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Official Synopsis:
The Bette Davis Collection: Volume 3 (Warner Bros.)
The Old Maid (1939) -
Let the fireworks begin. Miriam Hopkins poses as the mother of the child Davis bore out of wedlock... but the arrangement is beginning to fray.
All This, And Heaven Too (1940) -
Enchanted by governess Davis, nobleman Charles Boyer murders his wife. But is la Bette as innocent as she appears?
The Great Lie (1941) -
Friends make the best enemies. Scheming concert pianist Mary Astor and selfless Davis are entangled in secrets and lies.
In This Our Life (1942) -
Homewrecker Davis runs off with sister Olivia de Havilland's hubby... and that's just for starters! "Davis at histrionic height" (Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide).
Watch On The Rhine (1943) -
A leader of Germany's anti-Hitler underground is hunted by Nazi agents in Washington, D.C. Dashiell Hammett adapts Lillian Hellman's play.
Deception (1946) -
Now, Voyager's Davis, Claude Rains and Paul Henried reunite in a gloriously flamboyant tale of musicians, indiscretion and murder.
The Bette Davis Collection (20th Century Fox)
All About Eve (1950) -
Take in the definitive tale of backstage backstabbing as never before with this all-new 2-Disc Special Edition featuring two revealing behind-the-scenes commentaries, four illuminating featurettes and more! Winner of six Academy Awards® including Best Picture, this extraordinary film is one of the most-nominated films in Oscar® history and remains "one of the smartest pictures of all time" (Los Angeles Times)! In one of her "sharpest, truest, most sophisticated and titillating performances" (Los Angeles Examiner), screen legend Bette Davis plays stage legend Margo Channing. But as Margo's star is dimming, Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter), a young, ambitious ingénue, becomes her all-too-willing protégé. Slowly, this dreamy-eyed kid spins a deceptively cunning web around Channing's inner circle, including Margo's director boyfriend Bill Simpson (Gary Merrill), playwright Lloyd Richards (Hugh Marlowe) and his wife Karen (Celeste Holm) until she reaches the end goal - Margo's spotlight on Broadway!
Phone Call from a Stranger (1952) -
A remarkable star-studded cast, featuring Academy Award® Winners Bette Davis, Shelley Winters, and Beatrice Straight, creates "a superb film" with "so much warmth and strength" it's "a gem" highlighted by a performance by Davis that "will haunt you for days hence" (Los Angeles Examiner). The Hollywood Reporter calls this enthralling drama "warm, witty and compassionate," led by a "cast of players that could not bear improvement."
Four strangers board a plane and become fast friends, but a catastrophic crash leaves only one survivor (Gary Merrill). He then sets off on a journey to discover who his fellow passengers were, but ultimately discovers the devastating truth about himself.
The Virgin Queen (1955) -
Bette Davis delivers "an absolutely superb performance" (The Hollywood Reporter) as Queen Elizabeth I in this "brilliantly acted love triangle" (The Hollywood Reporter), a swashbuckling historical adventure co-starring Richard Todd (THE NAKED EARTH) and Joan Collins (THE GIRL IN THE RED VELVET SWING). In an effort to advance his ambition to sail to the New World on behalf of his beloved England, the future Sir Walter Raleigh (Todd) enamors himself to the Queen. She initially rebuffs him, but he slowly wins her over - not just in business, but also in her heart. However, when he falls in love and marries one of her ladies-in-waiting (Collins), Raleigh enrages Elizabeth and risks everything he's fought for.
Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) -
"The blood is on the cleaver, the madwoman is on the loose, the headless corpse is on the prowl and the Guignol is about as grand as it can get" (Judith Crist)! Bette Davis re-teams with Robert Aldrich, her director on WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?, for this terrifying, gothic thriller which also stars Olivia de Havilland (GONE WITH THE WIND), Joseph Cotten (SHADOW OF A DOUBT) and Agnes Moorehead, who was nominated for a 1964 Best Supporting Actress Oscar® for her role. Charlotte (Davis) was a Southern belle preparing to elope with her married lover (Bruce Dern)...until he was murdered. Now, 37 years later, she lives alone in her mansion, slowly going mad as she is haunted by the memory of the unsolved crime and tormented by the local townspeople who believe she killed him. But when her cousin (de Havilland) comes to visit, the skeletons begin to tumble out of the closet - and that's when the terror really begins.
