Dark Victory

Starring:Bette Davis, George Brent, Humphrey Bogart, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Ronald Reagan, Henry Travers, Cora Witherspoon, Dorothy Peterson, Virginia Brissac, Charles Richman, Herbert Rawlinson, Leonard Mudie, Fay Helm, Lottie Williams, Glen Cavender, David Newell, Jack Mower, Leyland Hodgson, Maris Wrixon, Alexander Leftwich
Director: Edmund Goulding
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Even in the 21st century, very few film stars create and define their own genre--and certainly not in the complete way Bette Davis did. The Bette Davis Collection gives an exceptionally good survey of essential Bette, with four of the five films absolute knock-down classics from her long reign at Warner Bros. Davis's personality was so strong that she tended to overpower her directors, but William Wyler was one of the few to maintain his own distinctive style with her, and The Letter (1940) is a triumph for both of them. At a humid Malaysian plantation, Davis kills a man in the brilliant opening sequence, and the remainder is a darkly suggestive unraveling of the complicated explanation.

Dark Victory (1939) and Now, Voyager (1942) would be on anybody's list of most representative Davis pictures. In the former, she's a doomed heiress nobly losing her eyesight, a multiple-handkerchief situation that proved one of her biggest hits. Voyager allows Davis one of her favored techniques (appearing frumpy for at least part of her performance) as a mother-dominated spinster who comes out of her shell. Her match with Paul Henreid--and the music of Max Steiner--turns this into one luscious melodrama.

If Mr. Skeffington (1944) is not as celebrated as those films, it is nevertheless a characteristic Warners work-out. Davis wasn't shy about playing unsympathetic roles, and Fanny Skeffington--vain, selfish, married for practicality--is an exasperating tour de force. She gets good support from Claude Rains as the sensible, adoring husband. The Star (1952) is no classic, but its Pirandellian aspects will appeal to the actress's fans: Bette plays a washed-up Oscar-winning star desperate to get herself back in the public eye (think if it as a less witty postscript to All About Eve). There's some hint the main character is modeled more on Joan Crawford than Bette herself, in which case Davis must have loved playing it.

Extras are modest, with short featurettes giving background on three of the discs, and director Vincent Sherman providing commentary for Mr. Skeffington. But the films themselves, and their neurotically intense star, are quite capable of standing alone. --Robert Horton

Description

The Bette Davis Collection includes 3 new-to-DVD classics, featuring Davis in multiple Emmy-nominated performances as a captivating adulteress, a manipulative beauty, and a former Oscar-winning actress recovering from the end of her career.

Customer Reviews:

Changing my tune.......2007-05-05

As my tagline indicates I am mad about musicals, and I vowed I would never add dramas to my collection because with musicals, you can play the numbers over and over again, like a record, and enjoy. You can never tire of songs, dance and spectacle. But dramas? Once seen, to be put away for years, otherwise you become too familiar with the plot and the initial impact weakens. I revised my thinking with the release of the Bette Davis Collections because I realised that - in keeping with my love of musicals - every Bette Davis movie is a symphony. A symphony of emotions that equals major musical works - grand opera, concertos, and the subtlety of chamber ensembles. I also have a personal connection with "Dark Victory" and "Now Voyager". They were the work of screenwriter Casey Robinson, top Warner Brothers writer of the 30's and 40's, who retired with his Australian wife, Joan, to Sydney and became a close friend. Having heard all the stories, I asked him if Bette was difficult. "She never changed a line," he told me, "she respected a good script." Enough said. I worry a bit about them shoving "The Star" into this collection - it's a lesser vehicle when they could have included "The Old Maid" or "The Sisters"...but that's the deal, huh? It seems 'collections' are an opportunity to offload at least one minor low-budget movie. However, it's still interesting given Bette's typically bravura performance, and it's wonderful that her formidable contribution to cinema is preserved so magnificently. Go see what I think about Collection Two.

The Bette Davis Collection.......2007-02-23

Absolultely must have for any fan. It is great. I love "The Letter".

Regards

BRAVO!.......2007-02-17

My favorite is Mr. Skeffingtion. Talk about a dose of cold hard reality. That psychiatrist was a real trip! Very enjoyable movie.

Fabulous.......2006-12-23

Better is the best and fabulous in this box set. We've never had a better actress.

Bette Davis's Best Movies All In One Simple Box.......2006-11-04

People have often said that Bette Davis is the most versitile and simply the best actress to have come out of Hollywood, and until Meryl Streep came along I would agree with that statement, Bette Davis give remarkable performances in all five of these films, In The Letter, Bette Davis gives one of her finest performances a moody cheating housewife who murders her lover and then claims it was self defence, in Now Voyage she plays the shy and intraverted daughter of a controlling mother, when the mother dies she has trouble coming out of her shell and when she does she finds love, but none of it is that simple, a very good film, extremely good dialogue, all the films in this box set a brilliant and I would recommend these films to anyone that wants to watch a film with real actors that have real talent.

