L'amica

This must be one of the most under-rated of the Bette Davis films. At its heart is a brilliant screenplay and two extraordinary performances.

John Van Druten and Lenore Coffee have taken Van Druten's play and created a camp masterpiece. The lines are nearly as funny as those in "All About Eve" eg "Why do I always look like a ninety-year old hag when I want to look like Shirley Temple."

And Bette and Miriam, who apparently hated each other, give stunning performances. Miriam is something of a horror here, all superficial bubble and vicious back-stabbing jealousy. Bette is nicer but can be just as catty. Their scenes together are pure joy. The male characters pale next to these goddesses - it's a wonder they bother with them at all.

Don't miss this one - you'll love it!

Just why this unusually literate, fairly intelligent and very well-acted film isn't yet available on video is a mystery. Bette Davis does a beautiful job playing writer Kit Marlowe and Miriam Hopkins, while a little overripe at times, does a fine job as her best friend and sometime nemesis, Millie Drake. The supporting cast is first-rate: Gig Young is very appealing and handsome in one of his earliest film roles, Dolores Moran is both sensitive and cheeky as Hopkin's confused daughter, and Esther Dale is splendid as Ms Marlowe's maid. The film revolves around Davis and Hopkins, their mutual friendship, jealousies via a love triangle, and their rivalry as authors: Davis is the noble, staid serious writer of quality literature, whereas Hopkins becomes wildly successful as the writer of sensational trashy love stories. The rather bland John Loder plays Millie's husband who takes a shine to Kit.

Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins, the stars of the classic 1939 film THE OLD MAID, reunite for this tale which spans twenty years in the love/hate relationship of two female friends who become competitive not only professionally, but in their personal lives as well. This one is a real dandy. Davis is her inimitably intense self, and she's matched all the way by the great Miriam Hopkins who was at her peak on-screen in the '30's. While this is often referred to as Davis' picture, Miriam holds her own. These ladies are truly two of the finest actresses to ever grace the Hollywood screen and deliver Oscar-caliber performances. The confrontation scene where Davis shakes the living daylights out of Hopkins is a high example of art imitating life because Davis and Hopkins weren't exactly the best of friends in real-life either. For some reason, this gem has never been released to video, but naturally the dreadful remake with Candice Bergen and Jacqueline Bissett(RICH AND FAMOUS) has.

Davis shaking up Hopkins is sheer genius. An absolute treasure on to itself. In fact just read the synopsis then cue up to that scene and when the scene ends, just roll the credits.

Hollywood was still at the height of the "women's films" with stars like Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins sharing the screen in stories with romantic notions. This one is pure soap suds, but just try to look away when these two real-life enemies share the close-ups.

The two portray authors--one a sensitive, thoughtful woman (Bette Davis), the other a shrewish housewife who writes pulp fiction (Miriam Hopkins). The two share the ups and downs of a rocky relationship when the lesser writer becomes famous for her trash and loses her ignored husband (John Loder). A very young Gig Young provides some romantic interest for Davis--until she sensibly concludes that he is too young for her. At the end, the two women are left facing middle-age together and, as they sit before a roaring fireplace, toast each other to the fadeout strains of Franz Waxman's music.

All of this plays like a Cosmopolitan magazine story of the '40s but is made to seem intelligent and likeable by the sheer magnetism of Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins, never better than here. Hopkins sinks her teeth into the role of a nasty bitch--and Davis is unusually even-tempered until the scene where she shakes the living daylights out of Hopkins.

Forget the 1982 remake directed by George Cukor--like most remakes, it lacked the ingredients that made the original such a treat.