La gran mentira

Bette Davis and Mary Astor take place in one of filmdoms greatest bitch-fests, The sappy sweet Davis and obnoxious concert pianist Astor both love the same man(George Brent). He goes back and forth between them. Slick and soapy, the performances are great and Astor walked away with an Oscar. Great classical score, too.

A rich woman Maggie (Bette Davis) is in love with Peter Van Allen (George Brent) who is married to famous concert pianist Sandra Kovak (Mary Astor). Them Van Allen finds out his marriage to Kovak isn't legal--they got married before her divorce was final. So he marries Maggie which infuriates Kovak. Then Kovak discovers she's pregnant and Van Allen disappears when his plane crashes in the jungle...

As you can see this is more than a little silly. The above plot just covers the first 30 minutes or so--the story gets even more ridiculous. This is wildly overly melodramatic and has an ending where reality totally disappears, but production values, music and performances pull it over.

It was lushly made (Warners Brothers spared no expense on this one) and there's some great music here--LOVE the piano solos that Astor is supposedly playing. Brent is good in his role--handsome and intelligent. Davis is (as always) good--she ALMOST overdoes it but is pulled back. Astor is GREAT--she deservedly won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for this. She takes her role and runs with it--she's playing an almost totally evil, self-absorbed woman and enjoys it.

So it IS silly but worth seeing. I watched the film with a smirk on my face the whole time but I DID keep watching. I give it a 7.

An amazing unfolding story that arises out of a ridiculously implausible plot that nevertheless is a classic film. Who needs a plot anyway when you have Mary Astor and Bette Davis fighting over the quietly cool George Brent? Throw in an unexpected pregnancy and a trip to the Arizona desert to keep the mother from having a miscarriage due to her bad habits, with boredom, sand storms, and endless cigarettes. The way it sounds is not at all like the impact it produces. There's one point in the film's second half when people might be thinking that it would be a good place to end the film, keeping the lie intact. But Edmund Goulding makes the absolute most of what follows, hitting the real ending with power and precision.

Though some may say the plot's too far-fetched, I say what Hollywood story isn't, to some extend or another? Even so-called bio pics stretch and bend the truth. Anyway, when you have actors that give great performances, and keep the drama from becoming melodrama, and make the implausible seem plausible, and keep your attention to the end, well, what the heck?

Mary Astor gets to show off her musical talent, as concert pianist Sandra Kovak, who married Peter Van Allen (George Brent) after a drunken whirlwind fling (and while he was rebounding from his breakup with Maggie Petersen, played by Bette Davis), only to discover her divorce from her previous husband wasn't final yet. When Peter's offer to marry her for real (and sober) this time is rejected in favor of her planned concert tour, they break up, and he realizes his heart still belongs to Maggie. Soon, they're back together and married, but they haven't heard the last of Sandra.

There's a lot of soap opera elements here: a baby, a presumed death, a bargain, a lie, a threat, a confession, and a lot of entertainment.

And as a bonus, there's Hattie McDaniel as Violet.

This is also the movie that gave rise to the idea that Bette spoke a ridiculous line, where she repeated the name "Peter, Peter, Peter!" Actually, she said the name "Pete" twice, while thinking wistfully of her husband. And it was spoken with melancholy, not in rapid-fire succession, like a stuck record needle.

For that alone, the film's worth watching, though the story will keep you entertained.

For many fans of classic films, this is a fun favorite, mainly because of the performances of Bette Davis as Maggie and Mary Astor as Sandra. George Brent plays a playboy, Pete, who marries concert pianist Sandra, only to find out a few days later that her divorce wasn't final. Apparently (though this isn't explained) he was involved with Maggie shortly before, but she refused to marry him because he's a drunk. However, she does marry him.

There's a problem, though, which is that Sandra turns up pregnant. Then Pete is missing in Brazil somewhere and is believed dead. Maggie talks Sandra into having the baby and letting her and Brent raise it, in exchange for supporting Sandra financially, and she can continue with her concert career unfettered. The two go to a cabin in Arizona where Sandra, a big drinker with other lousy habits, can be supervised.

Well, it's pretty hilarious and only gets better. Davis and Astor give as good as they get to each other, with Sandra screaming that she's an artist who can't get nourishment from a lettuce leaf, and Maggie offering to make her a sandwich. And we all know what happens - Sandra is a nasty you know what and reneges big time.

This is truly a wonderful movie for some reason - actors in those days were able to make you believe anything and go right along with it, and take the plight of the characters seriously. This is probably because the stories were character-driven and audiences invested in the people and therefore bought the story.

Well-directed by Edmund Goulding, the performances are wonderful from the women, Davis, Astor, and Hattie McDaniel as Maggie's maid, who again proves her strong acting abilities. Brent, who made a career out of supporting these huge female stars, is good.

Can't beat this one for entertainment.