Dark Victory (Restored and Remastered Edition)

Average customer rating:

Dark Victory
Powerful Acting
If you are ever in the need of a good cry...
One of Bette's Finest, a True Vehicle for Her Genius
A Great Movie And Performance By Davis

Dark Victory (Restored and Remastered Edition)
Starring: Bette Davis , George Brent , Humphrey Bogart , Geraldine Fitzgerald , and Ronald Reagan
Director: Edmund Goulding
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Similar Items:

Now, Voyager (Keepcase)
Jezebel (Restored and Remastered Edition)
Mr. Skeffington
The Letter
The Little Foxes

ASIN: B0008ENIDE
Release Date: 2005-06-14

Amazon.com essential video

Critic Pauline Kael called this shamelessly enjoyable, vintage Bette Davis weepie a "kitsch classic," and time hasn't diminished its ability to give the tear ducts a good flushing. Davis plays a swinging socialite, living the fast life of booze, smokes, and--with the help of Humphrey Bogart as her Irish stableman--raising thoroughbred horses. When a brain tumor starts giving her headaches and eroding her vision, she falls in love with her surgeon (George Brent), who grows more determined than ever to cure her. Davis gives one of her most vibrant performances, and her costars also include Ronald Reagan and Geraldine Fitzgerald. The film received Oscar nominations for best picture, best actress, and for Max Steiner's score. --Jim Emerson

Description

Bette Davis?s bravura, moving-but-never-morbid performance as Judith Traherne, a dying heiress determined to find happiness in her few remaining months, remains a three-hankie classic. But that success would never have happened if Davis hadn?t pestered studio brass to buy Dark Victory?s story rights. Jack Warner finally did so skeptically. Who wants to see a dame go blind? he asked. Almost everyone: Dark Victory was Davis? biggest box-office hit yet and garnered Academy Award nominations for 1939?s Best Picture, Actress and Original Score (Max Steiner).

Customer Reviews:

Dark Victory.......2007-06-20

Based on Casey Robinson's stage drama, which starred Tallulah Bankhead, this Oscar-nominated weepie about a dying socialite trying to find happiness in the remaining months of her life scored with audiences in 1939. It's not hard to see why: the luminous Davis is superb, convincingly transforming herself from a bossy, devil-may-care horse breeder into a down-to-earth, spiritually humble human being. Humphrey Bogart does a sprightly turn as an Irish stable hand (yes, it's true), and watch for Ronald Reagan, who's terrific as Judith's suitor, Alec Hamin. If you're in the mood for a good cry, "Dark Victory" is your ticket to tearful bliss.

Powerful Acting.......2007-04-20

Judith Traherne (Bette Davis) lives a life of luxury. She has great friends like Ann King (Geraldine Fitzgerald), a smitten gentleman friend (Ronald Reagan), and a bevy of horses and her own stablehand (Humphrey Bogart). That all changed when her eyesight begins to fail. Reluctantly, she goes to a doctor (George Brent) and is told that she must undergo and opperation. She believes it has been a success, but Dr. Steele knows that she has a short time to live. The problem is, he has fallen in love with her, so in order to protect her, he decides to let her believe everything is okay.

The acting in this film is superb. Davis constantly performs and always knows how to draw emotion from the audience. Fitzerald is also remarkable, a little known talent. There are several times when Max Steiner's music and the dramatic events turn the film into a high class melodrama, but the emotional intensity makes it seem more realistic than campy.

If you are ever in the need of a good cry..........2007-04-14

Bette Davis gives a virtuoso performance here as Judith Traherne, a young, rich, headstrong woman who has a brain tumor. At first she denies her symptoms, the headaches, the blurred vision, the loss of sensitivity in her right arm, the fainting spells, but then she is taken to Dr. Frederick Steele (George Brent) who is about to quit his practice and devote himself to medical research. A wonderfully animated Bette Davis shows us how a young woman might react as she is won over by a man to whom she is becoming increasingly attracted. As he examines her she goes through the stages of reluctance, acquiescence, attraction, and then the headlong fall toward love.

Dark Victory is famously known as a "three-hankies tear-jerker" and it is that for sure. If you can keep a dry eye through the last reel, you need to have your pulse taken. This is a tragedy with a silver lining, a human victory over the darkness to come. It is melodramatic with the focus on the utter capriciousness of the tumor that medical science cannot arrest, and on what it is like to go from happiness to despair, to the depths of depression, and then to acceptance and even a since of triumph. Davis takes us on this bumpy ride in a most convincing manner.

Humphrey Bogart is the trainer of horses who loves Judith from afar. Geraldine Fitzgerald plays Judy's best friend Ann King. Ronald Reagan has a small part as Alec Hamm, a rich drunk. Edmund Goulding directed. He is the auteur of many fine movies from the studio days of Hollywood, most notably perhaps, The Razor's Edge (1946) and Of Human Bondage (1946). The movie was adapted from the stage play by George Emerson Bremer Jr. and Betram Bloch.

(Beware of possible spoilers to come.) I would like to see the script of that play because I think there is something in this movie that was handled so delicately as to be unrealistic and even unnatural. Although Dr. Steele and Judith declare their undying love for one another, we do not see them in a scene involving physical passion. The reason for this may have been because Goulding didn't know what to do about sex and the consequences of sex in a married woman who has but a few months to live. The implication is that their marriage may not have been consummated in the usual sense.

