CLASSIC MOVIE REVIEW: Bette Davis 💌 THE LETTER - STEVE HAYES: Tired Old Queen at the Movies
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- Watch THE LETTER now! amzn.to/2AuOxV9
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Director William Wyler sits on her mannerisms and squeezes out of Bette Davis what may be the ultimate depiction of sexual repression gone haywire. Set in the jungles of Malaysia with a thundering score by Max Steiner and strong support by James Stephenson as her lawyer and sinister Gale Sondergaard as the wife of the man shes murdered, its high melodrama at its steamy best.
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Great review. I loved Bette in this. I especially loved how she described the widow of her lover "horrible, all chains, bracelets, and baubles, with eyes like a cobras eyes". Gale Sondergaard is so eerie and sinister in this. She was actually tested for "The Wizard of Oz" but deemed too beautiful. When they tried to ugly her up she said forget it. I won't take the part like that.
She is definitely an ADULT version of 'wicked' as in this film.
Steve, I must thank you! In a few months I have the unenviable task of teaching an 11-year-old girl to do a Bette Davis impression. It's for a play I've written. The girl is mad about old movies and Bette is her favorite actress. I figured the best method would be to have the girl study the impressionists. So I searched RUclips and found some great ones (Barbara Heller on "This Is Your LIife" doing Bette's famous lumbering walk is priceless!) but yours is the best for teaching! It's superb! I'm simply going to tell the girl, "Do that! Do exactly what he does!" Thank you so much!
If that opening shot of The Letter does not interest you, I don't know what will. Fine film.
And all done at the studio, no location travel needed.
I'm totally in love with your reviews! You mentioned why they didn't cast Anna May Wong as the wife, but whether they offered her or didn't, she had a policy of not accepting roles where she was the slinky Asian villain. She even turned down the role of the second wife in The Good Earth for these reasons. Glad she stood by her principles, but it sadly hurt her career.
You bet!
To even begin to tour Thornfield Manor...the name of my 'estate", would take days, weeks, even years. Through the cobwebs,dolls and dustballs, through the countless catacombs of ancient movie memorabilia and trying to get my housekeeper Mrs. Danvers to cooperate, is another story altogether!
OXOXOX
TOQ
I adore GLADY COOPER. She Gale Sondergaard and Mary Astor in The Great Lie, were about the only actresses who could up-stage Bette. Now, Voyager was one of the first movies to attack the institution of "Motherhood" and Bette received hundreds of letters from repressed children of domineering mothers. Another of Cooper's brilliant roles is the nasty nun she plays in The Song Of Bernadette made right after Voyager. She received Oscar nods for both, Thanks for the comments and for watching TOQ!
The entire production design was brilliant. The lighting was great throughout, and the plantation/British Colonial sets wonderfully accurate. Another "plantation" set worthy of a look was the backdrop for Elizabeth Taylor's "Elephant Walk," which is rarely aired.
Steve's Bette Davis impersonation is brilliant!
I really enjoyed "The Letter," and being a "set design" fanatic, I have to say that the sets are marvelous! Speaking of marvelous, so are you as always, Steve Hayes.
I love this film! You should watch it during quarantine! IT's the perfect time to catch up on classic movies! Thanks for watching and please push the "LIKE" button.
Thanks My Darlin'! Didn't you LOVE that creepy store in the Chinese Quarter, when she goes to meet Sondergaard and get the letter? And what about that moonlit garden with all those ominous shadows at the end when she walks to her death? Fabulous.
Leslie knew she was going to die,I feel she did.
That ominous step as Bette lowers herself down to pick up The Letter replays in my mind...Also the look on G S's face at that moment...
The thing I love about Elephant Walk is spotting Vivien Leigh in the long shots on location in Ceylon. She had a tragic affair with Peter Finch while they were filming, had a complete nervous breakdown, Larry had to fly over and get her and that's when they got Liz and shot all her stuff on the sets at Paramount. Liz is breathtaking in color in those white and violet gowns. Elephant Walk is great fun! So nice to hear from you! Thanks!
