The Great Lie (1941)

"If I didn't think you meant so well, I'd feel like slapping your face"

            Ever watch a film that just got on your nerves? Like, the acting was good but the story was beyond annoying? That is how I feel about the 1941 film The Great Lie. It is literally a lot of baby mama/daddy drama and fighting over a man drama.

            The story begins when Pete Van Allan (George Brent) marries Sandra Kovac (Mary Astor). Their marriage is quickly over because Sandra’s divorce from her first husband never went through. Pete then goes off and marries his old fiancée Magee (Bette Davis). Her people are not too happy about her marrying Pete since he ran off to be with another woman but they can do nothing to stop her from marrying Pete.

            Pete goes off in a plane into the jungles of South America and news comes up that Pete’s plane crashed. Sandra also comes with some news that she is having Pete’s baby. Magee makes a deal with Sandra to take of her and adopt the baby after it is born. The two women live out in the middle of the desert for a few months away from prying eyes since Sandra is a well-known concert pianist. Sandra has a baby boy whom Magee names Pete after his father.

            Surprise, surprise Pete is found alive! He comes home and Magee of course does not tell him the truth that baby Pete is not really her baby with him. And another shocking surprise, Sandra comes back into the picture and threatens to blow up the whole charade Magee has created by saying she wants the baby back and that she is going to try to win Pete back.

            Since this is an Old Hollywood story the ending is nicely wrapped up with Sandra agreeing to let Magee and Pete raise the baby.

            Seriously, the story of The Great Lie bored me to tears. I hate these kinds of stories. If I hate these kinds of stories so much why did I sit through The Great Lie you may be wondering to yourself. To answer your question, I sat through it because of the actors. Mary Astor was phenomenal as Sandra she was so perfect. But I must say I would have liked to have seen her as Magee and Bette Davis as Sandra but both actresses worked well in their parts. George Brent is one of my favorite Old Hollywood actors and I like him paired with Bette Davis.

            I am not upset I sat through The Great Lie because now I have an opinion on it. If you are a fan of the actors it is worth watching but drag your heels, it is not one to rush out to find. 

The Letter (1940)

“Strange that a man can live with a woman for ten years and not know the first thing about her.”

            I should have known what I was getting into with a film where the first scene is Bette Davis killing a man. First of all Bette Davis is in it and I can only handle her for no longer than an hour and a half at times. Strike one right there The Letter is an hour and forty minutes. Damn TCM’s Into Darkness: Investigating Film Noir program for making me want to watch this whole film!

            On a quiet lazy night on a plantation in Singapore, gun shots ring out from one of the houses on the plantation. The shots come from the gun Leslie Crosbie (Davis) is shooting at a man named Stephan Hammond. She shoots the gun until she empties it into Stephan. Leslie does not bat an eye or flinch a muscle. She tells her help to call for the town detective Withers as well as for her husband Robert (Herbert Marshall).

            Before he comes back to the house Robert picks up his lawyer Joyce. When they get back to the house Leslie has locked herself in her room. She tells Robert that Stephan tried to make love to her and she shot him in self-defense. Leslie recalls everything that was supposed to have happened that led to her shooting Stephan. She says that Stephan came over drunk and kept drinking. It is obvious that she is lying to cover up something much more. Joyce and Withers encourage Leslie to turn herself in and nothing will happen to her if she sticks to the story she told them. Joyce questions out loud to Withers if Stephan was the type of man to get drunk and force himself on Leslie. Withers replies that Stephan could have been drunk and nothing else.

            Leslie is put in prison. A few days after Robert begins to worry about her being in jail and have her stand trial. Joyce is still saying not to worry. Someone comes to Joyce that someone he knows has found a letter written by Leslie to Stephan the night he was killed. Joyce confronts Leslie about the letter. She swears she did not write it but before she leaves she confesses she did write the letter it was only for him to come over and help her pick out a gun for Robert for his birthday. Joyce tells her the letter is not what she claims it contains. The letter sounds desperate like she wanted to see him and she would not be guilty of any consequences that may happen.

            The letter comes from Stephan’s widow. Robert tells Joyce he wants to buy the letter from her. Joyce takes Leslie to the widow. Now that the letter is not longer in play Leslie is acquitted of the murder. After the trial Joyce and Leslie show Robert the letter. She finally says out loud that she was in love with Stephan. Robert wants to go away and start his own plantation. He still loves Leslie but he is not sure if Leslie loves him. She tries to tell him she loves him but when she goes to kiss she breaks down and confesses she still loves the man she killed.

