Holy Toledo - Bette Davis has played some really bad women in her life, but the part of Stanley tops it! Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Dennis Morgan, Charles Coburn, and George Brent star in "In This Our Life," an odd film from 1942.
Davis and de Havilland play Stanley and Roy (guess dad wanted boys). Stanley is dating Craig (Brent) and Roy is married to Peter, a doctor (Morgan). The film no sooner begins than Stanley and Peter run away together. It doesn't take long before Stanley becomes dissatisfied with Peter's lack of money as a young surgeon and his hospital hours. After Peter's suicide (I wonder), the good Roy comes and brings her sister back home. Meanwhile, Roy has started to see Craig. Stanley hates being home and prevails upon her lecherous uncle (Coburn) to give her money so she can go away. Meanwhile, I swear she's trying to kill him by plying him with booze. It goes from there, with Stanley becoming more and more horrid with each passing frame of film. Her best line is "YOU'RE AN OLD MAN! WHO CARES IF YOU DIE? I'M YOUNG. I'VE GOT MY WHOLE LIFE AHEAD OF ME." Totally outrageous.
One comment asks if it's Davis or the script that wrecks this film. I blame the script. You have the too good sister, so good she's saintly -I mean, her sister stole her husband and she doesn't slap her silly - and then you have the bad sister, so bad she's absurd. Then there's the treatment of black people which is offensive - though that is acknowledged in the film. Plus, Sidney's relationship with Uncle William will give rise to a lot of speculation.
At one point, Olivia de Havilland looks at a portrait of an ugly relation and says, "I'm not as pretty as she is." Well, if that were going to be the case, someone should have done a better job on the painting. De Havilland is absolutely beautiful and gives a very good, sober, well-grounded performance - in juxtaposition to Davis batting her eyes, pouting, and sashaying. Huston obviously didn't know how to handle her. Davis was capable of brilliant performances but she had to be in sync with her director. She wasn't.
Morgan and Brent are the mild types of leading men Warners usually cast opposite strong women. Morgan is very handsome and believable as the put-upon Peter - and if he did kill himself, you can't really blame him. Brent does a good job as the attorney who turns his attentions to Roy. As the young black man whose future is threatened by darling Stanley, Ernest Anderson gives a wonderful performance, giving his character the appropriate likability, intelligence, and lack of aggression. Always an excellent emotional actress, Hattie McDaniel scores as his mother.
This thing is one big potboiler, complete with an overwhelming score by Max Steiner that is really a bit much. So is the movie. And guess what, I still recommend it. Even an overdone Bette is better than no Bette at all.
Davis and de Havilland play Stanley and Roy (guess dad wanted boys). Stanley is dating Craig (Brent) and Roy is married to Peter, a doctor (Morgan). The film no sooner begins than Stanley and Peter run away together. It doesn't take long before Stanley becomes dissatisfied with Peter's lack of money as a young surgeon and his hospital hours. After Peter's suicide (I wonder), the good Roy comes and brings her sister back home. Meanwhile, Roy has started to see Craig. Stanley hates being home and prevails upon her lecherous uncle (Coburn) to give her money so she can go away. Meanwhile, I swear she's trying to kill him by plying him with booze. It goes from there, with Stanley becoming more and more horrid with each passing frame of film. Her best line is "YOU'RE AN OLD MAN! WHO CARES IF YOU DIE? I'M YOUNG. I'VE GOT MY WHOLE LIFE AHEAD OF ME." Totally outrageous.
One comment asks if it's Davis or the script that wrecks this film. I blame the script. You have the too good sister, so good she's saintly -I mean, her sister stole her husband and she doesn't slap her silly - and then you have the bad sister, so bad she's absurd. Then there's the treatment of black people which is offensive - though that is acknowledged in the film. Plus, Sidney's relationship with Uncle William will give rise to a lot of speculation.
At one point, Olivia de Havilland looks at a portrait of an ugly relation and says, "I'm not as pretty as she is." Well, if that were going to be the case, someone should have done a better job on the painting. De Havilland is absolutely beautiful and gives a very good, sober, well-grounded performance - in juxtaposition to Davis batting her eyes, pouting, and sashaying. Huston obviously didn't know how to handle her. Davis was capable of brilliant performances but she had to be in sync with her director. She wasn't.
Morgan and Brent are the mild types of leading men Warners usually cast opposite strong women. Morgan is very handsome and believable as the put-upon Peter - and if he did kill himself, you can't really blame him. Brent does a good job as the attorney who turns his attentions to Roy. As the young black man whose future is threatened by darling Stanley, Ernest Anderson gives a wonderful performance, giving his character the appropriate likability, intelligence, and lack of aggression. Always an excellent emotional actress, Hattie McDaniel scores as his mother.
This thing is one big potboiler, complete with an overwhelming score by Max Steiner that is really a bit much. So is the movie. And guess what, I still recommend it. Even an overdone Bette is better than no Bette at all.