This is the film of which Davis is supposed to have said "There are some pictures that should nevah be remade!" - and time has proved that she was right. Despite two updates/remakes, one theatrical ("Stolen Hours" with Susan Hayward) and one for TV (as "Dark Victory" with Elizabeth Montgomery) it's this 1939 Warner Bros. film which is still best remembered today. The reason, of course, is Bette Davis. She often insisted that there wasn't one of her greatest roles she didn't have to fight to get, and Judith Traherne was one of those roles. She pestered Jack Warner to buy it for her, and when he responded "Who wants to see a picture about a dame who goes blind and dies?" Davis assured him that at least ten million women would - and she was right.
And so we have a vibrant, touching performance that is among the most famous jewels in the crown of Bette Davis. "I'm young and strong and nothing can touch me!" she proclaims, and almost makes us believe it. We see her go through the denial/anger/bargaining/acceptance phases of her illness long before anyone named those stages. And when she looks George Brent in the eye and says "Poor fool - don't you know I'm in love with you?" we know from the way she says it that she's never said it before. Yes, it's quite possible that had GWTW not been released in the last weeks of December 1939, the question of who would be the first actress to win 3 Best Actress Oscars might well have been settled long before 1968.
Yes - we have to suspend disbelief here - Bogart with an Irish brogue? Surely his name - O'Leary - should have been enough. And the scene near the end when Davis packs Brent's suitcase to send him off - how could he not notice her fumbling around the room? Ah well, "it's only a mooovie, Ingrid. . . ." as a famous director once said.
"Dark Victory" may not be great cinematic art, but it's a thoroughly professional effort and it's obvious that the people who made it cared about it. Movie fans have been caring about it for 66 years, and continue to do so: a newly-remastered DVD will be released in June.
And so we have a vibrant, touching performance that is among the most famous jewels in the crown of Bette Davis. "I'm young and strong and nothing can touch me!" she proclaims, and almost makes us believe it. We see her go through the denial/anger/bargaining/acceptance phases of her illness long before anyone named those stages. And when she looks George Brent in the eye and says "Poor fool - don't you know I'm in love with you?" we know from the way she says it that she's never said it before. Yes, it's quite possible that had GWTW not been released in the last weeks of December 1939, the question of who would be the first actress to win 3 Best Actress Oscars might well have been settled long before 1968.
Yes - we have to suspend disbelief here - Bogart with an Irish brogue? Surely his name - O'Leary - should have been enough. And the scene near the end when Davis packs Brent's suitcase to send him off - how could he not notice her fumbling around the room? Ah well, "it's only a mooovie, Ingrid. . . ." as a famous director once said.
"Dark Victory" may not be great cinematic art, but it's a thoroughly professional effort and it's obvious that the people who made it cared about it. Movie fans have been caring about it for 66 years, and continue to do so: a newly-remastered DVD will be released in June.