The Great Lie

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.

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.

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.

The Great Lie in its own way is quite daring for the time. There were not too many films in which motherhood was seen as a burden rather than a sacred obligation. In that sense Warner Brothers was taking quite a chance with this film.

The one thing I don't understand is Bette Davis taking the role of the noble one in the triangle that involves her with George Brent and Mary Astor. Astor's part is clearly the showier one which she proved by taking home the Best Supporting Actress for 1941. Perhaps it was simply a matter of screen time and that Davis was not going to be in support of anyone.

Be that as it may, The Great Lie involves a possible lie to come when a certain infant comes of age. George Brent's got both these women on the string. He marries Mary Astor who is a renowned concert pianist in a whirlwind courtship as soon as the ink on her divorce became dry.

Turns out it wasn't quite that dry yet. But nature taking its course Astor gets pregnant. But before she and we find that out, Brent whose marriage to Astor was technically invalid runs off with Davis who's a member of the rich Maryland horsey set.

Later on Brent goes missing in a plane crash in the Amazon rain forest and Davis comes up with a marvelous proposition. If Astor will give up the kid when it's born, she'll raise it as her own. Astor who is career minded to the last exponential degree agrees to this until Brent finds his way out of the rain forest.

The Great Lie is one potboiler melodrama which is lifted above its worth by these two women. Davis does what she can with the part, though I think she would have been better as the pianist. But Mary Astor just dominates the film. Her performance is the best thing by far in The Great Lie. This was the pinnacle year in Mary Astor's career. She also co-starred in 1941 in her best known screen part, that of Brigid O'Shaunessy in The Maltese Falcon.

Given the mores of the time there are only certain directions this plot can take. The Great Lie would be one great flop, but for Bette and Mary. See it for them.

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.