At 8:50pm, I was working at my computer a couple of Saturday nites ago and a friend texted me this:
Prognosis Negative. 9:00pm. Channel 13.
I stopped what I was doing, shut everything down, turned on my tv and settled into, of course...
“DARK VICTORY.”
And then look...a week later, I see it's on the TCM schedule.
I haven't seen it in years and had a good time with it. A good time with a sad movie about a girl who dies? Yeah. Well it was just put together so well by Wyler. The story was constructed so tightly and linearly and it was sooooooo well-cast. It felt like an old friend. I felt like
“Sigh! Yeah, now this is the way to make a movie.” Bette Davis plays it perfectly. A girl who goes through denial, grief and then acceptance, so the movie is in three parts, but not jagged and disjointed. It all flows one into the other. We all have to face the Inevitable. ( I refuse to go. Nope, I ain't goin'. ) But if I have to, I feel this movie might help me through a rough patch.
Bette Davis is Judith,
George Brent is the Doctor,
Geraldine Fitzgerald is Ann, Bogie is
Michael. Max Steiner waves his baton over the music score. And
William Wyler provides his Master touch.
* * * * * * * * * * *
WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME :
Judith has lost eye-hand coordination. She puts up such false bravado at the doctor's office but he calls her out. And when he breaks it down to her, her symptoms, the camera has Judith in profile slowly bowing her head as the Doctor ticks off each symptom with his explanation. She's broken. She can't deny it. And she finally admits to needing help. That was nice how Wyler shot it. And Brent is very commanding in this scene. As Judith rails, Brent as the Doctor stays steady, focused and not scared off by this human hurricane. I love him in this scene. I love the whole doctor's office scene. Thrust, parry.
* * * * * * * * * * *
FRIENDSHIP :
Movie newcomer Geraldine Fitzgerald plays Ann, Judith's best friend and business manager. ( You can hear the brush of the brogue still in her. ) They do seem like girls together. Friends. Ann has the tough job. She Watches Over Judith. She is the Keeper of Secrets. I like how she watches the doctor when he makes Judith come into his office when she tries to run away from her first exam. Her eyes just...watch...him. Then later, Ann asks and asks the doctor if anything is wrong. ( Does she
really want to know? ) Ann is told by the Doctor that Judith is
not going to make it. It was amazing to me how Fitzgerald plays the scene: her gasp and the air pulled out of her...her tremulous hands. I replayed her moment a couple of times b'cuz Fitzgerald seemed so true so genuine so subtle and pitch perfect. Ann has to go through all the emotions Judith will be going through, but she'll have to go through them all
now...this instant. ( The-operation-was-a-success-but-the-patient-died. Ugh!
"Why didn't you let her go then?!" ) The genius of the film is Hitchcockian. Others have more information than the protagonist has. So now we're made to watch over Judith too. We hold our collective breath.
I liked also how there was just the faintest whiff of jealous rivalry when Judith thinks Ann wants the Doctor. I must say, what
did make me chuckle, made me have fun, is watching how they tamped down Geraldine Fitzgerald's looks. What a beautiful girl she was with that deep red hair. I swear you could see it through the B & W. I chuckled when I saw how they had Fitzgerald in "sensible" shoes or a frock up to her collar and long sleeves with buttons all the way down the front of her dress, while Bette was in frilly femme-y girly clothes. Uh-unh boys. Fitzgerald's beauty shone through even IF Bette's the Star.
* * * * * * * * * * *
THE DREADED MOMENT :
To be honest, this
is the moment we wait for. Judith finds out. Steiner sets us up on tenterhooks with his music of discovery and
realization.
Prognosis Negative. Jesus. I like how Judith "lightly" asks Nurse Wainwright what each of those words means. The drama of the music, Judith running out of the office, and the great Dorothy Petersen ( Wainright ) having the realization slowly wash over her that Judith now knows she's going to die. That was a great set-piece. And again we're given information that Ann & the Doctor don't have. Judith knows.
And she's coming for them.
I can't explain why I
love Dorothy Petersen in this movie.
* * * * * * * * * * *
I'M GOING ON A BENDER. JUST TRY & STOP ME :
Fashion commentary: I never liked the yarmulka Judith wears after the operation, but I love the realistic attention to detail that has her wear something because, after all, she
did just have brain surgery. And I am
over the moon about her in the riding habit and in all her casual comfort clothes: plaid jacket, pants, curls not so tight. Bette Davis looks so relaxed and approachable dressed down and casual. Now, back to the movie...
