Les heures brèves

Susan Hayward was a great actress, a stunning beauty, and a box office movie queen. One went to see a "Susan Hayward" picture full well knowing that the film would be centered on the dynamic fashionable Susan Hayward.

The Mirisch Corporation remade "Dark Victory" and called it "Summer Flight" and cast Ms Hayward in the role Bette Davis made legendary. Bette Davis was none too happy re this film noting "Some Pictures Should Never Be Remade" Bette Davis and Susan Hayward would co star in 'Where Love Has Gone' a year later and the Ladies did not get along at all. Wonder if Susan Hayward's starring in 'Summer Flight' got under Bette's skin? Up to their working on 'Where Love Has Gone', Bette Davis was famously quoted "There was no one whose performance I admired more than Susan Hayward" Susan Hayward would join Joan Crawford and Miriam Hopkins as well as later on Lillian Gish and Faye Dunaway on Bette Davis' hate list.

Transferring the locale to the British Isles, this UA film is stunning in its scenic beauty, and allows Susan Hayward to give a very fine performance. Diane Baker handles a supporting role well. The climatic ending is well known and Ms. Hayward plays it beautifully and with restraint as directed by Daniel Petrie.

'Summer Flight' was also called "Stolen Hours". I recommend this film to see an artist of the first rank Susan Hayward essay a great woman's role. They just don't make movie stars like Susan Hayward anymore!

Susan Hayward, at the height of her beauty, gives a stunning performance here as an American farm girl turned jet setter due to family wealth in the oil business, who is diagnosed with a brain tumor. Now living in England, the film concentrates on how she adapts to her reality and finally accepts it with courage and grace, never forgetting the humble roots from which she came. Hayward's performance here ranks second to her Oscar winning role in "I Want To Live," but it is a terrific one. She is totally believable and manages to make the viewer sympathize with her without being overdramatic and sensational. Although wealthy and a member of the social elite, she developes a character that you can identify and sympathize with no matter what you own social standing is. You just like this woman no matter what. The ending is quite beautiful and very memorable in its sincerity and grace. Comparisons to Bette Davis' also great performance in "Dark Victory" are unfair. This was a different era with more modern circumstances and relationships.

Filmed in England, the outdoor settings are exquisite, captured quite stunningly by director Daniel Petrie. The sets and costumes are rich looking and very well done even by 2021 standards. Even the opening credits designed by Maurice Binder (famous for the Bond film credits) are special and when they are combined with the theme song by Mort Lindsey and Marilyn and Alan Bergman, it lets you know that you are in for a special story and an extremely lovely, complicated performance by Hayward.

In an eerie foreshadowing of her own fate Susan Hayward plays a wealthy socialite with a fatal brain tumor in this reworking of Dark Victory.

The original is far superior but this has a lush production and some breath taking scenery of the Cornish coast, so beautiful you'll want to hop a plane and move there by the end of the picture, to recommend it.

Susie's customary strong performance is also a highlight but she doesn't get as deeply under the skin of the character of Laura Pember as Bette Davis did with Judith Traherne in the original.

Director Petrie doesn't have the artistic sensibilities of the original's Edmund Goulding so a certain tortured romantic feeling that was an underlying factor of the first film is missing from this.

Still for fans of Miss Hayward or plush dramas of the 50's-60's era this is an enjoyable way to pass a few hours.

In another ironic twist of fate Susan's next film was the tawdry but deeply satisfying Where Love Has Gone co-starring Bette Davis who was not pleased that Hayward had remade her personal favorite of her films. Bette stated before production had even begun "Some pictures SHOULDN'T be remade!!" surely stabbing the air with her omnipresent cigarette for emphasis. The two were cordial at the commencement of filming but soon set to squabbling over plot points and ended up more or less mortal enemies by the time the film was completed.

To get past Bette Davis' original star turn in this heart-tugging tale. Although I love Susan Hayward, she could not match the passion and authenticity Davis mastered. Hayward's, in comparison, comes off as pure melodrama. Wanted to manage a 7 rating for this, but 6 seems appropriate if only for the beautiful cinematography and stunning English countryside.

Stolen Hours is the remake of 1939's Dark Victory starring Bette Davis. Parts of the movie are very good, because I love Susan Hayward, and her acting always improves a script. The opening setup of the plot is also very clever, but the very famous ending from the original is completely changed-and not for the better.

At the start, Susan Hayward is seen hosting a party; she's dressed to the nines and all her guests are having a marvelous time. Her sister Diane Baker arrives from the airport and joins in the fun, but the fun isn't all it appears to be. Michael Craig is a guest, but he's actually a doctor, brought by a well-meaning friend to secretly evaluate Susan Hayward's headaches and failing health. While that scene is pretty clever, it sure paints Michael out to be unlikable and deceitful. It's very hard to root for him, even when he falls in love with and marries Susan.

I recommend watching the original first, because the story is laid out a little better. If you're a Susan Hayward fan, you'll probably want to watch this one, even though it's a little sad. You probably won't go through as many Kleenexes as the original, though. The ending is pretty lousy.