Wow! Thanks for the Anna May info! It answers a multitude of questions as to why they didn't use her more especially during WW2. I LOVE learning stuff like that! Thanks so much for watching!
OXOX
TOQ
I've run out of superlatives. You are simply the best channel host, ever!
Thanks, Richard! That make me so happy!
Steve you are adorable and hilarious!!!
I think Kitty Foyle is an excellent movie and I can't argue with Ginger Rogers's Academy Award. Bette Davis, Joan Fontaine, and the others gave superb performances.
Well, glad someone can watch it.
@@STEVEHAYESTOQ I gather you don't care for Kitty Foyle. The screenplay is by Dalton Trumbo and there is a class consciousness about it that does not appear that obviously in so many other American movies. Bette Davis is magnificent in The Letter which I just watched recently.
Steve!
I'm going to take the opportunity of a "Bette" pic to say BRAVO on the postings. I used to host a monthly film series and would preface the movies with presentations just like these. Your perspectives are always insightful and amusing. On the subject of Oscar season: what have you to say about the Oscars of 1950? Talk about tension and upsets!
I think that Davis and Swanson had made too many enemies and burned to many bridges, so it went to the safer choise, Miss Judy Holliday.
Spot on, Steven Hayes, spot on! Bette Davis is dynamic is this film.
My favorite of her films!
@@STEVEHAYESTOQ Hi Steve, Your impersonation of B.Davis is SPOT ON!👍🏽....much admiration for you here in the UK x
Yes, a truly remarkable and superb Davis performance. Somerset based this on a real incident that he had come across about a woman in and of such similar circumstances--but in the real-life version, she is convicted. The main reason that Davis did NOT was because she had bitten too many , in securing the role, and in effect--'pissed-off', too many of the voters. Who voted along Studio influences.
You are so funny 😂 I love when you do Bette Davis 👍🏻😅😂🤣💕
Don't let HER hear you say that! LOL! Thanks for watching! Steve
Oh Steve you are fabulous!!
brilliant film! thanks for reminding me of one of the most deliciously visual set of interiors ever-I bet half of my lighting ideas as a theater designer came from this flick!
Wow! That's quite a compliment!
Oh my gosh, I had no idea that Vivien Leigh had been cast in that role, let alone that I'd been watching her in those long shots. Taylor was all kinds of gorgeous in that film--you are so right! You are such an encyclopedia, Steve, and (of course) I've long loved Britannica--no wonder I'm enamored.
Great film to put into the spotlight.
I love this film! You should watch it during quarantine! IT's the perfect time to catch up on classic movies! Thanks for watching and please push the "LIKE" button.
You got me! I've never read anything about it. However, the number would indicate it must have sounded like a bomber squad in the area. A good question! At any rate, the sets were always sooo hot, I'm sure the actors were grateful.Thanks for the thought and for watching!
Steve, you’re absolutely priceless!
Your comments on this page are from the days when you responded - unlike nowadays. Right on about Ginger Rogers. She was great with Fred Astaire and in Stage Door; the moment she started taking herself seriously, she became a lost cause. James Agee said, rightly so, "Lucille Ball was born for the parts that Ginger Rogers sweats over/" Enough said. Hey, if you want to get married sometime, let me know. I'm just another tired old queen at the movies, but I ain't got your pazazz. And anyway, two of us together in one theater and one of us would get kicked out. Here's looking at you, kid.
I love when you do your rendition of Bette Davis! I will tell you I was looking at an Ed Wood Jr. movie, and in that particular film the person who played his Excellency looks like, and sounds like Bette Davis …he is wild! You should check it out
I will Scary. Of course, she woud have prounced his name." Et Woot"! LOL!
Ha ha ha. You really got a great imitation of Bette Davis' way of speaking in the movies. She's great in almost all movies I saw her in. Hope I can find a full movie of Dark Victory. Anyway, can you have more reviews of Joan Fontaine's and Olivia de Havilland's movies. They're my top fave classic movie actresses. Please have a review of Hold Back the Dawn and Letter from an Unknown Woman, This Above All. Thanks. More power to you, Mr. Hayes.
