RICK'S REAL/REEL LIFE

Bette Davis in the memorable finale of Warner Brothers' "Dark Victory," from 1939.

For Bette Davis and Hollywood, 1939 was their zenith year.

Bette finally started to get consistently better roles two years before, after her famed Warner Brothers lawsuit. In 1939, Davis appeared in Dark Victory, Juarez, The Old Maid, and The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex.

My post on "Dark Victory" is part of the CMBA "Cry Me a River: Tearjerkers Blogathon." Mine is on the first day, May 12, here: http://clamba.blogspot.com/

As for WB and the rest of the studios, 1939 was considered the golden year of the studio era system. The Oscar nominee categories overflowed with classic candidates. And the studio system flourished through the WWII era. 1946 was Hollywood’s biggest year in movie attendance, when the war was over. Davis' biggest commercial hit, A Stolen Life, was released by WB that watershed year.

Bette Davis is the heiress & George Brent is her doctor in 1939's "Dark Victory."

Dark Victory was taken from an unsuccessful play, so WB's top screenwriter, Casey Robinson, used it as a starting point to whip up a classic confection of cinematic romance. Much like Davis' later Now, Voyager, Robinson wrote a romantic yet grownup screenplay for Bette Davis.

The three stars of 1939's "Dark Victory": Geraldine Fitzgerald, George Brent, and the top star, Bette Davis, as Judith Traherne.

The WB star was 30 when Dark Victory was filmed. For once, Bette wasn't playing older or nasty and her character, Judith Traherne, is just 23. Dark Victory’s story is quite simple, really. Judith finds out that she is seriously ill. At first, the full prognosis is kept from her, but she finds out anyway. Upset at first, she comes to accept her fate with grace, and embrace the time she has left. This basic premise worked well again over 40 years later with Love Story. The major difference was the man and woman’s wealth status were swapped.

Bette Davis is mercurial rich girl Judith Traherne in 1939's "Dark Victory."

Though Bette Davis is one of my favorites, I’ve never seen Dark Victory until 2025. Why? I don’t enjoy movies where the main character is dying.  I’ve only seen clips of Love Story and have never watched Terms of Endearment all the way through.

I especially like how Davis’ whirlwind of an heiress is portrayed. A character staple in screwball comedies, they were often taken down a peg by the leading man, like a screwball version of The Taming of the Shrew. In Dark Victory, the good doctor does his professional and personal best by Judith, with patience and love. It’s this more modern approach that makes Dark Victory so appealing.

Director Edmund Goulding uses Bette Davis’ jittery intensity well for the scenes where she initially diagnosed and later, when she finds out the tumor is terminal. And it makes her more subdued scenes of happiness in life and later acceptance of her plight so refreshing to watch.

Now a full-fledged star, Bette Davis could dictate her own hair and makeup. Davis looked magnificent as the headstrong heiress. Her favorite designer, Orry-Kelly, created a wardrobe that was both realistic and glamorous—yet in character. When Judith is settled at her country home, Davis sports simple sweaters, skirts, and flats. Bette looks timeless in her casual wear. When she gets to dress up, Davis looks divine, especially as photographed by Ernest Haller, her favorite cinematographer. If this film had been made at MGM with Norma Shearer, it would have been over the top luxury every step of the way. I always appreciated WB’s more realistic approach to glamour. Also, Max Steiner composed a beautiful score that was popular and Oscar-nominated.

Bette Davis & George Brent's fateful newlyweds in 1939's "Dark Victory."

What really surprised me was how warm and gentle George Brent was as Dr. Frederick Steele, who becomes devoted to Davis' society girl. His quiet strength is a good contrast to Davis' headstrong Judith. He and Davis have a great rapport, which benefited from their off-screen attraction. They made 11 films together and later reunited in The Great Lie with Dark Victory director Edmund Goulding. Also, George Brent is at the peak of his matinee idol looks here, too!

George Brent is the empathetic Dr. Frederick Steele in 1939's "Dark Victory."

Geraldine Fitzgerald is Ann, Judith’s secretary and best friend. Fitzgerald is very naturalistic in look and manner, so she seems quite contemporary. Her Ann is sensible to Judith’s mercurial personality. Fitzgerald and Davis have a natural rapport and became friendly off-camera, too. And Gerry was Oscar-nominated the same year for supporting actress, as Isabella in Wuthering Heights. Fitzgerald made the two films back to back and they were released the spring of 1939.

