but I could see this as a small personal version of that film and it deals with the Yankee side of the war as well as seeing how the manipulation of a woman can be used for good unlike Scarlett who always battled between selfless and selfish.

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] wmoores 7 years ago

'Dark Victory' is way down the ladder for me in ranking Bette Davis movies. There are so many that are better. For "bitchiness" you can't beat 'In This Our Lives. 'Now, Voyager,' 'The Great Lie,' and 'The Letter' plus others I can't think of are better than 'Dark Victory.' I would even put the later movies 'Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte' and 'Whatever Happened to Baby Jane' above 'Dark Victory.'