Dark Victory (1939) -
Bette was a bit much in this one and she talked so fast. Having seen a few of her films now, I'm unsure why she was regarded so highly to be honest, perhaps it was because she's so camp and over the top in all of her roles and she became iconic for that, but although Judith Traherne must have been a tough character to play, she didn't really win me over in this one I'm afraid. It may be that I've seen so many similar films that have been made since and better, which is always the danger when trying to review a film that's 80 years old.
It obviously wasn't the nicest story to start with, but it wasn't badly made overall. I suppose that back in 1939 it must have been quite the tale to tell and quite different from 'The Wizard Of Oz' and others of that year.
I assume that it's more controversial storyline was why the film had been held in such high regard. Perhaps it was groundbreaking at the time, but AIDS and Cancer have taken a driving seat in delivering sad films about dying in more recent cinema and they've done it with what seems to be more tragedy. The staple now is of course dying kids or at the very least teenagers who have just found love for the first time.
It didn't help that it was hard to feel sorry for someone who spent their days partying and going to the races. No one should get sick like that, but she at least had the best doctor that money could buy, which many wouldn't have access to, and a chance at living. A young person living in the slums and trying to get somewhere in life would have got more sympathy from me.
I also struggled to buy the romance. It was lacking passion and seemed almost business like, as a transaction.
I think that I would have liked to have seen a few more dramatic pauses and slow, carefully thought out emotional scenes as opposed to the loud fast talking denial of her situation, in fact there didn't seem to be a huge amount of dialogue to really show what the characters were feeling at all.
I was surprised to see that Bumpy Gokart, only had a small role and I'm assuming that he was trying to be Irish? He played his part well, but no differently to any other that I've seen from him.
Also who knew that President Ronald was so handsome back then? I didn't recognise him at the beginning.
With that said, it was a film that I could watch again if there was nothing else available. Perhaps I will see something different in it next time, but I think a modern production of this one could really build on what they had here.
480.56/1000.
Bette was a bit much in this one and she talked so fast. Having seen a few of her films now, I'm unsure why she was regarded so highly to be honest, perhaps it was because she's so camp and over the top in all of her roles and she became iconic for that, but although Judith Traherne must have been a tough character to play, she didn't really win me over in this one I'm afraid. It may be that I've seen so many similar films that have been made since and better, which is always the danger when trying to review a film that's 80 years old.
It obviously wasn't the nicest story to start with, but it wasn't badly made overall. I suppose that back in 1939 it must have been quite the tale to tell and quite different from 'The Wizard Of Oz' and others of that year.
I assume that it's more controversial storyline was why the film had been held in such high regard. Perhaps it was groundbreaking at the time, but AIDS and Cancer have taken a driving seat in delivering sad films about dying in more recent cinema and they've done it with what seems to be more tragedy. The staple now is of course dying kids or at the very least teenagers who have just found love for the first time.
It didn't help that it was hard to feel sorry for someone who spent their days partying and going to the races. No one should get sick like that, but she at least had the best doctor that money could buy, which many wouldn't have access to, and a chance at living. A young person living in the slums and trying to get somewhere in life would have got more sympathy from me.
I also struggled to buy the romance. It was lacking passion and seemed almost business like, as a transaction.
I think that I would have liked to have seen a few more dramatic pauses and slow, carefully thought out emotional scenes as opposed to the loud fast talking denial of her situation, in fact there didn't seem to be a huge amount of dialogue to really show what the characters were feeling at all.
I was surprised to see that Bumpy Gokart, only had a small role and I'm assuming that he was trying to be Irish? He played his part well, but no differently to any other that I've seen from him.
Also who knew that President Ronald was so handsome back then? I didn't recognise him at the beginning.
With that said, it was a film that I could watch again if there was nothing else available. Perhaps I will see something different in it next time, but I think a modern production of this one could really build on what they had here.
480.56/1000.