The Golden Arrow (1936)

Director:

Alfred E. Green

Writers:

Michael Arlen (story)
Charles Kenyon (screenplay)

Release Date:

23 May 1936 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Here She Is! The 1935 Academy Award Winner in her first picture since winning filmdom's highest honor - - the story of that famous "richest girl in the world" from Michael Arlen's daring tale of Florida's frenzied socialites!

Plot:

A cafeteria cashier is hired by a cosmetic firm's publicity agent to live the life of Daisy Appleby...

Plot Keywords:

Heiress | Reporter | Fortune Hunter | Marriage Of Convenience | New York City

Cast

Bette Davis	...	Daisy Appleby
George Brent	...	Johnny Jones
Eugene Pallette	...	Mr. Meyers
Dick Foran	...	Tommy Blake
Carol Hughes	...	Hortense Burke-Meyers
Catherine Doucet	...	Miss Pommesby
Craig Reynolds	...	Jorgenson
Ivan Lebedeff	...	Count Guilliano
G.P. Huntley	...	Aubrey Rutherford (as G.P. Huntley Jr.)
Hobart Cavanaugh	...	DeWolfe
Henry O'Neill	...	Mr. Appleby
Eddie Acuff	...	Davis
Earle Foxe	...	Alfred Parker
Rafael Storm	...	Prince Peter
E.E. Clive	...	Walker

Runtime:

68 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #2025) | Australia:G

Company:

First National Pictures

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Stardust: The Bette Davis Story (2006) (TV)

When Bette had it with Warners

I knew nothing of this movie before starting to watch it however within minutes it became quickly apparent that she is surrounded by a cast below her league and I began to wonder if this was Bette Davis's last Warner Bros picture which indeed it was.

Prickly, fastidious Bette Davis knew her own worth and while other stars - see Rosalind Russel in "The Women" - could clown as well as be serious, Davis's haughtiness and seriousness about her craft made this an absolute no no. Here amiable George Brent was no "A List" star and some of the support is decidedly mediocre. In the movie she has longish exchanges with, and must submit to being I think playfully slapped on the back by, an actor some leagues below her. She was an actress who could and did frequently signal boredom and distaste when the plot has her in substandard company. In terms of fellow cast it is clear that she is here but the script demands that she doesn't indicate or feel that.

As a viewer I thought the movie was more than she could - or deserved to - take. That Warners did not see that is curious. Perhaps their sense hitherto of owning, contractually, their stars who had to do what they were told. Perhaps it is hindsight - what the world came to know later of her character and talent. "Now Voyager" has her cast as a drab - she was not vain about her appearance, but in that, cast with the superbly charming, intelligent talented Claude Raines she had a part and co-star equally worthy of her talent. She was surely right to demand that the parts and co-stars matched her own high standards. Classic movies fully worthy of her talent were the result.