I love this film! You should watch it during quarantine! IT's the perfect time to catch up on classic movies! Thanks for watching and please push the "LIKE" button.
Thats the best Davis impression I've seen in decades. Kudos!
Always loved the letter. The opening alone is masterful direction.
I love all three films she made with Wyler and think, aside from"All About Eve", they are the best.
Ooohhh Bette Davis would LOVE you, #Steve!
@kidquertus
I love her in a suspense film she did in the 50's called "BLACK WIDOW". She plays an actress in "the grand manner" who may be suspected of murder. Filmed in Cinemascope with some nice location shots of Manhattan, she's bitchy and fabulous in gowns by Travilla.
Thanks for watching!
TOQ
Wow, thanks Steve! How did I miss this BD movie? Love you and the reviews!
Hope you have caight up!
Well, Buddy, it's time for you to get out there and watch some Bette. Trust me. it'll help you handle your men. If they don't do what you want 'em to, GET RID OF 'EM! I love those gals with guns, Bette, Joan Crawford and especially Barbara Stanwyck. With these Babes, you knew that by the last reel the leading man was gonna get a bullet. And, considering who they usually cast, it's just as well.
Love your comments and hope you're busy and happy and as hunky AS ALWAYS! More teeth?
OXOX- TOQ
Wonderful movie and faabulous review :)
I love this film! You should watch it during quarantine! IT's the perfect time to catch up on classic movies! Thanks for watching and please push the "LIKE" button.
The best,loved th3 ending. Cast is perfect.
My favorite.
Loved this movie and your review!
Oh, thank you! Just between you and me and whoever reads this, it's still make favorite Bette Davis movie. Can't beat that Bette & Willie Wyler collaboration! All this and GALE SONDERGAARD too! Heaven!
@@STEVEHAYESTOQ mr,who is sondergardded?
I always agree with Steve, his taste in films is impeccable, and I'm so sympatico to his choices. However, just this one time I feel Ginger Rogers deserved an Oscar for her departure role in Kitty Foyle. Could Bette dance, sing, play comedy? Ginger could and did, plus play dramatic parts. So, really who's the better actress, and Ginger did it without Bette's affected 'style'? Everyone should also watch the original, The Letter with Jeanne Eagles. It's the only film we have on this great theatrical and film actress.
I couldn't agree with you more, Neil. Not to diminish anything from Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn but I believe that the AFI's far-reaching influence as to which classic film stars get attention by the modern public and which don't contributes mightily to slighting many great actresses. While "Kitty Foyle" was not worthy of her talents as a dramatic actress, one need only screen "Primrose Path", "Tender Comrade", or "I'll Be Seeing You" to see her gifts as a dramatic actress Ginger Rogers was. She was one of the few quadruple threats: singer, dancer, comedienne, dramatic actress. Only Judy Garland and Ann Sheridan equaled her as quadruple threats. Because of their starts in musicals, they, like Ginger Rogers, have been ignored by AFI (at least, Ann Sheridan has) and not brought to a new generation. This is where Robert Osborne of TCM is needed today: to bring the modern public to the attention of these great actresses that go unsung today. As a side note, in the day that "The Letter" and "Kitty Foyle" were produced, the leading actresses in the film industry all wanted to work with either Greta Garbo or Katharine Hepburn.
oh my god, THANK YOU! I could barely get through Kitty Foyle and I love Ginger Rogers; Stage Door has sustained me through her later right-wingedness. Awful picture. The book was very good.
I only like Ginger with Fred or being a wise crackin type
I love, love this movie!!
Love Bette but Gayle sonnderburg gave me the creeps if not a nitemare!!
Thanks again, Steve❤❤
Love Bette and Gale! Perfect rivals. Two magnetic actresses with those great eyes staring each other down. Fabulous!
Can you hear me laughing - Ha Ha Ha!!!!!!!
Steve, I'm glued to my computer daily waiting..waiting... for your next installment. :) But I wonder .. if you're a tired old queen, what does that make me? You know, those of us from Caz/Woodshed area? Tired old farmer queen, or should it be queen farmer? I'll ask the cows sometime if I can still find them.
