My early Spring 2015 film lecture series (yes, think spring!) will salute Davis with six movies that show the different ways that she expressed the battles that her characters fought.
In Jezebel, Davis is a willful Southern belle in antebellum New Orleans who refuses to follow the social mores of her day, and whose tempestuous ways bring about unhappiness for herself and others.
The Letter has Davis playing the wife of a man who runs a rubber plantation in Singapore (they're both British colonialists). She shoots and kills a man, claiming that she was defending herself from his physical advances. But what of the existence of a letter that may present the facts of the case differently?
Now, Voyager shows the resilience of the human spirit, with Davis playing a repressed spinster who evolves into a confident woman, but who nevertheless does not adhere to the path in life expected of her.
All About Eve has Davis in fine form as an aging stage actress who is not willing to settle comfortably into the quiescence imposed by her youth-centered profession, even as a young admirer plots to steal her thunder.
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? proves that Davis herself was not ready for retirement, even as she passed the half-century mark, with a warts-and-all portrayal of a faded child star who plans a comeback, as she holds her crippled sister (Joan Crawford) captive in their home. What's so impressive is that, despite the gargoyle-like outward appearance of the over-the-hill star, Davis mines the pathos at the core of the character.
Dead Ringer concludes the series, and this post-Baby Jane entry has Davis playing twins, one of whom has spent the majority of her life in the lap of luxury, while the other has eked out a hardscrabble life. Just how does the poor twin deal with her resentment of her more fortunate sister? By killing her and assuming her identity, of course.
Davis certainly led a tumultuous life, marked by the separation of her parents when she was a child (which left her without paternal love), four failed marriages, the discovery that one of her adopted children was mentally retarded, and the betrayal of her only natural-born daughter late in life. But Davis was in many ways a trailblazer. Dropped by her first movie studio because she wasn't considered sexy, she helped to recast the ways that we define beauty, paving the way for actresses like Streisand, Cher, Bette Midler, and Meryl Streep. At Warner Bros. studio, she battled fiercely for better scripts and directors, even walking out of her contract in defiance. But it was never about being a diva. If Bette was troublesome on some of her movie sets, it was always in service to the integrity of her character and the film. And, as headstrong and tenacious as she could be, Davis was insightful enough to know that she needed a strong director to temper her histrionic ways.
I look forward to you joining me, on six consecutive Wednesdays at 1:00 PM beginning March 4th, to contemplate and enjoy just a sampling of the work of this most iconic actress of the golden days of Hollywood cinema.
Doug Swiszcz
Librarian & Film Enthusiast
Here's the line-up:
March 4th - Jezebel (1938 - black &white - 104 minutes)
March 11th - The Letter (1940 - black & white - 95 minutes)
March 18th - Now, Voyager (1942 - black & white - 117 minutes)
March 25th - All About Eve (1950 - black & white - 138 minutes)
April 1st - Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962 - black & white - 134 minutes)
April 8th - Dead Ringer (1964 - black & white - 116 minutes)
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