7/10
Adulatory, and not especially thorough, but nearly priceless for buffs...
5 October 2010
BBC documentary on actress Bette Davis and her tumultuous 18 years while working on the Warner Bros. lot in Hollywood, narrated by Ian Holm and featuring interviews interspersed with movie clips. Davis, poised and elegant at around age 75, is interviewed, as well as select co-stars (who naturally have nothing but praise for the movie legend). The clips from "Cabin in the Cotton", "Dangerous", "Jezebel", "Dark Victory", "Thank Your Lucky Stars", and others are well used, and Davis is acerbic and clever (and perhaps a tiny bit rueful on occasion) recalling personalities--directors and leading men--from her glory years. Davis' anecdotes will surely make this special worth watching for movie fans, although her years following "All About Eve", her 1950 triumph for Fox, are pretty much frittered away. Still, there are some terrific stories told here, very little gossip, and a satisfying overview of one of the greatest talents in cinema history.
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