La signora Skeffington

Watching "Mr. Skeffington" again, after not having seen the film for a while, one thing comes perfectly clear, the adage about love being blind never made more sense than what we witness Job Skeffington feel for his wife Fanny. His was a love like no other one; knowing she did not love him, he spent a lifetime to love her unconditionally until he loses his vision and can't see her dear face, which by that time is not the same as the young beauty he fell in love with and married.

Vincent Sherman's direction of this film, based on Elizabeth Von Armin's novel, makes it a classic that endures the passing of time. Sure, it's pure melodrama, but as a film, "Mr. Skeffington" makes perfect sense because of its timeless story. It helps too that the black and white cinematography by Ernest Haller is in pristine condition. The music score one hears in the background by Franz Waxman enhances the movie.

Bette Davis and Claude Rains had an easy way to compliment one another's work. It comes as no surprise these two actors made a tremendous contribution to the finished product as they are the only reason for watching the film. Bette Davis, with her enormous and expressive eyes is at the center of the story; a society beauty that was much in demand in her youth, sees her good looks fade as she ages in front of our eyes.

Claude Rains is the generous man who falls in love with Fanny, even though her brother has swindled money from his firm in order to keep living in the style the Trellis family has been used to. Mr. Skeffington being Jewish has to endure all the prejudice directed at him.

The supporting cast is excellent. Walter Abel, Marjorie Riordan, John Alexander, and the rest do a good ensemble job backing the principals.

"Mr. Skeffington" will delight all viewers.

Bette Davis was an actress. She did not play herself over and over but reinvented herself in each film she made. Mr Skeffington is curiously names after Claude Rains character Mr Skeffington, like Dorothy Arzner's Christopher Strong, a film about Cynthia Darrington ( Katherine Hepburn). Davis plays a Fanny, a woman of less than average intelligence, one afraid of being a woman, mostly because of the attention paid to her by ridiculous suitors, and a life spent in sucking up to them and learning how to get what she wants because of their stupidity. Finally she is truly loved by Mr Skellington (Claude Rains). Nevertheless she still feels embarassed having a baby so she goes back east to hid her growing body. Whatever made her into the fragile and distant creature she truly is underneath her silly flirtations and airs, she realizes in the end the shallowness of her fan club and the true love of the man who loves her no matter what. She conveys the bunglings of a woman caught up in her appearance and the futility of living as an image brilliantly. Well done Bette! You still outshine all actresses living!

This truly lavish melodrama really knocked me out. I simply did not find any significant weaknesses to this film, at least none of which others have alluded. Films of this type can easily become maudlin, insignificant, and flat. However, "Mr. Skeffington" is the result of a set of elements that are incorporated vibrantly. The film simply has a grand sweep to it, lifting it high above many others of this genre.

The staging and sets (in conjunction with Ory-Kelly's costumes) are as good as any movie that I've seen, along the lines of "Gone With the Wind", "Citizen Kane", "Gigi", or "Long Day's Journey into Night". The use of silence and spaciousness, along with noise and density, is brilliantly carried out and is extremely well-balanced by the characters' non-verbal responses to each other. It's hard to describe without providing details of given scenes - I would suggest that you watch it with this perspective and see what you think.

Speaking of scenes, length is the common enemy of films of this type, but not here - each scene plays out like a shining entity that still provides momentum and underpinning for the entire story. I counted at least 12 very memorable scenes. Humor is added strategically to most scenes to balance the starkness of the story and is nicely understated to avoid a sense of camp. Director Vincent Sherman has polished each scene like a diamond, and the effect is very powerful. The scenes really do stand on their own almost like a set of montages.

Bette Davis' performance is decidedly affected as she plays Fanny as a young girl, but the pure talent and visual power of this actress makes one believe that she is truly the beauty that she is supposed to be. Notice how her movements and responsiveness reinforce the sense of someone almost 15 years younger than herself. While others have complained about the makeup of the older Fanny in portraying her change in age, I found that the makeup perfectly embodied the older Fanny because Davis plays the character so consistently to her advanced age. I would place this performance in Bette Davis' top tier, along with "Now, Voyager", "The Little Foxes", and "All About Eve".

Claude Rains plays the title character with restraint, integrity, and great love for Fanny, but the sense of pathos that he communicates really helps to give the movie a lot of power. The other acting performances are uniformly excellent, particularly Walter Abel as Cousin George. Without the strength of Abel's characterization, this would have been a far weaker movie.

Franz Waxman's score has been criticized by some as being extravagant and overly dramatic to the point of being startling. I really enjoyed it - Waxman incorporates a lush late romantic style that has a stronger "classical-music" feel than other scores for movies of this type, which tend to emphasize strings as accompaniment. The result is a feeling of complexity which shades the story along with the other elements.

This is easily Vincent Sherman's best work, one of Ernest Haller's best, and one of the best melodramas that I have seen. 10 out of 10.

Bette Davis and Richard Waring are the Trellis siblings, an old name and dwindling money. They also have the snobbery that comes from having a name that goes back to the 17th century in terms of residence on the North American continent. Both their lives get forever intertwined with that of Claude Rains, Mr. Skeffington.

Fanny Trellis Skeffington is one of Bette Davis's best screen performances. She's a shallow woman who is a great beauty and enjoys all the flattery that a stream of men give her. Waring to keep up with his lifestyle goes to work for investment banker Skeffington and winds up embezzling a considerable sum of money.

Rains is ready to prosecute, but Davis intercedes and marries Rains who is as entranced as everyone else is with her beauty. They have one rocky marriage that produces a daughter, Majorie Riordan, but little else in the way of happiness for either.

If Mr. Skeffington has a fault it's that Rains is sometimes just to good to be true. For what he put up with, if he were a Christian, he'd be a candidate for sainthood.

Another thing I like about Mr. Skeffington is that it does tackle the issue of anti-Semitism head-on. Waring is a Jew hater as are many of Davis's upper crust admirers. Rains keeps a cheerful look on his face, but because he's that brilliant an actor, you can see the pain registering.

Mr. Skeffington was nominated for two Academy Awards. Bette Davis got one of her nominations for Best Actress, but lost to Ingrid Bergman for Gaslight. And Rains was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, but he lost to Barry Fitzgerald in Going My Way.

Warner Brothers gave Davis a great group of supporting players and among the ones I like are Dorothy Peterson as her loyal maid, George Coulouris as a psychiatrist who gave her some words of wisdom like a Dutch Uncle, and Walter Abel as her wise cousin who is the catalyst for some positive change in her in the end.

Mr. Skeffington is Bette Davis at her best and always finds a place in the top 10 of her screen roles.

"Mr. Skeffington" is one of the great Hollywood melodramas. Bette Davis has the showy role in this epic story of a troubled relationship, but it's Claude Rains as her Jewish husband who jerks the tears. Bette is all mannerisms and makeup - and there's nothing wrong with that! - but Rains gives a subtle, weighty performance that anchors the movie.

This is Warner Brothers at its most elegant. The Franz Waxman score is superb and the way he punctuates Bette's eye-blinking is hilarious.

The magnificent singer/actress Dolores Gray made her first film appearance in this film as a 1920s speakeasy chanteuse. Bette acknowledges what a beautiful voice she has in a moment that hasn't really anything to do with the scene, but the divine Dolores deserves the comment. In case you don't know who she is, check out her own film career 10 years later in her MGM films such as "It's Always Fair Weather."

Bette's aging makeup presages her work in "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?"

You won't want to miss "Mr. Skeffington." Bette's flamboyance and Rains' gravitas make this film totally enjoyable.