Il prezzo dell'inganno

...Of Claude Rains' character in this picture. As has been stated, he is an older guy who loses out on Bette Davis to a younger guy. The younger guy is Paul Henreid playing a WWII survivor, thought dead by Davis. When she spots him at a concert in NYC years later, the handwriting is on the wall for Rains.

The mise en scene is the world of classical music, about which I know little but which sounds, uh, classical in several pieces played during the film. Henreid plays a cellist, so the pieces for the cello leave me out completely. Rains is a master composer, a genius referred to by his last name, Hollenius, thereby cementing his genius label. Not only is he a genius, he is a vengeful genius.

One does not often encounter such a high level of acting as that found in "Deception", and it elevates the film above the ordinary. All three principals are outstanding, especially Rains, whose performance towers over the other two. It is a character study and a straight drama. Speaking for myself I was not aware of any elements of 'noir', but if you are a fan of good acting, "Deception" is for you, as it is exceptional in this department.

Deception (1946)

A marvelous chamber piece, in a way, involving orchestral music. The cast begins with two principals, played with usual intensity by Bette Davis and with usual restraint by Paul Henreid. This broods a bit and suggests trouble, and then comes the third player, who outdoes them both, in the form of Claude Rains. The rest of the movie is an interplay between the three, a push and pull and game of dodging and, of course, deception.

So how to judge this kind of tightly woven enterprise? It feels as though William Wyler could have directed it, so polished and rich it all is. But this is a Warner Brothers drama, so there is another kind of layer of dark danger, and of a noir inspired lighting and camera-work. This visual aspect, in a way, is the real star of the film, which says a lot, considering the high level of acting involved.

In all it's purely an entertainment, but at the highest level. The backdrop of classic music and classical musicians hasn't worn well over the years, but I grew up with this kind of scene and it brought back a lot of those vibes. A terrific movie within its own genre.

How did I never come across Deception (1946) before? It's got to be Claude Rains' most delicious role. He absolutely has a blast playing the grand, tyrannical, jealous composer who hates giving Bette up to Paul Henreid, her former lover who has just returned from Europe at the end of the war. Both men are wickedly jealous of each other. The scene where the great composer unexpectedly arrives at Bette's and Paul's festive wedding party at her great loft apartment overlooking the river in New York (modeled on Leonard Bernstein's apartment) and trades poisonous banter with Bette and Paul makes the movie worth it by itself. But every scene is a gem, such as the scene where Claude takes them to a haute cuisine French restaurant and spends 10 minutes going back and forth over whether to order pheasant, trout, or saddle of lamb and whether to go with a Hermitage or a Vosne Romanee wine. This is some of the sharpest, wittiest dialogue I've seen in a movie, rivaling Ernst Lubitsch and every bit as good as in All About Eve. Oh, and I forgot to mention the amazingly good symphony performance scenes, with an original cello concerto by Korngold, ("played" by Henreid with the arms of two real cellists reaching in from either side to play the instrument). And Bette, a trained pianist, playing Beethoven at her wedding party (she really wanted to play it herself but Jack Warner decided against it but you can see she knows what she's doing in fingering the keys). If you haven't seen it, do check it out.

One of the few actors of Bette Davis' time who could match her screen intensity was Claude Rains. Paul Henreid is paired with Davis as her true love for another convincing romance. But, the script-stealing scene is between Davis and Rains. Matched penultimately perfect for the picture, Davis and Rains match each other's most intense acting skills during a major bedroom blow-out between them. I live to watch that scene over and again for its acting mastery.

Since Deception is about three classical music artists, the classical music score makes Deception's choice script musically enhanced to a classy degree. I love how Rains takes "the 4th Warner Brother's" acting intensity and levels it with his own. Even Bogie couldn't do that when staged with Davis! Don't miss this tightly wound triangulation with Henreid underplaying himself as his role calls for.

I have just finished reading all of the comments here and now let me add my two cents worth. This is my all time favorite Davis opus and it is certainly not because of the high quality of her performance. See Davis at her best in The Letter. What Deception is is a high powered duel between flamboyant personalities (Davis and Rains) wiping their costar (Henreid) right off the screen. The restaurant scene deserves all the mention it got here previously, but how about mink coated Bette confronting Rains in his bed reading Dick Tracy? The screen crackles with vitriol. This is over the top screen acting at it's most enjoyable.If you've never seen this, take the opportunity and enjoy it for what it is: good old fashioned Hollywood entertainment.