Romancefest 19: Dark Victory

This is the second Bette Davis movie of the month, and it has a lot in common with the first. I liked NOW, VOYAGER better, but the stories are similar -- in each film, Davis plays an emotionally and medically crippled woman who attempts to learn to live her life on her own terms with the help of some male influences.

This time around, instead of mental illness, Davis' character is suffering from a brain tumor and knows she only has a limited time to live. We meet her at the age of 23 as a rich, hedonistic orphan, partying all night and showing/racing/jumping horses and hunting all day (when she's not sleeping in). She's bothered by what she thinks are increasingly troublesome hangovers, but she soon learns the truth -- she's dying.

She reluctantly visits a specialist, played by George Brent, who operates on her tumor and eventually falls in love with her. Meanwhile, her stable hand, played by Humphrey Bogart, offers her an alternative look at life, first appearing as an affable but insolent employee, then stepping in as a potential slummy roll in the hay, and finally as a source of unconventional wisdom. It's interesting to see Bogart in a supporting role since I've mostly just seen his starring vehicles.

Geraldine Fitzgerald and Ronal Reagan round out the cast as a loyal assistant/best friend and likable, but wasted, perpetual party guest.

As the movie opened I didn't think Davis' role was as complex as her role in NOW, VOYAGER, where she suggested a lot of inner turmoil with pained facial expressions. But, as the plot thickened, the role got a little meatier as Davis had to act insecure without acting insecure -- putting on a brave, fun-loving, party girl face while clearly being horrified. Again, she's able to transmit a lot of this with her facial expressions -- she has a face that's beautiful when she smiles, but sour as hell when she doesn't. But, she's also good at fidgeting around with her hands and other props, heightening the tension of a scene simply by occupying it with an endless nervous energy. It's not your typical glamorous leading lady stuff.

The interesting part of the movie is the main characters' growth. The part that keeps me at an emotional distance is the death plot. Yes, her illness is integral to the entire premise of the movie, but in narratives like these it almost works as a short cut to manipulation. I mean, who would dare have a heart cold enough to not care about this stuff? It's as if the movie is guilting you into liking it.

But, the movie kind of earns it by dealing with the implications of the main characters' situation, and the impact on the supporting characters, who are all three dimensional, even Reagan's lovable drunk. Unlike, say, LOVE STORY, where without the death, you'd have nothing.