Geraldine Fitzgerald is Ann, the secretary & best friend of Bette Davis' horse-loving heiress in 1939's "Dark Victory."

Humphrey Bogart and Ronald Reagan are iconic names today. Back in 1939, they were up and coming names, who came into their own in the early '40s. Thankfully, their roles in Dark Victory don't weigh heavily on the story, because they're both rather bad in this otherwise well-acted movie, for different reasons. Bogie plays the Irish horse trainer with an obvious accent. His character feels barely sketched out. As the cocky stable hand who yearns for the impetuous rich girl, he was no Heathcliff from that year’s Wuthering Heights! Ronald Reagan plays Bette's drinking buddy/maybe boy toy, with little depth at all. Ronnie's attempts at playing a Gig Young-type charmer who drinks are amateurish. 

Humphrey Bogart as the Irish horse trainer to Bette Davis' spirited heiress doesn't  exactly inspire comparisons to "Wuthering Heights!" "Dark Victory" from 1939.

Edmund Goulding’s direction is understated and grownup, so the sentiment is not over the top. Goulding handled challenging material like Dark Victory, Grand Hotel, The Razor’s Edge, and Nightmare Alley quite well.

Bette Davis' Judith Traherne with one of her playmates, mildly played by Ronald Reagan, in 1939's "Dark Victory."

The Dark Victory finale is genuinely touching and subtly done, when Bette’s young wife sends her husband off, and then her best friend. Judith says goodbye to her dogs, then after the maid helps her upstairs and into bed, she asks to be left alone. Her vision quickly fading, she goes to sleep, as the camera goes out of focus and Max Steiner’s score swells. Major tearjerker alert!

As often the case when the studio glory days were on the wane, they often did color remakes of the ‘30s and ‘40s classics. Susan Hayward starred as the Dark Victory heiress in 1963’s Stolen Hours, filmed in England, with British co-star Michael Craig. It’s watchable and Susan is sincere as the heiress. Stolen Hours was not a hit. Perhaps because Susan was trying to play younger, as kid sister Diane Baker was over 20 years younger, and leading man Craig was a dozen years junior. Susan is beautifully photographed and looked far better than contemporaries Vivien Leigh and Lana Turner during this period. But she didn’t look like a young woman who’s cheated out of life, so Stolen Hours looked like a stodgy rehash.

Susan Hayward's remake, "Stolen Hours," from 1963.

The failure of the ’63 Dark Victory remake might have signaled that such a soapy story was old news. In 1970, this was proved otherwise, offering hip young couple Ryan O’Neal and Ali MacGraw, very contemporary in an otherwise old-fashioned Love Story, a box office smash.

"Love Story" from 1970 proved there's nothing new under the sun!

And while I adore Elizabeth Montgomery, I have no desire to watch the 1976 TV remake that’s 2 and ½ hours long! Even with Anthony Hopkins as the doc and Michele Lee as the best friend, that’s too much, as both earlier versions were about 1 and ¾ hours longs—plenty on both counts.

Anthony Hopkins & Elizabeth Montgomery are fine actors, but a 2.5 hour version of "Dark Victory?!"

The message of Dark Victory is timeless, that it’s more important how much you are living your life, not how long you are going to live. And that message is a positive prognosis of life!

The tear-jerking scene when Judith realizes her vision is going, signaling her  impending death, in 1939's "Dark Victory."W/ Geraldine Fitzgerald & Bette Davis.

Here’s my take on Bette Davis’ other great romantic role, as Charlotte Vale in 1942’s Now, Voyager:

https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2018/02/now-voyager-1942.html

Bette Davis with Paul Henreid, in "Now, Voyager."

https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2025/07/seeing-stars-in-screwball-comedy-out-of.html 

The lighter side of George Brent in "Out of the Blue!"

Humphrey Bogart & Lauren Bacall in 1947's "Dark Passage," the duo's third film.

The 1947 WB film noir Dark Passage is highly entertaining, but the whirlwind story is filled with back to back coincidences and chatty supporting characters. The movie will leave you breathless but unbelieving at what has cartoonishly transpired.

Convict Vincent Parry (Bogart) is determined not to rot in San Quentin, and escapes to find the real killer of his wife. From the get go, Parry’s path is filled with the most convenient coincidences. The stacked deck plot specifically comes from nosy people who go way out of their way to aid or deter Bogie’s escapee. 

