Saturday 23 March 2024

Dark Victory (1939 Edmund Goulding)

Wendy had died, and this seemed like an appropriate film to watch and wallow in and feel, as Bette Davis's character first is cured from an illness, but it has got her all along, she just isn't told. She is understandably annoyed with her lover / doctor George Brent when she finds out, but all is well, though when she knows she's dying (through loss of sight) she nobly sends him off to a medical conference without telling him. Well - he wouldn't have been very happy about that. Casey Robinson is the writer and Hal B Wallis is the creative producer.

Bette acts in super-fast mode, her speed signifying energy. Her best friend is played by Geraldine Fitzgerald and Bogie is for some reason cast as an Irish jockey. Ernie Haller shot it and Max Steiner wrote the suitably rousing music (arranged by Hugo Friedhofer).

With Ronald Reagan, Henry Travers.





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