Dark Victory - 1939

Watching the special features on the DVD helped me appreciate this film even more. 1939 is known as Hollywoods best year- Wizard of OZ, Gone with the Wind and Wuthering Heights all came out that year and those movies are found in most critics top 100 list. Dark Victory actually was a smash success at the box office and was nomintated for just as many Academy Awards as those other three films- but didn't collect on the nominations and is therefore not as well known as the other three. Bette Davis begged Jack Warner at Warner Brothers to buy this script. After a few years he finally gave in. He didn't feel that the American public wanted to see a movie about a rich girl dying of brain cancer- and he was wrong. Bette Davis felt the movie would give her another Oscar - but it didn't do that, even though I felt like it was an amazing performance. The movie was ground breaking in that it proved you could have a movie about death that audiences would pay to see. Davis plays Judith- a rich younger 20's girl with more money than she needs. She is stubborn, pretty and very head strong. She goes through all the major steps of a major illness from denial down to acceptance at the end of her life. The word cancer wasn't used back in those days so they refer to her disease as a growth or tumor. Davis falls for her Neurosurgoen Dr. Steele played by George Brent (who had an affair with Davis in real life). Brent holds his own in the movie. Davis' best friend is played by British actress Geraldine Fitzgerald, who makes her American debut with this film (her only daughter is a result of a brief affair she had with Orson Wells in real life). Ronald Reagan plays Alec, one of Davis' friends, and has about 15 lines in the movie. A young Humphrey Bogart plays Davis' perosonal irish horse trainer named Michael O'Leary and is really just a support actor in this one. Because of Davis' performance I will give this 3.5 stars. Her rapid delivery of lines and body movement is 2nd to no one. She really was one of the best. The story is a sad one but delivers a great message- and without Davis I would give it 2.5 stars.