After escaping in the back of a prison truck, Parry is later picked up by a grinning goon, who gives him the third degree from the moment Parry gets in his car. It doesn’t help that Bogie's wearing only a sleeveless undershirt (he's no Gable), prison work pants, and muddy shoes. After the radio announcer conveniently reveals his identity and the tell-tale details, they tussle from the car and Bogie drags him into the roadside bushes. 

Bogie's convict has the misfortune of being picked up by this goon, in "Dark Passage."

After Bogie takes the driver’s clothes, who comes along but Lauren Bacall? As Irene Jansen, she's an artist who just happened to be out painting landscapes. Jansen just happened to hear about the escape, just happened to be driving by, and just happened to be a champion of Parry, when he was getting raked over the coals by the press during his murder trial. The "just happened" trope is a constant throughout this flick. As stylish and adult as Dark Passage plays, I rolled my eyes more than a few times at the blizzard of coincidences!

Look who happened to be out painting landscapes while a convict escapes? Lauren Bacall finds Humphrey Bogart in the bushes in "Dark Passage."

Jansen smuggles Parry back to her stylish Deco apartment building (which still stands on San Francisco’s Montgomery Street). It turns out Irene’s interest in his case stems from her own father's murder trial of his wife. While Irene goes out for a new suit for Parry, her nosy friend Madge knocks on the door. Turns out that her testimony is what got Parry imprisoned—small world. Madge, a vision in leopard skin, pounds on the door but gives up, yet is suspicious. In one of several dumb moves, Parry raises the blind to look at her, and she stares back, twice!

All spiffed up courtesy of Irene, Parry decides to get plastic surgery, on a tip from a very gabby cab driver, who takes his cause for no good reason. Parry looks up an old buddy for post-surgery shelter, as he doesn't want to impose further on Irene. George, a musician, knew Parry’s wife, as well as Madge, who he despises. 

Off to the plastic surgeon, who likes to yak as much as the cab driver, and looks like he's been preserved in alcohol! The doc’s a guy who you wouldn't let give you a shave, much less slice your face. Once anesthetized, Parry has a drugged nightmare worthy of a William Castle thriller. Afterward, the doc gives him a list of detailed care instructions. The good news is that the surgeon reassures Bogie he can still drink and smoke.

Would you let this guy give you a shave, much less plastic surgery? "Dark Passage."

Bogie looks quite unflattering in his bandaged state, big woeful eyes, and thin face and lips—kind of like a Chihuahua, post-cosmetic surgery! Parry gets back to his pal's only to find he's been murdered, with the musician’s horn. Natch, Parry handles the instrument, leaves prints, and flees. 

Rumor has it that Jack Warner was unhappy that his top star was only heard the first third of "Dark Passage," and looked like this for the middle of the film!

Not at all conspicuous climbing up multiple fights of steep stairs in San Francisco, he passes out when he reaches Irene's. Under her tender care, she is totally in love at this point, despite his being the suspect of murder #2. Their lovey-dovey convalescence is interrupted by an unexpected visit by Madge. She's panicked by Parry being on the loose (who's hiding in Irene's bedroom.) Madge shrilly insists that she stay with Irene, who couldn't be less delighted. Then here comes Bob, Irene's sort of boyfriend. Bob is played by Bruce Bennett in his typical glum style. He too was familiar with Parry's case and unfortunately, Madge.

Bogie's plastic surgery is such a success that he doesn't even have scars or puffiness when Bacall removes the bandages. It is stressed that the surgeon made Bogie look older, good thing since Bogie looked far older than his 47 years! It’s amusing that Parry’s “before” photos in the newspapers outweighs Bogie by about 30 pounds. That prison grub must have been grueling!

Beefy Vincent Parry, before he becomes the beef jerky that is Humphrey Bogart, in  1947's "Dark Passage."

He no sooner stops at an all-night diner than a cop's suspicions is instantly raised. A chase ensues and Parry hides out at a hotel. Parry's first ride comes knocking, looking for a blackmail payday. Once again car buddies, they tussle once more, where scrawny Bogart dispatches the lunkhead off a steep cliff. That is now murder number #3, though Bogie claims innocence of the suspicious demises of his wife and friend.

Agnes Moorehead as Madge, the cougar dressed in leopard skin, in "Dark Passage."

Parry goes back to Madge’s to get the truth out of her. With every minor character on their soap box, musing about life, truth, and happiness, there is little time for Agnes Moorehead's monstrous Madge. She appears briefly at Irene's door, then in the middle to barge in and act incredibly annoying, then in the finale, where she pulls out all the stops. As skillful as Agnes is at acting, this feels like a Carol Burnett spoof, rushing through to the climax. Madge falls through a window to her death, and Bogie flees the scene looking totally suspicious. In the finale, Bogie's Parry decides that it's hopeless to try to clear himself of four deaths—good call. So, it's off to Peru to livin’ life incognito!