            The Letter was pretty boring. The story was so over dramatic and knowing that Leslie was a big time phony and really a murderer just pushed my attention out of the way. I stopped paying attention to Bette Davis once Leslie started dramatically lying about what happened. It is so obvious from her face and body language that she killed him out of lust that he had nothing to really do with her being an evil bitch. For the Into Darkness program one of the questions put forth to create conversation asked what is it about the opening that makes it a contribution to Noir. Well if you think about Noirs usually begin with quiet scenes where the world of the main characters was still decent and then a murder or a crime happens and the main characters are thrown in dramatic, suspenseful situations. The Letter took off like a Noir would later on but it did not keep the flow there was nothing suspenseful about the rest of the film. Watch The Letter if you are a Bette Davis fan otherwise skip it. 

All About Eve (1950)

“Nothing is forever in the theater.”

            Have you ever thought what lengths you would go to meet your favorite actor/actress/celebrity? Hopefully you are not a creepy stalker who knows absolutely everything about them and follows them all over the place. I am a fan girl over several actors and actresses but I would never dream of going to extraordinary lengths to meet them. I have been to comic conventions (met Kristen Bell!) and book signings (met Tina Fey! And meeting Mamrie Hart in May!) and that is the only length I will go to. I will pay to go to signings and comic conventions or if the chance came about to get backstage passes for musicians if I have the cash.

            Many fans dream of meeting their favorite celebrities after a show or behind the scenes of a movie, becoming friends with them, and then somehow becoming famous through their celebrity friend. The 1950 film All About Eve takes that dream and gives it a good twist.

            The film begins at an award ceremony for the theater. Theater critic Addison DeWitt (George Sanders) begins his narration by introducing the characters in the story that will be told. He is telling his story as an old stage actor goes on talking before introducing the star of the night Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter).

            Eve’s assent into the New York theater elite the day she met Karen Richards (Celeste Holm) outside a theater after a show. Karen is friends with the show’s star Margot Channing (Bette Davis) whom Eve idolizes. Eve has been to every single performance and she likes the plays by the playwright Lloyd Richards, Karen’s husband. Margot puts on a fake act and is nothing but nice to her fan.  Margot asks Eve her life’s story. Eve tells them that she was from a poor farm out in Wisconsin, she moved to Milwaukee to work in a beer plant, she married a soldier who died, and she stayed out in San Diego where she had gone to see her husband before she knew he died.

            Margot takes Eve on as a friend and assistant. She tells her boyfriend Bill that she feels protective of Eve. After a show one night Eve comes to take Margot’s costume to the costume master. Margot realizes that was not a good idea because the costume master would be upset, when she opens the door she sees Eve with the costume in her hand looking at herself in a mirror.

             Over time Eve begins to show her true colors. She is a conniving, scheming woman who wants nothing more than to be an actress on the stage. She climbed and scratched her over Margot, Karen, Bill, and Lloyd to get the leading role in Lloyd’s new play. She sided with Addison who is as greasy and conniving himself but he is the only who sees Eve for who she really is.

            In the end Eve gets a taste of her own medicine with a fan of hers waiting in her room to meet her.

            The story made me think how Eve meeting Margot and becoming so close to her the way she did would most likely never happen today. I kept thinking if Eve were around today she would be that fan that sees Margot at all the conventions and signings and writes fan fiction based off her theater characters and people in her personal life. If Margot made films and was in TV shows Eve would be that one fan that has seen all of Margot’s filmography and make gif sets out of them. (I swear to you I am not a thirteen year old fan girl who makes gif sets and writes fan fiction… I am worse I am twenty-seven and fan girl over certain things like I am a thirteen year old! Tumblr is my best friend and I have recently become addicted to twitter [follow me: @cinethusiast].I do draw the absolute line at fan fiction, making gif sets, and feeling the need to know every detail about a celebrity. I fan girl over their final products such as films or music)

            All About Eve is a film I had been meaning to see for a while after hearing how it is one of the greatest films of all time and Bette Davis was great. I did not hype it up I have learned not to do so in my several years of being a film fanatic and writing this blog. Even though I did not hype All About Eve up I felt let down. I only felt let down by the acting I really did not like the acting at all. Davis was alright I like her but she just always seems to overact. George Sanders is usually plays interesting characters in his films and here as Addison DeWitt he was just alright because the character was dull. Ann Baxter was decent just not to the point where she should have been nominated for an Academy Award for the role. Celeste Holm I will say was great I have yet to see her in a bad role. Marilyn Monroe shows up for a time as a young woman who wants to become an actress. She was very good. As soon as she comes on screen she commands your attention among the older actors not just because of her looks there was just something there in her that made you pay attention. I can see why All About Eve is considered one of the greatest films ever made because Joseph L. Mankiewicz wrote an amazing screenplay and his direction is beautiful. Other than the writing and the direction I could not get into the film. Despite my feelings I will say that All About Eve is worth seeing at least once just to say you have seen it if you really like film.