Slim Summerville? I'd say nay... watch Bette Davis' performance as the daughter of a plantation owner as she tries to seduce Richard Barthelmess on three occasions and you will see the makings of an actress with preternatural control of her own self and body language. Going against the code that a woman should be submissive and demure, she utters her immortal line "Ah'd like to kiss ya, but Ah'd jes washed my hair. Good bye!" with a conscious wink in her eye, as if she knew what her effect was on Barthelmess. Later, she does a slow strip-tease mainly off-screen, fully aware of her effect and willing to carry it out, and later still she sits and lazily eats dinner with Richard Barthelmess, her eyes a little sleepy and parted lips suggesting so much. I can't see what could have prompted Davis to believe herself unworthy of Hollywood. An early performance with hints of what she'd do in later films playing women in control, teamed with Barthelmess who was on the way out and with this movie had his last major starring role, and a movie that while at the time might have hit audiences with its social commentary, now seems ancient and distant.
Review of The Cabin in the Cotton