Involved with four deaths, Bogie's fugitive is off to Peru, in 1947's "Dark Passage."

In a phone call to Bacall’s Irene, detailing how to find him, Bogie's Parry sounds like Morgan Freeman giving Tim Robbins prison-style GPS The Shawshank Redemption. Bogie sips a cocktail in a swanky nightclub, their song comes up, and there’s smiling Lauren Bacall, and the lovebirds dance off into the Peruvian sunset.

Lauren Bacall is more relaxed than in her earlier film outings. Remember, she made her film debut just three years earlier in To Have and Have Not. Here, Bacall is more a sympathetic character and not as snarky. I never thought Bacall had much versatility as an actress, but within that range, she was quite striking. 

Bacall is also quite lovely at just 23. Apparently a trust fund baby as well as Bogie's Baby, Irene paints and teaches children's art classes, which doesn't account for a lovely pad and stylish wardrobe. I liked that while Bacall was quite glam here, her face doesn't look like a mask and her beautiful hair isn't bleached to the nth degree like most Hollywood blondes. She looked real—and really beautiful.

I always found Lauren Bacall one of the more natural glamour girls of the 1940s. Except for the winged eyebrows, Bacall's style is very contemporary.

I totally get Bogie's sexual appeal and while he looked rather frail and rough when not lavished with soft close-ups (those weren't given just to the ladies), his very expressive eyes, distinctive voice, and charisma made that very clear why 19-year-old Bacall fell for 25 years older Bogie in To Have and Have Not.

After a couple decades of hard living, Bogie began to settle down to a happy marriage  with Lauren Bacall. At 47, Bogart required a toupee and soft lighting to disguise his premature aging. From 1947's "Dark Passage."

A more candid shot of Humphrey Bogart, reading "Dark Passage."

Delmer Daves’ direction and writing try to tie up all the loose ends and contrivances, unlike Howard Hawks’ The Big Sleep. But it all feels like warp speed storytelling! Maybe some of those screenwriter-friendly supporting speeches should have been cut.

Bogie, Bacall, and director/screenwriter Delmer Daves look at some film footage.

Some film fans geek out over certain films' techniques and style. While that stuff is enjoyable, the story and the acting are what matter to me. Robert Montgomery’s Lady in the Lake is virtually unwatchable, with the actors overreacting and the constant camera movement over the top. Or Hitchcock’s Spellbound, because of the mostly-deleted Salvador Dali sequences, ignoring the hokey Hitch psychoanalysis. There’s also Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope, a technically handsome production, with its long takes and handsome set. Unfortunately, the stilted story and acting come off like a filmed ‘40s Broadway play. Of all these movies mentioned, Dark Passage pulls off Bogie’s pre-cosmetic surgery POV and post-surgery camera work the most subtly.

Dark Passage is really an exercise in style, with a strong production and cast. If only the film’s story was as authentic as its two iconic stars.

Here's Bogie with another sultry blonde from the same year, my look at Dead Reckoning, with Lizabeth Scott: https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2024/10/bogie-lizabeth-scott-in-derivative-dead.html

Bogie and Baby, going in for the clinch, in 1947's "Dark Passage."

Stars behind bars: the cast of 1962's 'House of Women' from WB.

WB’s House of Women is really a rehash of Caged. The main difference is the ‘62 semi-remake is a “B” flick and 1950’s Caged was an Oscar-nominated hit. The one thing they have in common is many campy moments! But House of Women’s camp is cartoonish, whereas the earlier Caged’s comes from censorship era coded innuendo.

'The House of Women' are ready to rumble. Love the look on Constance Ford's face!

Then-ingénue Shirley Knight is surrounded by a veteran cast of familiar faces: Barbara Nichols, Virginia Gregg, Jacqueline Scott, Patricia Huston, Margaret Hayes, Virginia Capers, and Andrew Duggan. Two future soap grande dames, Jeanne Cooper and Constance Ford, are on opposite sides of the bars in this pulp prison picture.

Shirley Knight gives a new meaning to wide-eyed as the innocent who's incarcerated.

