Bette Davis is my favorite actress and Dark Victory is one of my favorite movies. Although I might not have made this statement if Bette hadn't pestered Warner Bros to buy the rights to Dark Victory; Jack Warner skeptically broke down, commenting "Who wants to see a dame go blind?" When Dark Victory became a box office success, he ate his words.
In Dark Victory, Bette Davis plays Judith Traherne who begins having frequent "hang-overs" eventually leading her to brain surgeon Fredrick Steele (George Brent) who operates at alarming speed removing a tumor; although she is still going to die. Doctor Steele makes the excutive decision not to disclose this and lets Judith go on her merry way.
I myself had brain surgery and even though this is one of my favorite movies I usually end up yelling at the screen because of its inaccuracies. Besides Bette Davis having a cigarette moments before surgery (oh the good old days) my biggest problem was her hair growth.
She went from this...
 |
| cap is covering supposed "bald spot" |
To This...
 |
| In six months I had a buzz cut. What is her secret? |
On this watch I realized what an annoying spoiled brat Judith was and didn't understand how she had so many potential suitors i.e. Ronald Reagan, Humphrey Bogart and George Brent so really didn't care if she lived or died; but yet somehow Bette Davis had me moved to tears by the end. She is just that good. The storyline, while maybe a little melodramatic (being the trend in 1939) I still think it is brilliant and like Jack Warner, on first viewing believed it was a subject that is not to be touched upon. Although now we have so many fatal illnesses movies from Stepmom to Wit that it seems the norm.
I have touched on Dark Victory's Best Picture and Bette Davis' Best Actress nomination and as to the last, Best Score I didn't pay much attention to it as I was so enrapt in Judith's journey (despite my newly found dislike of her) so cannot judge on that award. Have I mentioned I love this movie? with a fantastic cast and plot Dark Victory deserves nothing less that prognosis positive.
I have touched on Dark Victory's Best Picture and Bette Davis' Best Actress nomination and as to the last, Best Score I didn't pay much attention to it as I was so enrapt in Judith's journey (despite my newly found dislike of her) so cannot judge on that award. Have I mentioned I love this movie? with a fantastic cast and plot Dark Victory deserves nothing less that prognosis positive.
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"It's important right now that we talk, killer to killer."
Unlike Addison DeWitt I would not like to talk killer to killer but rather as movie lover to movie lover. What do you think?