Jezebel (1938)

Directed by William Wyler. Starring Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, George Brent, Fay Bainter, Donald Crisp, Margaret Lindsay, Richard Cromwell, Spring Byington, Henry O’Neill, John Litel, Theresa Harris, Janet Shaw, Gordon Oliver.

A year-and-a-half before Gone with the Wind hit movie theaters, Davis was playing a spoiled southern belle flaunting social mores with scandalous behavior and toying with men’s hearts, and the movie surrounding her was playing up the antebellum period for its grand, “chivalric” qualities far removed from and superior to the Yankee scourge (it must all crumble away, too, but instead of the Civil War, it’s an outbreak of yellow jack). No faulting the lavish sets and costuming, or Max Steiner’s commanding score, but only the performances can truly redeem the weaknesses in the writing and Wyler’s workmanlike visual direction, to say nothing for the self-defeating late-game change in the protagonist’s demeanor—a sinner-to-saint turn that defeats credibility and fascination when it comes to Davis’ deliciously conniving and brazen Julie Marsden. Davis landed her second (and final) Academy Award for the part, as did Bainter in the supporting role of Aunt Belle. The rare black & white film that might have benefited from color treatment, if only to more clearly see the vulgar red of Davis’ dress that causes such disgrace at the Olympus Ball (it was actually bronze-colored in order to show up better on black & white film). Based on the stage play by Owen Davis; John Huston co-scripted.

71/100