Exploring Bette Davis’ filmography has given me some of my favorite experiences with cinema I’ve had so far, this only makes a dozen of her movies that I’ve seen without even seeing her biggest roles like All About Eve and What Ever Happened To Baby Jane yet I already feel more than comfortable declaring her my favorite actress to ever live. And it’s roles just like this one in John Huston In This Our Life that earns her that merit, where I’ve usually seen her play charming or domineering characters this movie gave me my first glimpse of her playing a straight up evil person and it was an absolute delight to watch. I really don’t think I’ve ever seen an actor act with their eyes better than Bette, that final scene where everything comes crashing down on her is one I’d put up there with some of the best individual acting moments of her career, just so so good. Outside of Bette and Olivia de Havilland I’m disappointed to say that the film itself let me down a little bit, I loved the concept and throughout the movie, and especially in the third act, there were plenty of intense and well written drama moments to keep me more than entertained through the whole watch, I guess I just wanted a bit more from it with how much potential I saw and with an unsatisfying ending I just can’t rate this movie as high as it might’ve reached because the lows decently impacted my enjoyment. I want to focus on what it did right though because it really did a lot, I liked the relationship dynamics here and with some truly shocking moments that don’t feel Hays-code adherent at all I was also a fan of the direction the story took said dynamics, as far as romance dramas go I don’t think I’ve seen one this adventurous in the exploration of touchy and daring themes since I first went through David Lean’s filmography and that’s a very high compliment as he’s one of my favorites ever and I absolutely adore what he did with his romances. It’s also shot nicely with some beautiful lighting that I of course expected because of John Huston directing and also some nicely composed shots, even though through three films now Huston has never passed the 3.5 mark each one of his movies have really been beautiful visual experiences and I appreciate him for that. I mentioned her earlier but Olivia de Havilland was also a highlight of the cast, this only marks 3 roles I’ve seen her take on and in each one she’s been a delight, I can’t wait to seek out more of her movies as I’ve only really seen her in supporting roles and I’d love to see her in a lead. A very enjoyable 100 minutes of pulpy family/romance drama that satisfies with its great performances and impressive direction, I almost didn’t watch this tonight and even though it may not have reached as high as I thought possible I’m still very happy I threw it on.
Exploring Bette Davis’ filmography has given me some of my favorite experiences with cinema I’ve had so far, this only makes a dozen of her movies that I’ve seen without even seeing her biggest roles like All About Eve and What Ever Happened To Baby Jane yet I already feel more than comfortable declaring her my favorite actress to ever live. And it’s roles just like this one in John Huston In This Our Life that earns her that merit, where I’ve usually seen her play charming or domineering characters this movie gave me my first glimpse of her playing a straight up evil person and it was an absolute delight to watch. I really don’t think I’ve ever seen an actor act with their eyes better than Bette, that final scene where everything comes crashing down on her is one I’d put up there with some of the best individual acting moments of her career, just so so good. Outside of Bette and Olivia de Havilland I’m disappointed to say that the film itself let me down a little bit, I loved the concept and throughout the movie, and especially in the third act, there were plenty of intense and well written drama moments to keep me more than entertained through the whole watch, I guess I just wanted a bit more from it with how much potential I saw and with an unsatisfying ending I just can’t rate this movie as high as it might’ve reached because the lows decently impacted my enjoyment. I want to focus on what it did right though because it really did a lot, I liked the relationship dynamics here and with some truly shocking moments that don’t feel Hays-code adherent at all I was also a fan of the direction the story took said dynamics, as far as romance dramas go I don’t think I’ve seen one this adventurous in the exploration of touchy and daring themes since I first went through David Lean’s filmography and that’s a very high compliment as he’s one of my favorites ever and I absolutely adore what he did with his romances. It’s also shot nicely with some beautiful lighting that I of course expected because of John Huston directing and also some nicely composed shots, even though through three films now Huston has never passed the 3.5 mark each one of his movies have really been beautiful visual experiences and I appreciate him for that. I mentioned her earlier but Olivia de Havilland was also a highlight of the cast, this only marks 3 roles I’ve seen her take on and in each one she’s been a delight, I can’t wait to seek out more of her movies as I’ve only really seen her in supporting roles and I’d love to see her in a lead. A very enjoyable 100 minutes of pulpy family/romance drama that satisfies with its great performances and impressive direction, I almost didn’t watch this tonight and even though it may not have reached as high as I thought possible I’m still very happy I threw it on.
