Just as The Little Foxes was this is another fantastic William Wyler directed Bette Davis starring southern USA drama epic, and even though the masses seem to prefer the Wyler/Davis collaboration from 1941 I’d actually say this is the better film overall with both better direction from Wyler and a better lead from Ms. Davis herself. This is the one role Bette actually received an Oscar for so I’ve been really excited for it for a while now, and somehow with those expectations brewing since I first saw her in Now, Voyager last year and with this watch making role number 10 I’ve seen of hers I’m still in awe of what she accomplished here. She’s enchanting in every scene and shows more nuance in her facial expression acting than I’ve ever seen her give, I’m shocked to be saying it but this is actually my new favorite performance of hers beating out Now, Voyager which I honestly wasn’t sure was possible. Next to her I quite enjoyed Henry Fonda who I didn’t know was in this until the opening credits and for the most part it’s just a fun role for him to play but there are moments where his skill is called upon and he delivers as you’d expect, I still need to see a lot more but with roles like My Darling Clementine, Fail Safe, and smaller drama roles like this and The Mad Miss Manton I can confidently say he’s one of my favorite performers from this era. As I was saying earlier Wyler’s direction is at the highest level here that I’ve seen it so far outside of The Big Country, there were so many unforgettable shots in here of party scenes and many in between that perfectly capture why I love him so much as a director through the unique framing and shot design. For why I don’t have it higher than a four I think the romance was a bit surface level which was a bit disappointing but it was still more than serviceable, I just wish Julie had more to her character than simply pining for Pres and even though that character development was a big part of the story I was a little sad that this flaming personality we saw introduced through her wearing red to a white-only ball spent most of the movie living the opposite of that freedom. I can admit that could the point though, that Pres’ public embarrassment ruined her ability to live that independence and manipulated her into thinking only of him, but in that vein Julie choosing to go with Pres at the end makes her revert to that life of restricted independence and I don’t like that way either. And to address it yes, the romanticization of enslaved life can be uncomfortable at times but I don’t think it’s anything too detrimental to the movie although it does take away from the film for me mainly because it was an unnecessary depiction that simply didn’t need to be there. For those reasons, and even though there are the other reasons I talked about that make me want to rate it higher I feel comfortable with a 4 as I have with most of Wyler’s filmography so far, damn near every movie I’ve seen of his has been fantastic with a few small things, most of the time out of his handle, holding it back, this one marks the end to one of my greatest film days in history with having watched 4 Bette Davis roles in just 12 hours and it’s very fitting that I ended it off with the best one.
Just as The Little Foxes was this is another fantastic William Wyler directed Bette Davis starring southern USA drama epic, and even though the masses seem to prefer the Wyler/Davis collaboration from 1941 I’d actually say this is the better film overall with both better direction from Wyler and a better lead from Ms. Davis herself. This is the one role Bette actually received an Oscar for so I’ve been really excited for it for a while now, and somehow with those expectations brewing since I first saw her in Now, Voyager last year and with this watch making role number 10 I’ve seen of hers I’m still in awe of what she accomplished here. She’s enchanting in every scene and shows more nuance in her facial expression acting than I’ve ever seen her give, I’m shocked to be saying it but this is actually my new favorite performance of hers beating out Now, Voyager which I honestly wasn’t sure was possible. Next to her I quite enjoyed Henry Fonda who I didn’t know was in this until the opening credits and for the most part it’s just a fun role for him to play but there are moments where his skill is called upon and he delivers as you’d expect, I still need to see a lot more but with roles like My Darling Clementine, Fail Safe, and smaller drama roles like this and The Mad Miss Manton I can confidently say he’s one of my favorite performers from this era. As I was saying earlier Wyler’s direction is at the highest level here that I’ve seen it so far outside of The Big Country, there were so many unforgettable shots in here of party scenes and many in between that perfectly capture why I love him so much as a director through the unique framing and shot design. For why I don’t have it higher than a four I think the romance was a bit surface level which was a bit disappointing but it was still more than serviceable, I just wish Julie had more to her character than simply pining for Pres and even though that character development was a big part of the story I was a little sad that this flaming personality we saw introduced through her wearing red to a white-only ball spent most of the movie living the opposite of that freedom. I can admit that could the point though, that Pres’ public embarrassment ruined her ability to live that independence and manipulated her into thinking only of him, but in that vein Julie choosing to go with Pres at the end makes her revert to that life of restricted independence and I don’t like that way either. And to address it yes, the romanticization of enslaved life can be uncomfortable at times but I don’t think it’s anything too detrimental to the movie although it does take away from the film for me mainly because it was an unnecessary depiction that simply didn’t need to be there. For those reasons, and even though there are the other reasons I talked about that make me want to rate it higher I feel comfortable with a 4 as I have with most of Wyler’s filmography so far, damn near every movie I’ve seen of his has been fantastic with a few small things, most of the time out of his handle, holding it back, this one marks the end to one of my greatest film days in history with having watched 4 Bette Davis roles in just 12 hours and it’s very fitting that I ended it off with the best one.
