To commemorate Bette Davis' 100th birthday, Warner Brothers are
releasing six films from her heyday on DVD for the first time.
The box set features some of her best films, including:
- In This Our Life: The tale of two sisters, Stanley (Bette
Davis) and Roy (Olivia de Havilland) Timberlake. When Stanley
runs off with Roy's husband, she soon drives him to suicide. Upon
her return home she finds that Roy has fallen in love with her
ex-fiancé, Craig. Stanley, being a selfish and jealous woman,
tries to get Craig back which leads to a climatic conflict.
- The Old Maid: Based on an Edith Wharton novel and Pulitzer
Prize-winning play, The Old Maid tells the sad story of
Charlotte, a woman whose circumstances force her to give up her
illegitimate child and pose as the childs "old maid" aunt,
thereby facing a lifetime of maternal sacrifice. As Charlotte,
Bette Davis gives one of her most nuanced performances, aging
from wide-eyed girl to gray-haired martinet. Miriam Hopkins
provides effective counterbalance with her portrayal of
Charlottes effusive cousin, who raises the little girl.
- All This And Heaven Too: The film tells the story of a
governess, Henriette Deluzy-Desportes (Bette Davis) who is
accused of having an affair with her employer, the Duc de Praslin
(Charles Boyer), and who is then accused of complicity in the
murder of his wife, the Duchesse de Praslin (Barbara O'Neil).
- The Great Lie: Tempestuous, ambitious concert pianist Sandra
Kovac (Mary Astor) shares a bond with down-to-earth Maggie Van
Allen (Bette Davis) and her little boy Pete. Sandras chic New
York friends cant imagine what the two women have in common.
What they dont know is that Pete is actually Sandras son and
the son of the heroic aviator (George Brent) that both women
love. Powerful emotions rage against a backdrop of powerful music
in the film that earned Astor a 1941 Best Supporting Actress
O® for her stellar performance site the legendary star
who always gives a tour-de-force performance.
- Watch On The Rhine: An adaptation of Lillian Hellman's play,
Bette Davis and Paul Lukas are German anti-Nazi underground
leaders who flee the country, only to be pursued to the U.S. by
Nazi agents.
- Deception: The three stars (Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Claude
Rains) and director (Irving Rapper) of Now Voyager reunite for
this glamorous, angst-ridden melodrama. Based on Louis Verneuils
1928 play Jealousy, the film tells the story of pianist Christine
Radcliffe separated from her great love, cellist Karel Novak by
World War II. Unexpectedly reunited with him, Christine
desperately strives to hide her wartime dalliance as the mistress
of a wealthy, sadistic composer (Rains), with devastating
results.
From .co.uk
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To quote Claude Reins in Deception, Bette Davis is "all eyes and
talent," and both burn bright in six vintage films she made for
Warner Bros. between 1939-46. Lesser known than her certified
classics, these are not exactly best Bettes, but they are
marvelously entertaining and a representative showcase for one of
Hollywoods most enduring leading ladies. These eminently
repeatable films put Davis (and viewers) through the ringer. Few
actresses portrayed characters who suffered the slings and arrows
of outrageous misfortune so grandly, so regally, so tragically,
or so deservedly.
As an ad for one of Davis movies once famously procled, when
she was good, she was very good. When she was bad, she was
terrific. Just check out John Hustons In This Our Life (1942),
this sets unearthed treasure. Bette, flouncing like mad, jilts
her fiancée, steals good sister Olivia de Havillands husband,
and promptly drives him to drink and suicide. And shes just
getting warmed up! (You dont need Jeannine Basingers informed
commentary to debunk the tantalizing movie legend about a
supposed cameo by members of the Matlese Falcon cast. Those gents
at the bar look nothing like Bogie and company. But that is
Walter, Johns her, tending bar). Davis was also very good at
being noble. In the prestige project, Watch on the Rhine (1943),
based on Lillian Hellmans play and adapted for the screen by
Dashiell Hammett, she is the steadfast wife to Paul Lukas, in his
O-winning role, as a "legendary figure of the underground
movement," who carries on his fight against fascism in
Washington, D.C. In The Old Maid (1939), based on the novel by
Edith Wharton, Bette allows her cousin (Miriam Hopkins) to give
her illegitimate child a respectable name, and, posing as the
girls unsuspecting aunt, must stand by while she grows up
spoiled and "horrid." And in All This and Heaven Too (1940), she
is a transed French schoolteacher who regales her initially
scornful students with the true story behind her scandalous past.
Deception is another ripping melodrama in which she stars as a
pianist whose reunion with her lost love (Paul Henreid), a
cellist is threatened by Rains as her arrogant and sadistic
Svengali (whos responsible for those minks in her closet). Last
but not least is The Great Lie, (1941), pitting Bette against
Mary Astor, who won an Academy Award as the bitchy concert
pianist whose son Bette is raising (long story, but it involves
missing aviator George Brent, whom they both love). These films
offer such they-don't-make-'em-like-this-anymore pleasures as
lush, melodramatic scores by such masters as Max Steiner,
hothouse emotions, quotable dialogue, and, of course, indelible
character actors at their peak. These films are seen to their
best advantage when viewed as part of each discs bonus features
that recreate an old fashioned "Night at the Movies".--Donald
Liebenson
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Synopsis
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IN THIS OUR LIFE Homewrecker Davis runs off with sister Olivia de
Havilland’s hubby and that’s just for starters! THE OLD MAID Let
the fireworks begin. Miriam Hopkins poses as the mother of the
child Davis bore out of wedlock…the arrangement is beginning to
fray. ALL THIS, AND HEAVEN TOO Enchanted by governess Davis,
nobleman Charles Boyer murders his wife. But is la Bette as
innocent as she appears? THE GREAT LIE Friends make the best
enemies. Scheming concert pianist Mary Astor and selfless Davis
are entangled in secrets and lies. DECEPTION Now, Voyagers'
Davis, Claude Rains and Paul Henried reunite in a gloriously
flamboyant tale of musicians, indiscretion and murder. WATCH ON
THE RHINE A leader of Germany’s anti-Hitler underground is hunted
by Nazi agents in Washington DC. Dashiell Hammett adapts Lillian
Hellman’s play.
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