Old Maid/Dangerous [1936/1939]

• The Bette Davis Collection (Now Voyager / The Letter / Dark Victory / Mr Skeffington)
• The Nanny [1965]
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• The Little Foxes [1941] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

This classic film is a superlative soaper in which two cousins, Charlotte (Bette Davis) and Delia (Miriam Hopkins) have the misfortune to love the same man, Clem (George Brent), with lifetime repercussions for both.

The film begins around the time of the Civil War. Clem returns home, only to find that the woman he loves, Delia, is getting married that same day. She is marrying a rich banker and, though she loves Clem, a ne'er do well, she wants security, so she goes through with the marriage. Seeing and seizing an opportunity, Charlotte declares herself to Clem, telling him how she has always loved him, as he goes off to fight in the war.

Duting the war, Charlotte manages to hook up with Clem long enough to get pregnant. While away, ostensibly to recover from an illness, she has Clem's out of wedlock baby, unbeknownst to the very married Delia. Clem, in the meantime is killed in action. When Charlotte returns home, she converts her stables into a foundling home for war orphans. Among them is a special favorite named Tina.

Charlotte decides to marry her cousin's brother-in-law. On the day of her wedding, Charlotte confesses to Delia what happened between her and Clem and tells her the truth about Tina. Delia, insanely jealous over this, puts a crimp in Charlotte's wedding plans, and the wedding never takes place.

Charlotte remains single and becomes a bitter and formidable woman whom Tina knows as Aunt Charlotte. Delia, meanwhile, has Tina call her "Mummy", much to Charlotte's chagrin. Delia is having the ultimate revenge, as she has never forgiven Charlotte for her amatory trespass. As Tina grows into womanhood, she speaks disparagingly to Charlotte, saving her love and adoration for "Mummy". As Tina approaches the age at which young women marry, Charlotte makes the ultimate sacrifice for her daughter. It is a sacrific that Tina will never know, but one that will allow Tina to have the hapiness that Charlotte never had.

Miriam Hopkins and Bette Davis give wonderful performances, each compelling in its own way. Charlotte's appearance toward the end of the film is a caricature of the proverbial old maid, while Delia remains youthful and vibrant. Undoubtedly, Charlotte's appearance is a result of her suffering, knowing that her own flesh and blood loves another, as a child loves its mother. This is a film that will long be remembered by the viewer for the performances given by these two divas.

DANGEROUS: A BITTER BETTE STEALS THE SHOW...

Bette Davis won an Oscar for her deft portrayal of Joyce Heath, a former Broadway star who made a meteoric rise to the top and, just as quickly, hit bottom. Believed to be a jinx by a superstitious theatre crowd, Heath is bad news, a sloppy, bitter drunk who drowns her sorrows in gin soaked jags of self pity. The former brightest star on Broadway is now a bottom feeder, living on the skids.

Enter Don Bellows, played with earnest sincerity by Franchot Tone, a fan of Heath when she was at her peak. He claims that a performance of hers, which he saw, forever changed his life, allowing him to become the architect he always dreamed of being, rather than a stockbroker. One day, he sees Ms. Heath in a gin joint, totally in her cups. Sending his friend and his fiancee, Gail, home, he returns to the gin joint and takes Joyce Heath to his country home to rehabilitate her in repayment for the tremendous difference that she had, unknowingly, made in his life. What he does not count on is falling in love with her.

The bitter Joyce initially resists his attempts to get her back on the road to recovery, but ultimately responds to his nurturing and concern for her welfare. Recovered, she finds that she has fallen in love with him and he with her. His passion for her causes him to break off his engagement with Gail, his socially prominent fiancee.

Wanting to help Joyce regain the stardom that she previously had and that her thespian talent demands, Don backs a broadway show that he believes will allow her to regain her rightful place on Broadway. He does this, despite her protestations that she has brought only ruin to those men who had the misfortune to fall in love with her. He also insists that she marry him. His simple, though insistent, marriage proposal sets into motion a sequence of events that he could not possibly have envisioned. Enter Gordon Heath, a blast from Joyce's secret past, who must be dealt with, if Joyce is to find any happiness with Don. How she deals with him, however, sets her down a path out of one's worst nightmare. Subsequent events later make Don realize that Joyce is truly "dangerous".

Bette Davis is dazzling in her role. She runs the gamut of human emotions in playing the role of Ms. Heath and, deservedly, won what was to be the first of two Academy Awards for Best Actress. Franchot Tone is fine in his role, but what on earth the studio saw in him, I cannot fathom. He is certainly no heartthrob and is not even particularly charismatic. The role of Gordon Heath, played with simpering masochism by John Eldridge, makes the viewer marvel at the restraint Joyce had in dealing with him, as Eldridge's portrayal makes the viewer's fingers itch with the urge to slap him numerous times.

Unfortunately, the sizzle in the movie fizzles, when the film gives in towards the end to utter sanctimonious banality. It is too bad, given the performance by Ms. Davis, as it could have been a great movie. Still, this is a must see film for all Davis fans.

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