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In This Our Life
An unhappy, self-centered woman runs off with her sister's husband, wreaking havoc and ruining the lives of those around her.
Release : | 1942 |
Rating : | 7.3 |
Studio : | Warner Bros. Pictures, |
Crew : | Art Direction, Director of Photography, |
Cast : | Bette Davis Olivia de Havilland George Brent Dennis Morgan Charles Coburn |
Genre : | Drama Romance |
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One of my all time favorites.
Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.
There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.
what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
The subject matter reflects the genre: a self-centered woman destroys all who dare to love her, and the camera work in the the final chase scene is indicative of the style, with Bette's eyes in the rear view mirror as her character runs from the consequences of her own selfish choices. What possessed the studio to cast Bette Davis (who is 8 years older than Olivia de Havilland) to play the younger sister? Was the studio bound by the novel the screenplay was based upon? Davis steals her brother-in-law (Morgan) leaving her fiancé (Brent) broken-hearted. Once married, Peter ruins his career through drink and he takes his own life. Olivia de Havilland plays Roy, the long suffering sister, with a cool detachment and Billie Burke has a small role as the neurotic mother who spends what few scenes she has chewing the scenery, but she can't hold a candle to the wild-eyed Davis as the willful daughter, Stanley. The frenetic pace of the film careens to its dramatic conclusion with Davis' character unrepentant to the end. One can only imagine the fictional family is as relieved to be rid of Stanley as the actors who played them are to be done with this film. It's a stinker.
One of the plus factors about boxed sets featuring one actor, director, etc, is that nine times out of ten they are able to demonstrate any versatility they may possess and this is borne out by the five Bette Davis titles I bought this week inasmuch as that on two succeeding evenings I was able to watch one of her most selfless performances in Watch On The Rhine followed by the bitch from Hell in In This Our Life, John Huston's second film behind the camera after The Maltese Falcon. With a blonde wig and made up to resemble Betty Boop, Davis tears through the film like a twister looking for Kansas. She thinks nothing of brushing aside her husband-to-be George Brent to run away with sister Olivia de Havilland's husband, played by the ultra wooden Denis Morgan, hands down the weakest actor in the movie. Having driven him to suicide she goes back home to have another crack at Brent, now in a strong and loving relationship with de Havilland. When that fails she drives off in a high-speed huff, kills a child, severely injures its mother and blatantly lays the blame on an innocent black boy - a fine performance by Ernest Anderson. For most of her life she had enjoyed a semi-incestuous relationship with indulgent Uncle Charles Coburn but when he too, declines to help her beat the dangerous driving rap she curses him and wishes him dead. This is drama at its most melo and Frank Craven, Billie Burke and Hattie McDaniels all contribute fine cameos to say nothing of the principals from The Maltese Falcon sitting mute in a saloon as bartender Walter Huston (also uncredited) tries to speak over Davis' ranting. Great meller.
Bette Davis chews up the scenery along with most of her co-stars in this fabulously fun melodrama. As Stanley Timberlake, she plays a character with absolutely no redeeming value in this engrossing Warners film from 1942. Olivia de Havilland, playing good sister Roy Timberlake, gives a believable performance, though, if Bette were my sister, I would have done something about her years ago. The film is justly celebrated for it's depiction of racial prejudice as well as it's positive portrayal of African-Americans, something very rare in 1942. The DVD hosts a cornicopia of special features including the theatrical trailer, two Technicolor shorts, one patriotic, the other a beautiful Ballet Russe number, an incomprehensible news reel minus most of it's sound, and a pretty funny Porky Pig cartoon. The film transfer is excellent, with great picture and sound quality, and the quality highlight of the special features is the aforementioned ballet short, in the most gorgeous Technicolor, perfectly restored and presented here.
Now this one was a wild ride. I think this was the film that gave Bette Davis her reputation. Obviously she did many before this that were excellent but this one is just...wow. She's dead evil in this one.To say I was surprised at the end of this would be an understatement. I've seen quite a few of Davis' films but none have come close to evil/over-the-top of this character...IMO (maybe "The Anniversary" is close).This is certainly a well made film from cast to production. Enough can't be said about the supporting cast. They did an A+ job on getting their hands on this bunch. They all did quite well in this one.Basic premise is that Bette Davis is one of 2 sisters in a "once" rich family and she's obviously the star of the lot. She's spoiled beyond reason. If that's not bad enough, her uncle spoils her more than her father. And this relationship borders on creepy. She does whatever she wants and cares ZERO for the consequences. The whole thing starts off by her stealing her sister's husband and darting off outta town. After this it's all down hill. We get to see Davis in her absolute pinnacle of over-the-topness. You'll be stunned at the things this character does. She's shallow and cold-hearted and well...she's a Sociopath with a capital "S".Olivia de Havilland is OK. I've never been a huge fan of hers but she fills the void in her performance. With the exception of "The Snake Pit" and "Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte"...she's pretty much the same in every role so you know what to expect in this.I'm not gonna go into the rest of the film because you have to see it to believe it. It's not on the level of "Little Foxes" but it's a good film. The title itself I think was wrong but I guess they couldn't call it..."Spoiled Brat".