Top 35 Bette Davis Movies
by kishiro6 | created - 23 Aug 2020 | updated - 03 Sep 2020 | PublicBette Davis has 123 acting credits to her name, where 90 of these were feature films. Here are thirtyfive must-see Bette Davis movies.
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1. Jezebel (1938)
Approved | 104 min | Drama, Romance
In 1850s Louisiana, a free-spirited Southern belle loses her fiancé due to her stubborn vanity and pride, and vows to win him back.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, George Brent, Margaret Lindsay
Votes: 15,046
Oscar for Best Actress *Winner*
2. Now, Voyager (1942)
Passed | 117 min | Drama, Romance
A frumpy spinster blossoms under therapy and becomes an elegant, independent woman.
Director: Irving Rapper | Stars: Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Gladys Cooper
Votes: 19,015
Oscar for Best Actress Nominee
3. All About Eve (1950)
Passed | 138 min | Drama
A seemingly timid but secretly ruthless ingénue insinuates herself into the lives of an aging Broadway star and her circle of theater friends.
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz | Stars: Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, Celeste Holm
Votes: 138,752 | Gross: $0.01M
Oscar for Best Actress Nominee
4. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
Passed | 134 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A former child star torments her paraplegic sister in their decaying Hollywood mansion.
Director: Robert Aldrich | Stars: Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Victor Buono, Wesley Addy
Votes: 61,886 | Gross: $4.05M
Oscar for Best Actress Nominee
5. The Little Foxes (1941)
Approved | 116 min | Drama, Romance
The ruthless, moneyed Hubbard clan lives in, and poisons, their part of the Deep South at the turn of the twentieth century.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, Teresa Wright, Richard Carlson
Votes: 13,112
Oscar for Best Actress Nominee
6. Mr. Skeffington (1944)
Approved | 146 min | Drama, Romance
Popular and beautiful Fanny Trellis is forced into a loveless marriage with an older man, Jewish banker Job Skeffington, in order to save her beloved brother Trippy from an embezzlement charge.
Director: Vincent Sherman | Stars: Bette Davis, Claude Rains, Walter Abel, George Coulouris
Votes: 6,677
Oscar for Best Actress Nominee
7. The Letter (1940)
Not Rated | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
The wife of a rubber plantation administrator shoots a man to death and claims it was self-defense, but a letter written in her own hand may prove her undoing.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, James Stephenson, Frieda Inescort
Votes: 14,595
Oscar for Best Actress Nominee
8. Dark Victory (1939)
Approved | 104 min | Drama, Romance
A young socialite is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, and must decide whether or not she'll meet her final days with dignity.
Director: Edmund Goulding | Stars: Bette Davis, George Brent, Humphrey Bogart, Geraldine Fitzgerald
Votes: 12,399
Oscar for Best Actress Nominee
9. Of Human Bondage (1934)
Passed | 83 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Romance
A young man finds himself attracted to a cold, unfeeling waitress who might ultimately destroy them both.
Director: John Cromwell | Stars: Bette Davis, Leslie Howard, Frances Dee, Kay Johnson
Votes: 8,386
Oscar for Best Actress Nominee
10. The Star (1952)
Passed | 89 min | Drama, Romance
A washed-up movie queen finds romance, but still desires a comeback.
Director: Stuart Heisler | Stars: Bette Davis, Sterling Hayden, Natalie Wood, Warner Anderson
Votes: 4,144
Oscar for Best Actress Nominee
11. Dangerous (1935)
Passed | 79 min | Drama, Romance
An alcoholic actress who is considered a dangerous jinx is rehabilitated, but she then shows that she's as dangerous as ever.
Director: Alfred E. Green | Stars: Bette Davis, Franchot Tone, Margaret Lindsay, Alison Skipworth
Votes: 3,690
Oscar for Best Actress *Winner*
12. Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)
Not Rated | 133 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
An aging, reclusive Southern belle plagued by a horrifying family secret descends into madness after the arrival of a lost relative.
Director: Robert Aldrich | Stars: Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorehead
Votes: 16,045 | Gross: $7.63M
13. The Petrified Forest (1936)
Passed | 82 min | Drama, Thriller
A waitress, a hobo and a bank robber get mixed up at a lonely diner in the desert.
Director: Archie Mayo | Stars: Leslie Howard, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Genevieve Tobin
Votes: 14,929
14. The Catered Affair (1956)
Approved | 94 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
When Jane tells her parents that she is getting married to Ralph Halloran, her mother Agnes starts planning an elaborate wedding, even though Jane does not wish it.
Director: Richard Brooks | Stars: Bette Davis, Ernest Borgnine, Debbie Reynolds, Barry Fitzgerald
Votes: 3,826
15. Waterloo Bridge (1931)
81 min | Drama, Romance
A prostitute's self-loathing makes her reluctant to marry an idealistic soldier during World War I.
Director: James Whale | Stars: Mae Clarke, Douglass Montgomery, Doris Lloyd, Frederick Kerr
Votes: 3,166
16. In This Our Life (1942)
Approved | 97 min | Drama
The day before her wedding, a pampered young woman absconds with her sister's husband. Her sister begins seeing the woman's former fiancé.
Directors: John Huston, Raoul Walsh | Stars: Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, George Brent, Dennis Morgan
Votes: 5,259
17. The Whales of August (1987)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama
Two aged sisters reflect on life and the past during a late summer day in Maine.
Director: Lindsay Anderson | Stars: Bette Davis, Lillian Gish, Vincent Price, Ann Sothern
Votes: 5,292 | Gross: $1.34M
18. Dead Ringer (1963)
Approved | 116 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
The working-class twin sister of a callous, wealthy woman impulsively murders her out of revenge and assumes her identity. But impersonating her dead twin is more complicated and risky than she anticipated.
