In our Bette Davis journey, we have arrived at the year 1939, which history has claimed was the greatest in cinematic history. I tend to agree. It was also a pinnacle time in Bette’s career. As we discussed last week, she won the Oscar for her performance in JEZEBEL (1938) at the 1939 Academy Awards. Many films competed in 1939’s crowded array of offerings, in the shadows of its two giants- GONE WITH THE WIND and WIZARD OF OZ. DARK VICTORY was nominated for three Academy Awards- Best Music (Max Steiner), Best Actress in a Leading Role (Bette Davis), and Best Picture. As for the Oscar winners that year, this was a year crowded with exemplary films. GONE WITH THE WIND led the pack; other winners included: WIZARD OF OZ, WUTHERING HEIGHTS, STAGECOACH, GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS, MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON.
At the end of the 1930s, we are in the era of women’s films, with Bette Davis its reigning queen. Davis’s other releases during 1939 included: JUAREZ (a historical drama, with her filming immediately following DARK VICTORY while behind the scenes an ailing Bette endured a fevered case of pleurisy and emotionally distraught from her divorce), THE OLD MAID (where we get to see the fireworks of bitter feuding with Miriam Hopkins, but on-screen), and THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX (where she portrays an actual queen in an impressive transformation, with dashing Errol Flynn).
Yes, DARK VICTORY, a medical melodrama, has been called a woman’s film, but more specifically it’s Bette Davis’s film. We are in Bette’s universe now and as we watch this film; it becomes quickly evident that Bette is the sun, and all the other actors are tiny planets orbiting around her. They do not exist without her, and their purpose is only to support her role. But that sun’s light will be fading soon.
During these peak years of Bette’s time at Warner Brothers, we will recognize familiar names in the cast and crew. In the studio system, it was typical to utilize the same crew, and recycle around the same actors, too. It made it easier for expectations of skillset for each production, but also for a star like Bette (whom we know by now was very particular in her standards).
Based on an original play, written by Bertram Bloch and George Emerson Brewer, Jr.; the stage production starred Tallulah Bankhead and ran for a short fifty-one performances – premiered on November 9, 1934. The critics loved Bankhead, but not all were thrilled with the play itself. However, Gloria Swanson was impressed enough to pitch it as a possible film adaption to Harry Cohn at Columbia Pictures, which he passed. Meanwhile, David O. Selznick bought the rights, with Greta Garbo and Frederic March in mind for the lead roles. Garbo passed, so an offer went to Merle Oberon. Then the whole project sat on the shelf for a few years.
By early 1938, Davis learned of it, then she and a Warner Brothers’ producer David Lewis pushed the idea to the screenwriter/director Edmund Goulding (Hal Wallis’s original choice to direct JEZEBEL). The threesome coerced Jack Warner to purchase the film rights from Selznick for $50,000. On October 10, 1938, filming began. Two weeks later, they were behind schedule and producer Hal Wallis was furious, pointing the blame on director Goulding and cinematographer Ernie Haller.
Most were more patient with Bette on set because she was an understandingly an emotional wreck during this time, with her ongoing divorce proceeding from her first husband, Ham. He filed divorce on November 22, 1938. DARK VICTORY shooting wrapped up on December 5, 1938. The divorce decree was official on December 6, with major newspapers reporting the following day, citing Ham’s petition for dissolution that Bette read too many books and scripts ‘to an unnecessary degree.’ According to Ham, “She thought her work was more important than her marriage.” Her affair with Howard Hughes was also mentioned in the divorce documentation but managed to avoid mention in the press.
Hal Wallis was aware of the physical and emotional strain his leading lady was enduring during filming and he knew it was adding an authentic undertone to her performance. But she needed to be handled carefully in her fragile state and he advised to key members of cast and crew accordingly. “It’s up to you guys to keep the lady on an even keel,” Wallis addressed Goulding and her co-star Brent. “Eddie, you work with her – and George, you play with her – and it’ll keep her excited, amused, and on the ball.”
Bette Davis was perfectly suited to this weeper melodrama. Geraldine Fitzgerald came from the Irish theater and gives a perfect performance as Judith’s friend/secretary. However, some casting seems to stand out and not in a good way. Goulding directed Ronald Reagan to portray the perpetually drunk friend as effeminate. Perhaps he thought “Judith” needed a gay friend to add a non-competing man addition to the supporting roles. But it didn’t work. His role appears to add nothing, and his awkwardly stiff performance shows that he obviously didn’t understand the assignment.
Humphrey Bogart was an up-and-coming actor at Warner Brothers during this time, playing mostly the tough gangster type as second fiddle to leading men actors like James Cagney. This was a couple years before THE MALTESE FALCON (1941) or CASABLANCA (1942), where he finally steps into the leading role with star power charisma. But for this role, he is miscast as the ‘stable boy with an Irish brogue.’ There’s nothing about Bogart’s performance that evokes the boyish demeanor, not to mention barely a resemblance of an Irish brogue.
What’s most interesting about Bogart’s role was the original ending, which thankfully was cut. Goulding originally shot a post-mortem scene ending where “Challenger” wins the Nationals revealing Bogart’s “Michael” with tears in his eyes. It was out of character for Bogart, and for Michael. Additionally, the cut scene included “Ann” (Geraldine Fitzgerald) and “Dr. Steele” watching the winning horse race with Ann encouraging the widowed doctor to continue his medical work, and his reply, “all right.” The end. Thankfully, we end much more appropriately, with Bette’s dying fade out.
As we watch DARK VICTORY, which Bette thought of as her best performance and favorite film of her Warner Brothers years, let’s consider the ever-evolving performances that Bette brings to this character. Watch closely as she goes from Long Island wealthy socialite to stubborn patient to rock bottom to relaxed, acceptive heroine of her own destiny. It is a masterful performance when you fully consider the range.
Some aspects feel full-on Bette, but this is not the vixen of her many films. It is an often softened, quiet approach where she possesses moments of insecurity, and it is authentic. Additionally, Max Steiner brings a frequently subtle score, which is fitting. While not all things work in this film and some things do not age well, like a medical mystery from 1939, decades prior to googling your health concerns, however the performances and storyline remain a classic. What works well- and what does not?
Cast and Crew:
Directed by: Edmund Goulding
Producers: Hal Wallis, David Lewis
Writing by: Casey Robinson (screenplay), George Emerson Brewer Jr. and Bertram Bloch (from the play by)
Music by: Max Steiner
Cinematography by: Ernest (aka “Ernie”) Haller
Costume design by: Orry-Kelly
Art Direction by: Robert M. Haas
Bette Davis – Judith Traherne
George Brent – Dr. Frederick Steele
Humphrey Bogart – Michael O’Leary
Geraldine Fitzgerald – Ann King
Ronald Reagan – Alec
Henry Travers – Dr. Parsons
Cora Witherspoon – Carrie
Dorothy Peterson – Miss Wainwright
Virginia Brissac – Martha
Frank Darien – anxious little man (similar role in JEZEBEL)
Sources:
“Dark Victory, The Life of Bette Davis.” By: Ed Sikov. Henry Holt and Co.
“Divorces Bette Davis; Husband, H.O. Nelson, Testifies She Read Books Too Much” December 7, 1938, page 26.
“Bette Davis Divorced: “She Read Too Much,” Says Husband (1938). November 5, 2018. Openculture.com
Photos: Macro
