Bette Davis's 3 films with William Wyler are undoubted classics (JEZEBEL, THE LETTER, THE LITTLE FOXES) where she was dressed by Orry-Kelly (see post below), but perhaps NOW VOYAGER in 1942 is her most perfect role (along with DARK VICTORY) where her repressed mother-dominated frumpy spinster Charlotte Vale is transformed into a soigne, sleek woman of the world due to Claude Rains psychiatrist ..... Bette is helped immeasurably here by Orry-Kelly again who designed a perfect wardrobe for her .... looking at the film again the clothes seem not to have dated at all. (See Bette-1 label for feature I did on this 5 years ago..)
I particularly like Bette's THE GREAT LIE (with Mary Astor) and OLD ACQUAINTANCE (with Miriam Hopkins) as my favourite '40s movies of hers - and its another look at her two sisters in the 1946 A STOLEN LIFE (with Glenn Ford - see below) coming up soon.
My only comment here since Bette is to the fore is that I watched THE ANNIVERSARY again the other night. I can't believe I ever rated this film; it was beyond dreadful!
ReplyDeleteI saw the stage version in 1966 where Mona Washbourne played the mother with a lot of humour, most of the cast reprised their roles in the awful film, apart from Michael Crawford who played the youngest son. I was taken backstage by a friend and they all signed my programme. Sheila Hancock later played the mother herself in a revival about a decade ago. Hammer decided to let Bette go over the top and chomp the scenery for the film ...
ReplyDeleteThe play could only have been better. I wonder what Bette thought of it!
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