La egoísta

Some well-known names in here... Bette Davis was in just EVERYTHING in the 1930s and 1940s. (You MUST see All About Eve, if you haven't already). Natalie Schafer was "Lovey" in Gilligan's Island. Richard Anderson will go on to be Oscar on the Six Million Dollar Man. The storyline is a bit maudlin and depressing ( and rather ordinary, by today's standards.) Back in the day, divorce was uncommon, and much more of a town scandal... which we see when even the newspaper calls the wife to get the sordid details. The jilted wife, being a Bette Davis character, tells him right off. SO many flashbacks. it's all a bit depressing, but was probably more fascinating and interesting back in the day. the irony of the husband's success as he climbs up the ladder, while the marriage slowly comes apart. Barry Sullivan is the husband.

Directed by Curis Bernhardt... had started in the silents in Germany. worked his way to hollywood and directed some good films. This wasn't his best. it's very okay. nothing too new or exciting.

Joyce Ramsey (Bette Davis) is the hard driving force inside her marriage to lawyer David Ramsey. They are well off with daughters Martha and Diana. Suddenly, David wants a divorce. In flashbacks, their relationship is shown from their poor beginnings and the cancer growing within it.

This is Marriage Story from the 50's. That's a crazy concept. I would have liked less aggression imbalance between Joyce and David although that's the premise here. I can't ignore that. She is the alpha in the relationship and Bette Davis is the perfect vehicle for the material. Her acting power is a great match for her character's personality. Overall, it's a compelling character work in a challenging film considering the era.

In Payment On Demand Bette Davis gets the shock of her life when husband Barry Sullivan asks her for a divorce. They seem to be the perfect couple with two daughters both about to leave the nest. They are a social success in their small town, something that Bette has striven very hard for. Possibly too hard.

If it is true that RKO held up Payment On Demand to see how All About Eve would fair, they needn't have worried. Bette under the direction of Curtis Bernhardt whom she knew and worked with in her days at Warner Brothers gave her just the right direction for a spirited performance. Before All About Eve she had left Warner Brothers under a cloud with the stinker Beyond The Forest fresh in everyone's mind.

It takes her the whole film to realize how much she's alienated her attorney husband Sullivan. They're a great social success, but he's lost friends in the process. Particularly Kent Taylor, a young attorney who Sullivan started out in practice with. You have to see how Davis in her helpful way accomplishes that.

In the supporting cast singled out should be stage great Jane Cowl as Bette's mentor and friend who has gone down a path that she foresees for Davis. Also John Sutton who plays a shipboard lounge lizard that Davis pulls back from. A timely telegram from one of her daughters helps.

Though the order they were made was reversed, Payment On Demand proved to be an excellent followup film to All About Eve. Bette Davis was definitely back on top.

I just saw Payment on Demand for the first time last night. An excellent Bette Davis vehicle! As you all know, this movie was made before All About Eve (though it was released after) and the first movie she made after leaving Warners in 1949. The role and the movie is vintage Bette, a return to form you might say after the three flops she made with Warners in 48 and 49. The quality of the movie is perfectly good. Even though it is not "restored" the picture quality is just fine, especially if you own a Blue Ray player. Curtis B. does a great job directing and the flashback scenes are wonderful. Bette is very good in this role. She looks amazing in the flashback scenes and the Edith Head wardrobe is fabulous. For me, Payment on Demand is the Bette Davis Holy Grail since it has never before been released and almost never shown on TV. It is worth the price of the DVD or download.

More than half a century later, I found this film still moving and still relevant. One can pretend that the world and women's lives have been transformed but even now, this rings true. Women who divorce often do not have an easy time with rebuilding and even though this film made the wife a bit too unsympathetic and the husband too "nice," plenty of forty-something men leave wives who helped them through school and difficult times to go find a younger, fresher edition. I lived it, without all the exaggerations and transparent walls, but with two daughters and a remarried ex-husband. This film spoke to me and I would say that with a bit of truth-telling, there would be a chorus of ayes from those who can do more than imagine feeling the wife's loss and hostility at the husband who betrayed their youth -- perhaps even more than she did by being ambitious. I would like to report that the present is a new world and for some it is, for many, it is not and the great Ms. Davis' eyes tell truth.