![]() ![]() ![]() It seemed that the camera was a little more in love with her as a brunette (her natural hair colour) and now the audience was getting further into her psyche even as her body’s actions seemed to be pushing them a little further back. Her retreat into more obviously mannered performances took place at the end of the 1930s when her characteristic tics become more evident in women’s melodramas and her brittle movements were more focussed and she is shot even closer than before, bug eyes declaring a strangeness that beguiled and fascinated. Despite her position as the Queen of the Warners lot, it was the first year she obtained star billing. She won her first Academy Award for Dangerous (1935) in the dazzling role of a theatre actress who was maintaining a double life as an addict, allegedly based on the tragic Jeanne Eagels and subsequently for Jezebel (1938, Wyler), a showy part that served as a placebo for losing the role of Scarlett O’Hara and in which she again played a dichotomous character of an outrageous Southern belle. She would successfully interpret Maugham again in The Letter (1940, Wyler). Two years later she consolidated that with glittery blonde eroticism as she played her first controversial Maugham heroine in Of Human Bondage (1934, Cromwell). A trained theatre actress, she initially worked at Universal Studios but soon became a staple at Warner Bros., where she achieved stardom in The Man Who Played God (1932) opposite George Arliss, after she was initially marketed as a comedy coquette and then as a result of the studio strategy of ‘off casting’ became a vamp, then alternated that with ‘good’ roles intended to deploy her abilities beyond the readily differentiated image (Klaprat in Balio, 1985: 356 372-375). Davis’ career, which lasted from 1931 until 1989, maps across the major developments in the sound era, from its commencement to its demise. A Stolen Life was her sole production venture and as such warrants analysis. Her feisty persona became authenticated through her performances and she was always associated with the role of the independent woman. She fearlessly went on suspension many times in order to achieve the roles she wanted and won two Academy Awards. Her loss (legal and financial) was famous but it paved the way for future production successes amongst actors. A sojourn in England during which she lost her expensive case encouraged Warners to re-hire her under apparently more favourable conditions although she still found herself in demeaning roles. in the 1930s and set a precedent amongst actors fighting the restrictions (and payment) of their studio contracts. She had had a very public legal spat with Warner Bros. A Stolen Life (1946, Bernhardt) occupies a very special place in the Davis canon: it was the only one of her films that Davis herself produced under B.D. Assisted by special effects wizardry from Willard Van Enger and Russell Collings, both Davis and Davis are terrific in their roles.Bette Davis was a star of the first order with a duality about her persona which was serially and successfully exploited by writers and directors throughout her long career. Expect, of course, the titular "A Stolen Life" as the evil Davis moves to steals her sister's man. Throw in the fact that Bette Davis (also as Patricia "Pat" Bosworth) plays her own slutty sister, and you've struck movie gold. You can definitely sense some subtext and symbolism in this picture And, you can't go wrong with Bette Davis melodramatically falling in love amidst crisp direction by Curtis Bernhardt, beautiful black-and-white photography by Ernest Haller and Sol Polito, a sweet soundtrack by Max Steiner, and the crew at Warner Bros. Later, cocky Dane Clark (as Karnock) intrudes. Brennan's portrait - but, she really wants to show Ford her etchings. On the verge of spinsterhood, Davis is clearly attracted to Ford, and arranges to paint Mr. Ford's crusty lighthouse keeper, Walter Brennan (as Eben Folger). Handsome young Glenn Ford (as Bill Emerson) happens by, and Ms. Wealthy New England artist Bette Davis (as Kate Bosworth) emerges late from her star vehicle, and misses the boat taking her to visit her cousin, the distinguished Charlie Ruggles (as Freddie Linley). ![]()
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