Also handled delicately--but very well, I think--is the relationship between Ann and Dr. Steele. At one point Judith has reason to believe that Ann and Dr. Steele have been intimate, but they have not, and she comes to realize that, although they have grown close because of their mutual love for Judith. Yet at the end Judy makes her friend swear that she will take care of Frederick after she is gone. We in the audience believe that she will and we also believe that that "care" is bound to blossom into something more.

If you want to know how Bette Davis became a great star, this movie is a great place to begin. She considered this her favorite role of a lifetime and it is not hard to see why. The part allows for a wide range of emotion. Vivacious, energetic Judith is a sympathetic character, yet there are places in the story where Davis is able to be the hard, mean Bette Davis that we know from other movies, and other places where she is as light and frivolous as an airy teen.

One of Bette's Finest, a True Vehicle for Her Genius.......2007-02-22

Any real classic movie fan has seen Dark Victory at least once. Some of us have done so many times. Yes, it's a glossy, beautifully done, soapy story that gives us a young, vital, wealthy, doomed heroine (Ms. Davis) who must cope with a cruel sentence of early death. Yes, it's a good script well-played by a marvelous cast, well-directed by Edmund Goulding, etc., etc.

But why is it still considered such a classic almost SEVENTY YEARS after its release (as this is written)? Other high-class soap operas have had their day and vanished from memory--and from lists of truly good films, if they were ever there to begin with.

Not Dark Victory. And the reason for it, I am convinced, is the genius-level performance of Bette Davis, plain and simple.

Okay, her Judith Traherne has all the standard Davis mannerisms (all of them in their absolute prime in the film, like the star herself)--the manic energy, the emotional wildness, the eloquent manner of her chain-smoking, the voice, the delivery. Such a character in such a movie shouldn't move us so many decades later if it's just a standard "star turn", now should it?

But it does move us--emotionally, deeply.

It is because Davis uses everything she's got to make this character not only a bit overwhelming at times, but very real. Her change of character when she truly understands what she is facing is beautifully, gracefully done and ultimately believable. She goes from wild, self-indulgent, uncaring, spoiled rich woman to someone who through her own tragedy has learned to care for and love others. Very dangerous, cliche-ridden territory for an actress, unless you are Bette Davis, who manages the change not only with emotional realness but intellectual believability as well!

There is an undercurrent of restraint in this at-times flamboyant portrayal, and it is one that I believe Davis deliberately chose for this performance. In her final scene, when she must face her own death, it is with a truly courageous, understated acceptance which nonetheless fully shows her sadness at leaving life.

How could anyone--even Bette Davis--do this and make it so real?

The secret: She never lets her character feel sorry for herself. Rebel against her fate with characteristic self-indulgence, yes. Get angry, yes. But anyone who has seen this woman in her final moments knows that her sorrow (and quiet courage) at the inevitable end which is so close is absolutely devoid of self-pity, and it gives Judith Traherne a quality of magnificence, thanks to Davis.

That is what makes it so heartbreakingly moving, so timeless, so deeply touching.

That is the genius of Bette Davis in this, one of her greatest roles, one that she made great through her matchless talent.

Pick up this title and see what I mean!

A Great Movie And Performance By Davis.......2007-02-20

I have seen every single Bette Davis movie except for about five and those of course being the most expensive and hard to get your hands on DVDs.She is my favorite actress and blew me away in this timelessly wonderfull drama.She tells the story of life and death so well that it leaves you in tears.The outfits she wears and the eyes that she gives you are worth a million dollars.The man that plays Doctor Steele does a great performance along with Ronald Reagen, and do not dissapoint you.This is my favorite Bette Davis movie and it is a true triumph in its' own right.

Average customer rating:

Dark Victory
Powerful Acting
If you are ever in the need of a good cry...
One of Bette's Finest, a True Vehicle for Her Genius
A Great Movie And Performance By Davis

Dark Victory
Starring: Bette Davis , George Brent , Humphrey Bogart , Geraldine Fitzgerald , and Ronald Reagan
Director: Edmund Goulding
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $9.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( D ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Now, Voyager (Keepcase)
Jezebel (Restored and Remastered Edition)
Mr. Skeffington
The Letter
The Little Foxes

ASIN: B00004TX25
Release Date: 2000-09-19

Amazon.com essential video

Customer Reviews:

Dark Victory.......2007-06-20

Powerful Acting.......2007-04-20

If you are ever in the need of a good cry..........2007-04-14

One of Bette's Finest, a True Vehicle for Her Genius.......2007-02-22

A Great Movie And Performance By Davis.......2007-02-20

Average customer rating:

Dark Victory
Powerful Acting
If you are ever in the need of a good cry...
One of Bette's Finest, a True Vehicle for Her Genius
A Great Movie And Performance By Davis

Dark Victory
Starring: Bette Davis , George Brent , Humphrey Bogart , Geraldine Fitzgerald , and Ronald Reagan
Director: Edmund Goulding
Manufacturer: MGM (Warner)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video