That scene in the restaurant is classic, Judith is a cat playing with two meeses before she strikes the fatal blow. Ann and the Doctor have no clue WHAT she's talking about. ( Huh ? Wha' ? Nice try. ) Judith is pissed...and feels betrayed. She tears 'em both a new one, and storms into the night to drink and party and run. Run from...
The point/counterpoint of the scene with her frivolous crowd, with not a serious thought in their rich pointy heads was good.
"Oh give me time," the song goes. Bette uses those great Bette Davis eyes to good effect here. She knows. Her eyes goes dead.
( P.S. There's my boy, the ubiquitous John Ridgely, standing over Ronnie Reagan's shoulder - He's in every movie ever made. )
* * * * * * * * * * *
PLEASE, MAKE ME FORGET :
Michael makes his move on Judith. He's always liked her, respected her. He's not afraid of her like those other vanilla milk sops. Judith encourages his advances, but comes to the realization that making out with the stable hand will not change things, or stave off the inevitable. The scene bothers me b'cuz Bogie's asked to really put on the Irish, and I don't think it works. Bogie and Bette had done a couple of movies together ( "Marked Woman" "The Petrified Forest" ) so they look comfortable with each other. But if only Bogie didn't have the brogue he could've really gotten in there. I try to get passed that, but I can't. I like him in the other scenes when he's bossing her around...but when he tries to make love to her, I can't. Still I'm happy he's in it, and in two short years he'll shine in "High Sierra" and then "The Maltese Falcon" and then "Casablanca" where we'll really see love torture him.
* * * * * * * * * * *
I'M HAPPY AND CONTENT :
I love the scenes in Vermont with Judith and her Doctor. The betrayal and recriminations are all in the past. Judith stops running and lets love wash over her. Here's another side to Bette. She's all little and friendly and warm and giving. She's sweet & young. She and Brent made several movies together and have wonderful chemistry. As the Doctor who falls in love with his patient, he's totally committed to her. He's making her happy. And I'm happy Judith is happy. She's a new woman.
* * * * * * * * * * *
KIBBITZING WITH OLD FRIENDS :
This is a nice scene of old friends getting together. I liked Bogie here. Doesn't he look good with the fedora and trench coat. Mmm. And Judith's got her best buddy up in Vermont for a visit. Surrounded by people who care for her. I like it.
* * * * * * * * * * *
...BE MY FRIEND :
What we're told would happen, is now happening. And both girls know it. I like how Judith covers her eyes with her hand and sees, it's really true. It's time. Ann takes it baaad. Judith still has ( "noble" ) work to do to get ev'ryone squared away. Ann holds one more secret and is made to promise
not to tell the doctor. Boy. What a
good supporting actress she is. I think Fitzgerald marvelously supports Bette as an actor throughout this entire movie. It's really a sad touching scene, to me, in the garden. And when Judith sends her away...when she tells Ann she must do this alone, it's really tough. Nothing maudlin or mawkish. There's a strength in it. I'm sad watching Ann run down the road, passing laughing children, running to deal with her grief. Losing her friend. Whew!
* * * * * * * * * * *
I LOVE YOU :
I know I know. You think he's clueless. You think he's a clueless doctor. You think he's a clueless husband. Awwwwright, be that way. I think this is a moment of a girl totally thinking of others. Steiner doesn't lay it on thick with the harps and violins. He poignantly accompanies Judith's goodbye to her husband. She puts on a false bravado, but this time it's for him; trying to give
him something that will give him strength in his future without him. We all must face this alone, no matter how many people are in the room with us in the end. I found this a very romantic scene. And when he picks her off the stairstep and has her in his arms and they look out the window together, we know she almost totally blind. I think of "Brief Encounter" or "The Fallen Idol" where your last goodbye is spoiled by something outside yourself.
I watched this on channel thirteen and then saw that TCM had it on the other morning. I couldn't go through the emotions again. This was my Aunt Hattie's favorite movie. She saw it in the movies as a teenager and she & I would talk about "old' movies. She herself had to face her own end in 1980. I try to be the Aunt to my niece, that she was to me. Tearjerker, weepie, sudser, woman's picture, chick flick, soap opera? ...Go on be that way. You can't help yourself. I think this is a triumph in filmmaking. Wyler held it all together. I love his work and admire his career. It's a triumph in Bette Davis' career; in 1939 that juggernaut of a year when most every film released was Golden. We see several shades of Bette Davis in “Dark Victory.” She does a fantastic job of showing us the journey of this young woman.
"Because I could not stop for Death—
He kindly stopped for me—
The Carriage held but just Ourselves—
And Immortality..."
--Emily Dickinson