The Nanny (1965) -
Two-time Academy Award® Winner Bette Davis gives a "chillingly polished" (Boxoffice) performance in the spine-tingling suspense thriller, THE NANNY. Blamed for the drowning death of his little sister, ten-year-old Joey Fane (William Dix) has finally returned home after being institutionalized for two years. Placed once again under the care of his devoted nanny (Davis), Joey is soon accused of trying to poison his own mother. But when he swears it was the nanny who committed the crimes, his tormented pleas lead some to wonder: is Joey the disturbed killer everyone thinks he is, or is this dear old nanny hiding some murderous secrets? "Engaging, disturbing, and often frightening" (The Motion Picture Guide), THE NANNY is "a superior psycho-thriller" (Variety) that will keep you guessing!
Our Take:
April 5, 2008 would have been Bette Davis’ 100th birthday, so it’s only fitting that two high quality box sets were released around this time honoring the American acting icon. Combined, The Bette Davis Collection: Volume 3 (Warner Bros.) and The Bette Davis Collection (Fox) not only make for a fun Bette Davis marathon, but a representative one. The Warner Bros. set is skewed toward Davis’ earlier work, while the Fox set kicks off with Davis’ greatest triumph, All About Eve, and, as if the set was themed around the plot of that film, brings us to the twilight of Davis’ career, which found her relevant as merely a camp horror staple.
Many will argue, but I never found Bette Davis to be one of Hollywood’s knockout leading ladies, which is fine because she was so much more. Davis’ eyes are like car headlights and throughout her career (as illustrated in the eleven films within these two box sets) she would turn them on and off at her leisure. When she gets lazy or perhaps bored with a less than stellar script or director she relies very heavily on them, widening them to such a degree they seem to swallow her face; it’s intense emotion on autopilot. At her best she uses them like the great Marlon Brando would use the famous dropped glove in A Streetcar Named Desire; she plays with them and us, adding a depth of emotion to the scene that no screenwriter or director could have ever imagined. The best examples of this can be found in the strongest films in each set, All About Eve (Fox) and In This Our Life (Warner Bros.) In This Our Life has the distinction of being John Huston’s sophomore effort after The Maltese Falcon. Davis gives a terrific performance as the dark sheep daughter of a well-to-do family, creating a young treacherous villain that she would return to at the end of her career (just not as young). Huston tackles sexuality with a sort of frankness that one would not expect to see in a Production Code Era film. This theme of sexuality and how various people interact with it sets the bedrock for Reflections in a Golden Eye, a film Huston would go on to make twenty-five years later. All About Eve, of course, is simply a classic. Davis excellently plays a fading star with an authenticity that only she could have brought to the part given the fact that in 1950 she essentially was a fading star. Davis was at her best when working with a strong director who would keep her mannerisms under control and not let her get bored. This would also help explain why these two films feature her greatest performances in the sets. The rest of the films are fine entertainment; in fact, they are very good entertainment, but Davis goes through very apparent bouts of boredom and melodramatics and autopilot eyes abound.
Both box sets are filled with historical bonus material such as Fox Movietonews and Warner Night at the Movies extras (trailers, short films, newsreels, and cartoons). There are also film historian commentary tracks on the following films:
- In This Our Life
- Watch on the Rhine
- Deception
- All This and Heaven Too
- All About Eve
The Bette Davis Collection: Volume 3 and The Bette Davis Collection are must buys for all Bette Davis fans and lovers of classic Hollywood. Each set represents a different, but equally important, chapter in the illustrious career of Bette Davis.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Overall Picture:
Movies (average): A-
DVD sets: B+
- Matthew Orlando
Staff Writer
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