Beyond the Forest (1949)

Resentful of her small-town life, a married woman schemes to run off with a rich businessman.

Director:

King Vidor

Writers:

Lenore J. Coffee, Stuart Engstrand (novel)

Stars:

Bette Davis, Joseph Cotten, David Brian

Nominated for 1 Oscar.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Bette Davis	...	Rosa Moline
Joseph Cotten	...	Doctor Louis Moline
David Brian	...	Neil Latimer
Ruth Roman	...	Carol Lawson
Minor Watson	...	Moose Lawson
Dona Drake	...	Jenny
Regis Toomey	...	Sorren
Sarah Selby	...	Mildred Sorren

Storyline

Rosa Moline is bored with life in a small town. She loves Chicago industrialist Neil Latimer who has a hunting lodge nearby. Rosa squeezes her husband's patients to pay their bills so she can visit Chicago; her husband's patience is also tried: he tells her to go and never come back. Once there, Neil tells her he doesn't want her. Back home and pregnant, Neil shows up and now wants her. The caretaker at Neil's lodge threatens to reveal her pregnancy...

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Plot Keywords:

chicago illinois | pregnant | small town | pregnancy | murder of an unborn child | 

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Taglines:

What a dump!

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Genres:

Drama | Film-Noir | Romance | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 October 1949 (USA)

Also Known As:

Rosa Moline

Filming Locations:

Lake Tahoe, California, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$1,300,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Bette Davis was so unhappy over being cast in this film that she threatened Warner Bros. studio chief Jack L. Warner that she would walk off the production with the picture only half finished. Warner was forced to cancel her contract and Davis completed the film, ending 18 years with the studio.

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Goofs

Prior to visiting lawyer's office, Rosa wipes off all her make-up, then is seen wearing bright lipstick during a close-up in waiting room, which immediately disappears for rest of scene.

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Quotes

Neil Latimer: You're terrific.
Rosa Moline: [Sexily] You said that the first time, too.

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Crazy Credits

The film begins after the opening credits with this warning title: This is the story of evil. Evil is headstrong - is puffed up. For our souls sake, it is salutory for us to view it in all it's ugly nakedness once in a while. Thus may we know how those who deliver themselves over to it end up like the scorpion, in a mad frenzy stinging themselves to eternal death.

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Connections

Spoofed in Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Killer Shrews (1992)

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Soundtracks

For He's a Jolly Good Fellow
18th Century Folk Song

User Reviews

Beyond what 'Forest'? Wisconsin...?

Notorious Bette Davis...acting against her will in an unsuitable part, although it's a performance many of her fans relish. Davis is about 5-to-10 years too old for role of Rosa Moline, wife of a well-meaning-but-penniless doctor, residing in a small Wisconsin town with starry-eyed dreams of living in Chicago; Rosa's secret lover, a corporate businessman from the Windy City, keeps reeling her in and throwing her back, while the good doctor takes her antics in stride. Screenwriter Lenore Coffee, working from a book by Stuart Engstrand, can't seem to iron out the character eccentricities or dramatic indignities inherent to the plot (she can't even use the novel's title to her advantage), leaving director King Vidor and his cast pretty much on their own. When Rosa gets sick at the finale, we have no idea why; when the lazy, foul-tempered maid sasses her, we have no clue why Rosa even puts up with her (or how the doctor affords her). Vidor directs Davis gently, casually--and of course she brings everything else from home: poison-coated coyness, lewd lips, flip talk, ridiculously playing with her long brunette wig as if she owned it. So, is this respectable work from Bette Davis, in her last film under contract for Warner Bros.? It is a stunning performance for both right and wrong reasons. True, Bette's Rosa is too heavy and shapeless to actually believe she's a grande dame in her horse-and-buggy town (maybe a blonde wig would've helped?); however, Davis is very good in her scenes with Joseph Cotten, and she doesn't go maniacal with the material. The film has been called camp, unintentionally hilarious--and at times it does strike a wild chord--but I think King Vidor was in on the dirty humor. His outlandishness doesn't qualify the film as a success necessarily, but it is certainly enjoyable. **1/2 from ****