Always your fan, Tim C
Dear TimC, you will never be a TOQ farmer! You are incadescent...the Holsteins told me so. Hope you are well and SAFE! OXOX
You are brilliant Steve ! Seeing Gale Sondergaard made me think of Ona Munson in Shanghai Gesture... could review that one?....please please !
Sorry. Not a fan. You can't like 'em all.
The brothers Warner did a remake of 'The Letter' in 1947 with Ann Sheridan (Ooomph!) as 'The Unfaithful'. While La Sheridan was lovelier by far, Bette's performance is why 'The Letter' is a classic and 'The Unfaithful' is an also-ran.
God, how I wish i could review Beyond the Forrest!
It's not on DVD!!!
Bette as Rosa Moline!!!
"The only person who does anybody a favor in this town is the undertaker. He carries ya out!"
She HATED that movie. She flounces around throwing back that black Moritcia Adams wig. It's like Baby Jane, ten years earlier.
LOVE IT!!!
Thanks sooo much for the compliments and for watching TOQ
I love this movie. TY for the background information about Davis and Wyler. I thought he was married and having an affair with Davis.
No, he'd come through a very bad previous marraige to actress Margaret Sullavan, which had made him a bit gun shy. .
@@STEVEHAYESTOQMargaret certainly got around!
Love it when you talk about this Bette Davis film and your comment about Ginger Rogers in Kitty Foyle (unwatchable, hahaha!) We're renting "The Letter" based on your recommendation now. Good work and Keep it up!
I love this film! You should watch it during quarantine! IT's the perfect time to catch up on classic movies! Thanks for watching and please push the "LIKE" button.
This movie was a lot of fun,very interesting movie.. Somerset morm novel, sorry if wrong spelling sometimes. Cause I'm not native English .😅 1940s was the best times of BD.
I agree!
My favorite author is stienbeck, Maugham,ㅡthe razor's edge is so impressive. And stienbeck is always my favorite best author. 😍🎉
I love both authors!
This was certainly one of her best performances. I agree with you about Kitty Foyle. It's dated and Gingers performance was nothing special in this film.
All three of her movies directed by William Wyler are superior. Especialy this one ( My favorite Bette Davis movie) and "The Little Foxes' ( A close second. ). He reigned her in, saved the hystrionics for the big moments and brought subtlties and shadings that she carried with her in her non- Wyler films for the rest of her career , especially in "Now, Voyager "and "All Aboiut Eve". Hope you had a nice weekend. . Steve
Best opening scene in any movie ever made, runners up are Star Wars A New Hope and Vertigo.
Yup. Great opening!
You are the best Steve!!
Now voyage..and here Betty's dress is beautiful.
I love her dresses.
Superb movie! Superb!
Brilliant again. Nice one Steve.
I like Jimmy cagney, his gangster movies and Especially
Yankee doodle dandy is my favorite too.very fun.
Stay tuned. You have a surprise coming.
Steve that was your best Bette ever!! And oh my, no mercy on Ginger as poor Kitty F... I mean her dresses were nice -- they sold like hotcakes at Macys and Gimbels.
Well, they didn't have 'em at Bergdorfs, so I said no way. Thanks so much!! So delghted you watch! Do you subscribe? If not, PLEASE do!
luv this movie and your review. did u ever see the lee remick version? doesn't hold a candle to this one. now, about kitty foyle,
that's a great film with underrated hottie
james craig! i love in the letter how bette has just been supposedly attacked and yet she still has to cook for all the men before they cart her off to jail!!
Typical. MEN! If I wasn't one myself, I'd barely talk to me!
Fantastic 🎥 movie!
Absoultely! Thanks for watching! Best Wishes! Steve
I like to see your describe of joan Crawford. Your acting Barbara stanwik was so good😂
Stick around, you just might. LOL!
>ever seen the (1929) Jeanne Eagels version?
I saw Jeanne Eagels' version of "The Letter". I found her version more captivating and more honest, somehow, than Bette Davis' portrayal.
