In biographies of the life and career of Bette Davis a lot of space is devoted to her dissatisfaction with her contract with Warner in the 1930s. Her feeling was that all too often, she was asked to perform in meaningless fluff that only stifled her career. Well, having seen most of Ms. Davis' films, I can definitely understand her frustration. For every good film she did during this time, she was dumped into several completely forgettable and hastily written B-quality films.
Having said all that, this movie is a prime example of the crap that Ms. Davis was given. Here she plays a home-wrecker but is essentially limited to looking nice in a dress and being a plot device--not a real character. And, the actual plot itself is pure soapy hogwash about selfish jerk Brent and his wife, Dvorak, who loves him in spite of his being a selfish jerk. Ho-hum. There's really more to it than that, but who really cares!? The film mercifully ends, but on a sour note that is completely contrived and does nothing to help this soggy film.
PS--an odd note is the "adorable" little guy that plays Brent and Dvorak's son. Despite this movie taking place over what would seem a few years, their kid never ages and it's really creepy. He also gets run over, but like the Energizer Bunny, he keeps going. Perhaps the child is demonic? I dunno--I just know that continuity was a serious problem with the ragamuffin.
Having said all that, this movie is a prime example of the crap that Ms. Davis was given. Here she plays a home-wrecker but is essentially limited to looking nice in a dress and being a plot device--not a real character. And, the actual plot itself is pure soapy hogwash about selfish jerk Brent and his wife, Dvorak, who loves him in spite of his being a selfish jerk. Ho-hum. There's really more to it than that, but who really cares!? The film mercifully ends, but on a sour note that is completely contrived and does nothing to help this soggy film.
PS--an odd note is the "adorable" little guy that plays Brent and Dvorak's son. Despite this movie taking place over what would seem a few years, their kid never ages and it's really creepy. He also gets run over, but like the Energizer Bunny, he keeps going. Perhaps the child is demonic? I dunno--I just know that continuity was a serious problem with the ragamuffin.