The Little Foxes (1941)

The ruthless, moneyed Hubbard clan lives in, and poisons, their part of the deep South at the turn of the twentieth century.

Director:

William Wyler

Writers:

Lillian Hellman (by), Lillian Hellman (screen play)

Stars:

Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, Teresa Wright

Nominated for 9 Oscars. Another 3 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bette Davis	...	Regina Giddens
Herbert Marshall	...	Horace Giddens
Teresa Wright	...	Alexandra Giddens
Richard Carlson	...	David Hewitt
Dan Duryea	...	Leo Hubbard
Patricia Collinge	...	Birdie Hubbard
Charles Dingle	...	Ben Hubbard
Carl Benton Reid	...	Oscar Hubbard
Jessica Grayson	...	Addie (as Jessie Grayson)
John Marriott	...	Cal
Russell Hicks	...	William Marshall
Lucien Littlefield	...	Manders
Virginia Brissac	...	Mrs. Lucy Hewitt
Terry Nibert	...	Julia
Henry 'Hot Shot' Thomas	...	Harold

Storyline

The ruthless, moneyed Hubbard clan lives in, and poisons, their part of the deep South at the turn of the 20th century. Regina Giddens née Hubbard has her daughter under her thumb. Mrs Giddens is estranged from her husband, who is convalescing in Baltimore and suffers from a terminal illness. But she needs him home, and will manipulate her daughter to help bring him back. She has a sneaky business deal that she's cooking up with her two elder brothers, Oscar and Ben. Oscar has a flighty, unhappy wife and a dishonest worm of a son. Will the daughter have to marry this contemptible cousin? Who will she grow up to be - her mother or her aunt? Or can she escape the fate of both?

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Plot Keywords:

cousin cousin relationship | last will and testament | greed | based on play | f rated | 

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Taglines:

...the film version of the stage hit, as the ruthless beauty whose ambition spelt the doom of three men

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 August 1941 (USA)

Also Known As:

La loba

Filming Locations:

Belle Helene Plantation, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

The Samuel Goldwyn Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

116 min (copyright length)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Teresa Wright's debut and her first Oscar nomination.

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Goofs

When Zan is getting her hair washed it is much shorter than it is when it is dry and styled.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Alexandra Giddens: [while riding into town] Good mornin' Harold.
Harold: [looking up from shining the sign that reads 'The Planters Trust Company / Horace Giddens / President'] Mornin' miss Ann. What does your papa write to from Baltimore?
Alexandra Giddens: He writes that he feels better Harold.
Harold: Dat's good. Write him my greetins and tell him don't worry 'bout da brass - I'm keepin' his name fine and clean.
Alexandra Giddens: Thanks, I will.
Harold: Mm-mmm, those crabs'll make fine eatins Addie.
Addie: They bettah, we got high-toe company for dinner tonight.
Harold: Yum...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

Opening credits prologue: "Take us the foxes, The little foxes, that spoil the vines:

For our vines have tender grapes." The Song of Solomon 2:15

Little foxes have lived in all times, in all places. This family happened to live in the deep South in the year 1900.

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Connections

Featured in Stardust: The Bette Davis Story (2006)

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Soundtracks

Rosen aus dem Süden
(uncredited)
Music by Johann Strauss

User Reviews

Want to know what "greed" means?

One of the several masterpieces made by master William Wyler, and definetely one of the best movies of all times. As he did in The Letter, Mr. Wyler counted on Bette Davis and Herbert Marshall to play the leading roles in Little Foxes; and the choice worked out perfectly again.

I'm sure that some of the others reviewers will have written about the story of Little Foxes (greed, betrayal, hate... against honesty and loyalty), so I won't. I'll talk about some other things:

-Bette Davis: for me there're no more than 5 actresses which would deserve the title of "best actress ever": Katharine Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman, Audrey Hepburn, Barbra Stanwyck, and of course Bette. She was the best playing evil women, heartless, unmerciful ones. And there's no doubt that the character of Reggina Gibbens gathers all those characteristics together. The performing of Bette Davis is memorable (as expected), and the way she says things such as "I don't hate you, I just feel contempt for you"... that are just like a punch in your face. There should be a picture of Mrs. Davis in the dictionaries next to that sentence that says "look that kills". Bette Davis was the look that killed.

-The Film: "Millimetric" it would be a nice word to define the script. Some of the dialogues of Little Foxes are part of the history of cinema, especially the ones between Reggina and her husband. The scene in which she watches him have a heartattack is simply devastating. There are lots of long shot-sequences that intensify the tension, and Wyler's sense of rhythm is something to be shown in Cinema School even nowadays (especially nowadays).

We got the Gioconda, the Basílica of San Pedro in Vatican, the Guernica... and we got movies such as The Little Foxes.

My rate: 10/10