Bette Davis in comedy

[stuart.uk]

Sorry i don't know where the thread on Bette is as regarding her lack of comedy roles, but i thought i'd throw in The Man Who Came To Dinner and as a magazine editor in June Bride, the latter with Robert Montgomery

[silentscreen]

Yes, Bette could do comedy as I said on the other thread, but she was known for her dramatic roles, so in consequence perhaps, got to do too few. Here's a review from the IMDb about the best comedy that I've ever seen her in, "It's Love I'm After."

Their Only Film Comedy Together, 14 May 2005


Author: theowinthrop from United States

Bette Davis made too few film comedies. The only ones that come to mind are this film, THE BRIDE CAME C.O.D., THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER, JUNE BRIDE, ALL ABOUT EVE (yes, it is actually a witty comedy), and POCKETFUL OF MIRACLES. There probably are others that have slipped my mind. In MR. SKEFFINGTON, Fanny does have a flibbertigibbet type of character, frequently breaking off luncheon dates with an unseen female friend, and annoying people with her selfish problems (the scene with George Coulouris as Dr. Byles is hysterical for his justifiable explosion). But most of the film is serious about her mistreatment of the loving Job Skeffington. Of the comedies I listed, ALL ABOUT EVE and JUNE BRIDE are best for script and performance highlights for Davis. Monty Wooley, Mary Wickes, Jimmy Durante, and Anne Sheridan are far funnier in THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER. The comics who control POCKETFUL OF MIRACLES are Thomas Mitchell, Edward Everett Horton, and (best of all) Peter Falk. THE BRIDE CAME C.O.D. is Davis's best film with Warner Brothers co-superstar Jimmy Cagney, and it is her best piece of slapstick - but she hated it because she spent several scenes removing cactus needles from her rear end (literally).

IT'S LOVE I'M AFTER is very funny, but it is also interesting as the last film Davis did with Leslie Howard. They had been together in her first great dramatic hit, OF HUMAN BONDAGE, and then had played the tragic, late blooming lovers, in THE PETRIFIED FOREST. This is their only comedy after all the earlier tragedy (Davis dies in BONDAGE, and Howard is gunned down by Humphrey Bogart in FOREST). The three films should be shown together by some film society.

They play a famous "Lunt and Fontaine" or "Southern and Marlowe" acting pair from the stage, who can't keep their egos from constantly clashing. Davis, at the start of the film, is performing a love scene with Howard, and has taken the trouble to eat onions (lots of 'em) before they go on. He goes through the scene without revealing how he detests her (at present) though he manages to whisper to her his true feelings. Only one year earlier Howard had played Romeo in M.G.M.'s production of the Shakespeare play, with Norma Shearer as Juliet. Many critics felt that Howard and Shearer, no matter how well they emoted, were too old for the parts (which call for teenage types). I defy you to even accept their performances in the balcony scene, etc., after seeing Howard and Davis in this film.

Due to the script, Davis disappears for too many scenes, while Howard has to try to undue the schoolgirl crush of Olivia de Havilland. He does this, assisted by Eric Blore, by being boorish and demanding at the home of de Havilland's father, George Barbier. It does not work according to every plan Howard hatches, although de Havilland does managed to lose interest in him at the end (with the aid of Davis, and Howard's pompous ego). The film works pretty well as a comedy. May I recommend the sequence involving Blore trying to give a signal to his boss, and finding himself at war with some birds. Leslie was quite good in the film, but Eric was ... well Eric Blore was always the dependable comic actor.

[moira finnie]

Gee, Stuart, Bette Davis + Mirth=????

Well, I do have a soft spot for The Bride Came C.O.D., but that's a lonely spot since most people seem to find that comedy pretty lame, (something about Cagney's comments on Bette's rump and the scene when she kisses him and yells "Onions!" in the mine that strikes me funny.)

I also like It's Love I'm After with Leslie Howard, who brought out something playful in Bette in that film--especially in the opening scene depicting the pair having a fight while onstage enacting Romeo & Juliet.

Other than that, our Miss Davis seems to do best when given ample opportunities to find something amusing in the midst of drama, as in the sublime All About Eve. I'm not sure that Bette had too much humor in real life, since that "useless energy" might have cut down on her remarkable human dynamo act. At times, I think that Mr. Skeffington and Deception are really comedies, (though the only one in the cast aware of that fact might have been Claude Rains).

[stuart.uk]

Moira

i think Mr. Skeffington's weakness was Bette's squeeky Southern accent, similiar to her Jezabel. however, i'm not say she didn't give a great performance in either film.

i think the films strength is Claude Rains, showing he should have played more leading men. the scene with his daughter as they decide to return to Europe, minus Bette, is very moving

[moira finnie]

i think Mr. Skeffington's weakness was Bette's squeeky Southern accent, similiar to her Jezabel. however, i'm not say she didn't give a great performance in either film.

What makes Bette's accent even stranger is that Fanny Skeffington is not a Southerner, but a patrician New Yorker between the wars in the first half of the 20th century. According to the film commentary & autobiography by the director, Vincent Sherman, during this film Davis was contending with the sudden death of her second husband, Arthur Farnsworth during production. After insisting on returning to work, her behavior became more willfully determined in regard to her ideas about her character as the film went on, affecting her accent, bizarre makeup and, as Sherman described it, that breathy, almost child-like voice that she adopted for the character. To top things off, the actress was also involved in an unhappy affair with the married Sherman at the time too. Doesn't seem to have been a happy period personally or creatively for Miss Davis.

i think the films strength is Claude Rains, showing he should have played more leading men. the scene with his daughter as they decide to return to Europe, minus Bette, is very moving

I completely agree. This was the best scene in the entire film and, as usual, made me wish that Rains and the little pint-sized character actress, Bunny Sunshine (yes, that's her name) were the central characters in the movie. It's only speculation, but since Rains had a cherished daughter of about the same age named Jennifer (who later her changed her name to Jessica Rains), I suspect that Claude may have related to the character's dilemma.

The real Claude & his daughter Jennifer in 1946.

[charliechaplinfan]

Thanks for this thread about Bette's comedies. Maybe I'll see a different side to her.

Claude Rains should have been given more leading men roles. He is a superb actor.

[stuart.uk]

sorry, i messed his post up