I thought Bette Davis was awful A french countess would never be like her !!! I have lived in France for 12 years in the counrtyside and know lots of them !! She is not sutle at all . The child is perfect and speaks properly
shareYeah, but she's a hell of a lot of fun to watch!
shareI would have loved to see Sir Alec play her part. In the book, I think it's said she looks very much like John/Jaques (as does the daughter, although I don't think I'd want to see Sir Alec play that part...lol).
shareI think her acting was over the top in this. I did think she was decent in her last scene though. Maybe it had to do with her character getting out of bed. Maybe I just conceded by then though.
shareThis woman is RARELY good.
The two Wyler films, Channing. The rest she's a strutting midget.
I think the main problem was the fact Miss Davis did not get on with the British film crew or the director Robert Hamer. Who by this time was almost finished in the industry as a result of chronic alcoholism. All rather sad really because he had so much talent!
shareI had just finished reading the book. It is as if the part was written with her in mind. But Davis can't do a French accent to save her life. The countess does act that way in the book.
Harry Potter Lives!
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem.
Bette's is the only over the top performance amidst a whole bunch of excellent, restrained performances. Even the evil twin is restrained in his villainy.
This can be considered Bette's "Baby Jane" audition.
Bette Davis was quite capable of restraint. In "The Great Lie", Mary Astor had the showier part and ran with it, yet Bette held her own with restraint.
She was restrained in "The Corn Is Green".
In "A Stolen Life", she played twins and managed to make them different without either twin chewing the scenery.
Davis was too intelligent to not know exactly what she was doing.
I can only suppose Davis was hired so the movie could earn money in an American distribution, and the director told her to give some juicy bits that would look good in a preview.