Knight's the wide-eyed lass here, Erica Hayden, who goes along for the crime ride and ends up a convict. While Shirley’s con doesn't get her lustrous locks lopped off like Eleanor Parker in Caged, Erica also finds out that she’s pregnant. Young Shirley Knight, with long wavy hair, reminded me here of Cybill Shepherd in The Last Picture Show. House of Women from both sides of the bars have big hair, courtesy of WB hairdressers Peggy McDonald and Jean Burt Reilly.

The following scene gives you an idea of the subtle drama that is House of Women. An inmate described as “the butch" goads fellow con Doris (Patricia Huston): "Ahhh, what's so special about Troy Donahue?"

Doris snaps back, "Honey, you're the type that would never know!"

Troy’s biggest fan then hurls a handful of lunch time spuds at the inmate over the cutting remarks about WB's very own Donahue. When the critical inmate draws a moustache on her autographed picture of Troy, Doris really goes berserk! She marches straight out to the prison yard where the offender is playing baseball and the game becomes a brawl. Later, Andrew Duggan’s hard-nosed warden Frank Cole repeatedly calls Troy Donahue "Dona-who?" He asks the drunken prison doc about Troy, who pleads ignorance, “I'm more of an Elizabeth Taylor man myself.” No, I did not write the script.

When one inmate defaces an inmate fan's autographed picture of Troy Donahue, of course you know this means war, as fellow WB star Bugs Bunny would say!

Before Duggan’s warden was hired, this women’s prison was progressive, even allowing the inmates to have their children on site for a limited time. This sets up a dramatic scene, when Erica’s kid gets taken away right before her birthday party. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen a kiddie birthday party turn into a women’s prison riot! And like Caged, a kitten sparks a tragedy, followed by another riot that makes the first look like, well, a kiddie party!

The staff in 'House of Women' are mentally updating their resumes!

Constance Ford, the frigid mother in A Summer Place and later beloved as no-nonsense soap mom Ada in Another World, has a field day as a tough cookie inmate. Ford, who always reminded me of a normal version of Shelley Winters, always adds humanity with her worried eyes and downcast face. Still, Connie really chews the scenery when her Sophie Brice (as opposed to Fanny Tucker?) suffers a personal tragedy and acts out.

Connie's got a gun! Constance Ford as Sophie, who suffers a tragedy. Seeks revenge!

Jeanne Cooper, legendary as battleaxe Kay Chancellor on The Young and the Restless, is Helen Jennings, a tough but fair prison matron. But that cuts no ice with Ford’s Sophie, especially when she goes off the rails. Their two face-offs are fun, especially knowing a decade later they’d be playing their most memorable roles on daytime TV. Cooper is so restrained her that she seems about to implode, compared to Ford’s volatile con. Jeanne’s striking cat eyes and strong bone structure make her both simultaneously stunning and severe.

Jeanne Cooper as the cool but fair prison matron gives me a Catherine O' Hara vibe!

Virginia Gregg, who seems to have been in everything from the ‘50s through the early ‘70s, is most famous as the voice of Norman Bates’ mother in Psycho. Whether villainous or sympathetic, Gregg’s always solid, playing a humane parole officer singled out for Ford’s wrath.

Shirley Knight does what she can with her character Erica, but does resort to a wide-eyed waif that borders on eye-popping, not seen since WB’s Bette Davis!

Young Shirley Knight reminds me of Cybill Shepherd circa 'The Last Picture Show.'

Barbara Nichols is the loveable broad named Candy Kane—can you guess her former occupation?! Nichols, almost always the tart with a heart, is great to watch here, going from brassy to sassy, and always believable.

Barbara Nichols, left, always plays the brassy broad, but she's so good at it!

Andrew Duggan, often cast as authority figures, plays the cold and cheap new Warden Cole. Natch, he has a past that made him that way. Soon, he cast his sights on sweet Erica to help him regain his faith in womankind! Andrew Duggan is personification of a “me too” prison warden!

Andrew Duggan, he of the big head, is the hard-headed warden in 'House of Women.'

Even more drama came from behind the scenes, when tough producer Bryan Foy (of the legendary Foy performing family) fired director Walter Doniger part way through the shoot and replaced him with screenwriter Crane Wilbur. The change in the film’s quality upset star Shirley Knight enough to get out of her WB contract, not an unusual occurrence at WB with actors!

This film is cheesy camp, but very watchable, and has moments of random authenticity.

'House of Women's' prison riot, Round 1: Cooper's matron lets Ford's con choose Door #3!

Can’t get enough of broads behind bars? Check out my take on 1950’s Caged here: https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2019/02/caged-never-classic-but-still-packs.html