That Certain Woman (1937)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Edmund Goulding

Writer:

Edmund Goulding (written by)

Release Date:

18 September 1937 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Love Broke Her Heart !

Plot:

Mary Donnell was married at sixteen to a gangster and soon widowed. She works for unhappily married lawyer Lloyd Rogers...

Plot Keywords:

Lawyer | Widow | Marriage | Child | Socialite

Cast

Bette Davis	...	Mary Donnell, aka Mrs. Al Haines
Henry Fonda	...	Jack V. Merrick, Jr.
Anita Louise	...	Florence 'Flip' Carson Merrick
Ian Hunter	...	Lloyd Rogers
Donald Crisp	...	Jack V. Merrick Sr.
Hugh O'Connell	...	Reporter Virgil Whitaker
Katharine Alexander	...	Mrs. Lloyd Rogers (as Katherine Alexander)
Mary Philips	...	Amy (as Mary Phillips)
Minor Watson	...	Clark Tilden
Sidney Toler	...	Detective Lieutenant Neely
Charles Trowbridge	...	Dr. 'Doc' James
Norman Willis	...	Fred
Herbert Rawlinson	...	Dr. Hartman
Tim Henning	...	Kenyon
Dwane Day	...	Jackie Merrick

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Vitaphone)

Certification:

Australia:G | USA:Approved (PCA #3296)

Company:

First National Pictures

Quotes:

Jack V. Merrick, Jr.: Oh Mary, when you talk like that, it makes me just want to... cuddle.

Movie Connections:

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

Soundtrack:

'Cause My Baby Says It's So

Despite hectic plotting, excellent Davis-Fonda performances...

Secretary Bette Davis has her dishonorable past unearthed after a reporter breaks the story that she's the widow of a notorious gangster once involved in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre; this leads to the quick dissolution of Davis' even quicker marriage to Henry Fonda, but not before Bette can conceive a child! Some dry, amusing wisecracks in this remake of the silent film "The Trespasser", and also some unintended laughs and head-scratching details as well. Davis keeps refusing offers of cigarettes (!), she types a letter to Fonda we never get to read, she packs her kid off without his toys and then blows forlornly on his whistle. The kid is a solemn tyke who seems to have a fixation on being a sailor, even while Fonda's new wife pays Davis a visit (in a wheelchair!) and trades confessions with her in front of a roaring fire which never seems to die down. Busy programmer would not be worth much interest were it not for Bette's rather superb performance; she's serious and focused--and sensitive when she should be--and she grounds this story in a bit of reality. Henry Fonda and the supporting players are also very good, especially Mary Phillips as Amy. The film opens confusingly and takes a while to get its bearings, yet the sequence where Bette meets her father-in-law for the first time is a superbly controlled dramatic moment in which everyone excels. Not a particularly witty or gripping picture, but certainly not bad either. ** from ****