La fossa dei peccati

Whisked away to make this murder-mystery with her newly hitched fourth husband Gary Merrill in Britain, a follow-up of her "all-time best performance" in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's ALL ABOUT EVE (1950), Ms. Davis recruits the director of NOW, VOYAGER (1942), Irving Rapper to take the helm, but overall, the final product is a secondary offering in every aspect.

ANOTHER MAN'S POISON, takes place in a Podunk Northern England town, mostly, sets in an isolated mansion inhabited by mystery novelist Janet Frobisher (Davis), who has no qualms about poisoning her long-absent husband when the latter gets rough, and soon is pressed into playing wife and husband with George Bates (Merrill), her husband's bank-robbing accomplice, on the contingency to cover for her crime and grant George a haven to stay, one stone two birds? Hardly so.

The imposter game is played out with barbs and ploys duly leveling at each other, while Merrill is fierce enough to be alternately menacing, callous and wanton, winning an upper hand for him is a forlorn hope from the very start in the face of Davis' characteristic wide-eyed fearlessness and insidious fickleness. Firing on all cylinders, her madness and vile calculation completely overshadows the danger befalling on a woman mired in a precarious situation, thus not for one second, audience dreads for Janet's safety, which makes her a less all-around character for the sake of characterization. She is no man's fortune and all man's poison, yet, Janet still enjoys a last laugh before ironically hoisted by her own petard.

Also enmeshed in the fix (though unwittingly) is Janet's secretary Chris Dale (a comely Murray, calmly nerves herself to confront Davis in a poorly designed role) and her fiancé Larry (a blandly handsome Steel), who actually is Janet's paramour for almost a year. While the bloom is clearly off the rose, Davis (at the age of 43) pluckily knuckles down the cougar town and as this reviewer sees it, takes more pleasure in the scenes where a youthful Chris concedes defeat to her and implores her to give Larry back, lines like "you are a charming woman who can have any man you want." appear many time to reassure Davis that her appeal still prevail (over her much younger competitors), but in hindsight, a self-defeating whiff of deep-rooted insecurity is all one can sniff.

British actor Emlyn Williams, third-billed as the nosey-parker, smart-aleck veterinarian-turned-amateur-sleuth Dr. Henderson, has never bedded in felicitously in his somewhat vexing and often unaccountable blow-ins, a better script can offer more coherence, and one thing is for sure, this film-noir does pull out all its stops to suffix poetic justice in its cockamamie plot.

Another in a long line of Davis' deliciously evil roles. This film has the same feel as "The Little Foxes", but with a bit more scenery chewing. I was a little puzzled as to some of the plot developments, but on the whole such things don't mean much when you're watching Davis and Merrill try to outmaneuver each other.

I didn't care much for the rest of the cast, but what does it matter? Davis makes it a very satisfying experience.

Still fresh from their success and newfound love in "All About Eve," Bette Davis and Gary Merrill made this independent film, "Another Man's Poison," based on a play by Leslie Sands.

Davis is Janet Frobisher, a successful mystery writer living in a mausoleum of a house out on the moors. When her husband's partner in a bank robbery comes there looking for him, Frobisher announces that he's in the study - dead from the poison she gave him (medicine intended for her beloved horse, Fury). While they're attempting to dispose of the body, Frobisher's paramour, whom she summoned earlier, arrives with his fiancé (who is also Frobisher's secretary). The bank robber, named George Bates, introduces himself as Frobisher's estranged husband and settles in.

This is a neat, atmospheric story with an edgy, vital performance by Davis. Merrill, ruggedly handsome, is appropriately gruff and sinister. Though his character thinks he and Frobisher might really have a chance at playing house, his competition is the very handsome, young Anthony Steel, a popular British matinée idol of the '40s. Emlyn Williams is marvelous as the nosy, annoying veterinarian who keeps stopping by.

"Another Man's Poison" seems to have been made rather cheaply - the print I saw was not of great quality, and the lighting is on the dark side. Though the setting is somewhat static because it was originally a play, the film is very intriguing, and Davis always worth seeing. Highly recommended.

I'm sure it's all been done before, but if you are a Bette Davis fan like me, then you know that few do it better. A lovely-haired Davis and then-husband Gary Merrill play off of each other alternately uninterestingly or with fireworks, all in the same film. Merrill's performance is pretty uneven. I can't say I've seen too much of his work, but he's usually better than he is here, given the fact that his character is betrayed-angry-man-done-wrong. Here his performance lacks energy.

The double-crosses come thick and fast in this one, so the viewer must pay attention to the (sometimes quite good) dialog, or confusion may strike.

The other couple in the film, Larry and Chris (Anthony Steel and Barbara Murray) are bland to say the least. Steel is given more to do than Murray, and gives a semi-convincing performance as Bette's toy boy, but the character (as well as Murray's) is underwritten. The film is definitely a Davis vehicle, and she runs with the ball like the pro she is. Murray's lot is mostly stuck in reaction mode, but she does OK with what she has.

Goofy-looking Emlyn Williams plays pesty-neighbor-from-hell Dr. Henderson decently, and looks as though he is having a ball doing so. The Mr. Bigley character, representing, I suppose, a colorful local type, comes across as dense and reprehensible. What were the writers thinking there, I wonder.

The plot takes elements from various scenarios that we've all seen, and the result is not extremely coherent, yet very entertaining. The directing is great, with some wonderful shots. I enjoyed the film throughout.

I especially like the ending, and its retribution – as Davis' character says (something along the lines of): `thanks, I hadn't thought of that idea, but it'll work out fine.' Oh, the irony.

Bottom line: its strengths overcome its weaknesses – there are much worse ways to spend an hour and a half.

Okay, it's not an Oscar-winner, but this movie is a lot of fun, especially if you're a Bette Davis fan. The setting, a spooky, isolated British mansion, is strongly portrayed; by the end, you really feel like you've spent time some time within the oak-paneled walls. Bette looks just like she did in "All About Eve" -- same hairstyle and similar wardrobe, so it's easy to imagine that this could have been a Margo Channing movie. And of course her costar is Garry Merrill, with whom she also starred in "Eve." This was adapted from a stage play, so I think it's interesting to pay attention to the structure and limited changes of location, which are an indicator of its stage pedigree. This one shows up on TCM once in a while; sit back and enjoy.