The 1950 controversy of course is Bette & Gloria, the two rival divas/dragons, depending on your perspective. I tend to think that the reason for the upset, was that Hollywood had had enough of both women. Both were known to be royal bitches who had caused their respective studios and everyone they worked with problems for years. Both were in need of a comeback, but they'd made too many enemies and the community thought they needed a lesson and boycotted them both. Holliday came out the winner.
"With all my heart...I still love the man I killed"
Sigourney weaver's mother is in this as one of Bette David's friends.
Yes! Elizabeth Earl in the scene where they discuss the aprty on the veranda.
I've always had a question about this film... In just about every interior scene, there are fans running (suggesting the sultry atmosphere of the region). But---electric fans are usually pretty darn noisy, and surely this sound would have been picked up in the recording of the dialogue? Does this mean that nearly every scene had to be looped?
Dunno.Sorry.
@@STEVEHAYESTOQ Oh, it was just a rhetorical question, really... But man---nice to hear from you!
@@theoctobercountry Nice to hear from you too. I'm not sure if the old adage "better late than never" applys, but I'm so glad you were glad and now I'm glad I did!...Huh?...Take care, be safe and thansk for watching all these years! It means so much! Steve
I like that talking with a lot of teeth bit. Well you've given me several ideas for DVDs to add to my library. I said I wouldn't do that again after accumulating so many VHS tapes. So shame on you, I'll have to check this out as well.
You'd made a great character actor back in the day with endless work:I'm sure.. Back before eveything was geared to the youth market. I can see you as an evangelical, bible thumping, preacher with a past.
Thanks for these reviews.
I honestly think that the fabulous Steve could play any part he chose to. Very, very gifted.
But a past what? LOl!
@@ginnylorenz5265 I think I love you!
"Bette was a bit of a troublemaker" understatement of the century!
Even if she was,Bette had the guts to succeed and fight Jack Warner!
@@TheBee87bee True.
ITA with u re the 1940 Oscar noms. Tough choice. I too, would have chosen Bette Davis, Katherine Hepburn or even Joan Fontaine BUT Ginger Rogers for Kitty Foyle? A travesty! I could never watch the entire film because of that one line that is used in the film, "I'm free, white and 21 and can do what I damn well please." Very racist statement that I had never heard before. About 10 yrs ago, someone almost used that line on me at work, then stopped - they forgot I was not white!!
Kitty Foyle is not oscar worthy,I've seen the film.
I agree. What a stupid thing to say. I love this film! You should watch it during quarantine! IT's the perfect time to catch up on classic movies! Thanks for watching and please push the "LIKE" button.
JOAN should have won, Bette was magnificent, but didn't need it.
The Philadelphia story is sooooooo overrated I don't even get why. No offence to anyone but it's overrated.
@jediscoobs I like Ginger Rogers,but I don;t believe she should have won for Kitty Foyle.
Ooh, a movie, an oscar movie you dont love? Gotta find out if you dish on Kitty Foyle!
I'll give you an hour to cut that out!
Thanks!
OXOXOX
TOQ
Pretty much everyone figures giving the Oscar to Ginger Rogers was more for her dancing, than fort her acting in the dreadful "Kitty Foyle
B
Your video is too short please more long time. ❤
Sorry, that was one of the first ones I did. They get longer the longer I've been making them.
["I could never watch the entire film because of that one line that is used in the film, "I'm free, white and 21 and can do what I damn well please." Very racist statement that I had never heard before. About 10 yrs ago, someone almost used that line on me at work, then stopped - they forgot I was not white!!"]
Honey, if you want to bitch about that line, complain about the writer and director's decision to use it. Good grief!
Ginger got oscar that year?? Nonsense 🤣🤣😛
Indeed!
Steve hayes is such an old queen. I am gay but this guy is so obnoxious. R. Rose
Takes one to know one, ya know? OXOXO
"Free, white, and 21" is not a racist statement. If anything, it's a parody of a racist statement. For instance, it was used by Dorothy Parker, who left her entire estate to the Martin Luther King Foundation and the NAACP.
It originated in the 19th century, and meant "entitled to the full rights of citizenship". It may have been printed on legal and government documents. By the 20th century, it just meant I'm entitled to do what I want, and mind your business. And maybe read some history books.