Director: Paul Henreid | Stars: Bette Davis, Karl Malden, Peter Lawford, Philip Carey
Votes: 6,433
19. A Stolen Life (1946)
Passed | 109 min | Drama
When a woman's twin sister is drowned, she assumes her identity in order to be close to the man she feels her sister took from her years before.
Director: Curtis Bernhardt | Stars: Bette Davis, Glenn Ford, Dane Clark, Walter Brennan
Votes: 4,085
20. Three on a Match (1932)
Passed | 63 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Although Vivian Revere is seemingly the most successful of a trio of reunited schoolmates, she throws it away by descending into a life of debauchery and drugs.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Joan Blondell, Ann Dvorak, Bette Davis, Warren William
Votes: 4,394
21. The Nanny (1965)
Unrated | 93 min | Mystery, Thriller
There's just something not quite right when Bette Davis stars as an English nanny. And is her 10-year-old charge an emotionally disturbed murderer or just an insolent brat?
Director: Seth Holt | Stars: Bette Davis, Wendy Craig, Jill Bennett, James Villiers
Votes: 6,783
22. The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
Approved | 106 min | Biography, Drama, History
A depiction of the love/hate relationship between Queen Elizabeth I and Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Donald Crisp
Votes: 6,162
23. Death on the Nile (1978)
PG | 140 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
As Hercule Poirot enjoys a luxurious cruise down the Nile, a newlywed heiress is found murdered on board. Can Poirot identify the killer before the ship reaches the end of its journey?
Director: John Guillermin | Stars: Peter Ustinov, Mia Farrow, Simon MacCorkindale, Jane Birkin
Votes: 39,835
24. Deception (1946)
Approved | 115 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Music
After marrying her long-lost love, a musician finds the relationship threatened by a wealthy composer who is besotted with her.
Director: Irving Rapper | Stars: Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, John Abbott
Votes: 4,133
25. The Anniversary (1968)
Approved | 95 min | Comedy, Drama, Thriller
Three sons who work in the family construction business help their overbearing mother celebrate her anniversary to her late husband.
Directors: Roy Ward Baker, Alvin Rakoff | Stars: Bette Davis, Sheila Hancock, Jack Hedley, James Cossins
Votes: 2,847
26. Beyond the Forest (1949)
Approved | 97 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Romance
Resentful of her small-town life, a married woman schemes to run off with a rich businessman.
Director: King Vidor | Stars: Bette Davis, Joseph Cotten, David Brian, Ruth Roman
Votes: 2,770
27. Phone Call from a Stranger (1952)
105 min | Drama, Film-Noir
While awaiting a delayed flight, a lawyer who has left his unfaithful wife, befriends three fellow passengers. After the plane crashes and he is among the few to survive, he feels compelled to contact the families of his dead friends.
Director: Jean Negulesco | Stars: Bette Davis, Shelley Winters, Gary Merrill, Michael Rennie
Votes: 3,006
28. June Bride (1948)
Approved | 96 min | Comedy
A magazine's staff, including bickering ex-lovers Linda and Carey, cover an Indiana wedding, which goes slightly wrong...
Director: Bretaigne Windust | Stars: Bette Davis, Robert Montgomery, Fay Bainter, Betty Lynn
Votes: 2,088
29. Another Man's Poison (1951)
TV-G | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A mystery writer becomes involved in a tangled web of murderous deception not unlike the plots of her novels.
Director: Irving Rapper | Stars: Bette Davis, Gary Merrill, Emlyn Williams, Anthony Steel
Votes: 3,370
30. Jimmy the Gent (1934)
Passed | 67 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
An unpolished racketeer, whose racket is finding heirs for unclaimed fortunes, affects ethics and tea-drinking manners to win back the sweetheart who now works for his seemingly upright competitor.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: James Cagney, Bette Davis, Allen Jenkins, Alan Dinehart
Votes: 2,034
31. Ex-Lady (1933)
Unrated | 67 min | Comedy, Drama
Although free spirit Helen Bauer does not believe in marriage, she consents to marry Don, but his infidelities cause her to also take on a lover.
Director: Robert Florey | Stars: Bette Davis, Gene Raymond, Frank McHugh, Monroe Owsley
Votes: 1,691 | Gross: $0.50M
32. The Girl from 10th Avenue (1935)
Approved | 69 min | Drama
A lawyer impulsively marries a stranger after his fiancée dumps him.
Director: Alfred E. Green | Stars: Bette Davis, Ian Hunter, Colin Clive, Alison Skipworth
Votes: 1,431
33. Burnt Offerings (1976)
PG | 116 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A family moves into a large old mansion in the countryside which seems to have a mysterious and sinister power over its new residents.
Director: Dan Curtis | Stars: Karen Black, Oliver Reed, Burgess Meredith, Eileen Heckart
Votes: 13,607
34. Bad Sister (1931)
Passed | 68 min | Drama
Marianne falls in love with a con artist who has a hidden agenda.
Director: Hobart Henley | Stars: Conrad Nagel, Sidney Fox, Bette Davis, Zasu Pitts
Votes: 1,503
35. Hell's House (1932)
Approved | 72 min | Drama
Jimmy idolizes bootlegger Matt, and when he refuses to implicate his friend, he is sent to reform school. He befriends Shorty, a boy with a heart condition, and escapes to let the world know about the brutal conditions.
Director: Howard Higgin | Stars: Bette Davis, Pat O'Brien, Junior Durkin, Frank Coghlan Jr.
Votes: 1,451
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