Dangerous (1935)

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

Writers:

Laird Doyle (story), Laird Doyle (screen play)

Stars:

Bette Davis, Franchot Tone, Margaret Lindsay

Won 1 Oscar.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Bette Davis	...	Joyce Heath
Franchot Tone	...	Don Bellows
Margaret Lindsay	...	Gail Armitage
Alison Skipworth	...	Mrs. Williams
John Eldredge	...	Gordon Heath
Dick Foran	...	Teddy
Walter Walker	...	Roger Farnsworth
Richard Carle	...	Pitt Hanley
George Irving	...	Charles Melton
Pierre Watkin	...	George Sheffield
Douglas Wood	...	Elmont
William B. Davidson	...	Reed Walsh (as William Davidson)

Storyline

Dan Bellows finds former stage star Joyce Heath a penniless drunk and takes her to his Connecticut home for rehabilitation. Unaware that she is married to Gordon, he asks his fiancée Gail to free him and offers to sponsor Joyce in a play. When Gordon refuses to give Joyce a divorce, she runs the car into a tree crippling him for life. Joyce urges Dan return to Gail, opens her play, and begs Gordon for forgiveness.

---

Plot Keywords:

car accident | selfishness | attempted suicide | theatre | love triangle | 

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 December 1935 (USA)

Also Known As:

Hard Luck Dame

Filming Locations:

Cedars of Lebanon Hospital - 4833 Fountain Avenue, East Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

79 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The $80,000 to produce the play would equate to $1.4M in 2017.

---

Goofs

After waking up in Don's country house, Joyce sits down in a chair after berating him, and goes to pour a drink for herself twice between shots.

---

Quotes

Don Bellows: [to Joyce] You could go on. Talent like yours doesn't die. You were a star once. You can be again.

---

Connections

Featured in Arena: Screen Goddesses (2012)

---

Soundtracks

Toddlin' Along with You
(uncredited)
Music by Allie Wrubel

User Reviews

The jinx

Contrary to what another commentator to this forum says, Bette Davis was not nominated the year before for an Oscar for her excellent work in "Of Human Bondage", a much better film than this one. In 1935, the year after being bypassed for the Academy Award, Hollywood, acting in a forgiving manner, gave her the award as Best Actress. By Ms. Davis' own admission, Katherine Hepburn should have won for "Alice Adams".

We are not saying she wasn't worth it, on the contrary, Ms. Davis always gave her best in all her films. Sometimes, contributors to IMDb, upon sending their comments, have a way of predicting that the film they are reviewing, or one of its actors will receive the nomination, or the award come Oscar time. In fact, as it seems to be in most cases, bypassed actors on a particular year get awards for work, later on, for inferior work they did that year and were overlooked by the fickle voting members of that body before.

"Dangerous" was directed by Alfred Green and based on a story by Laird Doyle. The story of an actress who has fallen victim to alcoholism makes good melodrama. As such, Joyce Heath, Ms. Davis' character, is seen at the beginning of the film as a woman who wants to forget it all, in order to do some serious drinking.

Donald Bellows is a man that was deeply impressed by the actress, who he saw as Juliet in the New York stage, and became obsessed by her artistry. When he meets her at the dive where she is drinking cheap liquor, he believes he can save this woman who is wasting her talent. Joyce, eventually, falls in love with Don, but she is reluctant to marry him, which is a puzzle to us. Little do we know about the secret Joyce Heath is hiding from Don, which comes to haunt her at the end of the film.

Bette Davis transforms herself from the opening scenes where she looks disheveled into the glamorous actress of the theater she really is. Her performance is good, but we have seen much better performances by this glorious actress, before this film, and after. Franchot Tone makes an appealing Donald Bellows, the man who tries to save his idol from her addiction to the bottle. Margaret Lindsay plays Gail, who is engaged to be married to Donald.

This is a film that merits a look by all of Bette Davis' fans, as it will not disappoint.