Jezebel (1938)
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Director: William Wyler
Honors:
It was a time where the novel Gone
with the Wind had swept through America as a major best seller, the film
adaption was still the hottest talk in the trades, but still over a year from
release, and the charm of the Antebellum South was on the minds of popular
culture. Warner Bros capitalizes on craze with Jezebel, a story that woman with similar southern customs and the
tragedies that surround her, itself becoming a critical and award winning
success. The studio that seemed to take chances would be led by its assertive star
actress in this opportunistic production.
Jezebel is a dramatic woman’s
picture of a strong-willed, spoiled Southern belle and how her strong-headed
actions cause her to lose the love of her life. Julie (Bette Davis) is a
spoiled lady of New Orleans engaged to Preston “Pres” Dillard (Henry Fonda), a
successful banker with offices both in the north and overseas. Upset by how
Pres is occupied with his work Julie plans to wear a brash red dress at the
most important a ball of the year where all the unmarried ladies traditionally
wear only virginal white. Shocking family and friends Pres accompanies Julie
turning the ball into a spectacle as Pres uses her own plans with the dress
against her to humiliate the socialite on this big night as they stand out as a
black sheep in the massive party. From this great moment of drama Julie and
Pres part ways effectively ending the engagement.
A year later, a period while Pres was up north on business, Julie makes
herself a shut in, and with yellow fever at the doorstep of New Orleans, Julie
sets for country home outside of the city safe from the outbreak. As word is of
Pres coming back home to help the city with planning ways to fight off the
plague Julie sets to welcome her former love and ask for forgiveness only to be
introduced to Pres’ new northern wife, Amy (Margaret Lindsay). Julie attempts
to make Pres jealous, but only causes more harm. Tragedy strikes as Pres comes
down with yellow fever. Out of love Julie becomes the one to sacrifice herself
to take care of Pres as he surely will die, sparring his wife of possibly
catching the disease as well, assuring Amy was the love of Pres’ life.
The picture is a product of its time and the fad of Antebellum Southern
ways in the mind of pop culture. The idea of a South rooted in ways of
propriety where ladies wore dresses inspired by Victorian ways, gentlemen
bowed, women curtsied, and the thought that there is a “proper” way to act. It
was a romantic, chivalrous time for a part of the country inspired by the
French culture from the days when New Orleans was once a major colony of French
America. American audiences ate up this romanticism with the release of the
famed Gone with the Wind on
bookshelves in 1936. Warner Bros clearly took the opportunity to capitalize on
the craze while the film adaptation was in the works at Selznick International ,
a long and heavily publicized process for fans of the movies and movie stars.
Jezebel is beautifully shot
with wonderful angles and precise blocking of the actors. Director William
Wyler was known for his perfectionism, sometimes taking dozens of takes to get
everything just right. It is said that it took nearly four dozen takes just to
get right the shot where Davis uses her riding crop to sweep up the train of
her dress in one scene. Very little can be improved upon with the composition
or look of the picture other than it was in black and white as color was still
an expensive luxury for most productions.
The film would be an adaptation of a short lived stage play that ran in
late 1933. Ironically enough the play starred Miriam Hopkins, a known rival of
Bette Davis. As the play failed to make any impact on Broadway Warner’s saw
instant use of the story as a good vehicle for Davis, purchasing the rights for
cheap due to the lack of success on stage.
Bette Davis’ award winning performance as Julie provides the actress with yet another
opportunity of her playing a greatly flawed, tragic character whose own deeds
destroys what she loves. At one point Warner Bros was attempting to acquire the
distribution rights to the forthcoming Gone
with the Wind and talks had it that in trade for the rights Bette Davis
would have been lent to Selznick to play the much sought after role of Scarlett
O’Hara. Negotiations with Warners never got off the ground and MGM would grab
the distribution rights to the highly anticipated picture. Despite legend Davis
would never be considered for the role as O’Hara, but her acting in Jezebel would land her the second of her
two Academy Awards for best actress, of what many critics thought should have
been three after being snubbed for her work in Of Human Bondage. Her strong willed persona plays very well for the
role of Julie as a head strong girl that did not see the consequences coming to
her.
To play second fiddle to Davis was Henry Fonda. The great, young stage
actor that broke into the movies playing across from some of the best actresses
in the business would have been at the call of the headlining star, but as the
birth of his daughter, Jane Fonda, was eminent he was allowed to be at his
wife’s side while Davis and the rest of the cast worked around his shots. That
was a kind gesture for the star who could have commanded that he stay to work
at this time. The result is a strong, weathered-feeling performance from an
actor that would become a major player in the cinema in coming years. Fonda’s
performance clearly states how he wants to teach this spoiled woman a lesson
and is mighty enough to stand his ground.
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| Bent, Davis, and Fonda in the scene with the red gown. |
George Brent would play the pawn in the scheme of Julie. A brash
duelist, the character of Buck allows his pride and chivalry to be the death of
him as he loses his life in trying to teach a lesson to those surrounding Julie.
Brent would receive higher billing, but Fay Bainter would receive an Academy
Awards for best supporting actress. She played Julie’s aunt who desperately
attempts to get Julie to behave and act properly. She too was a stage veteran
and provides much emotion with her face, earning her the award.
The picture plays out in stages as to how Julie is acting, and her
steps to ruin. These stages are playing out creatively in the costumes that
were worn by Davis through the picture, clearly displaying her character.
Opening with her in a riding outfit improper at the moments when greeting
guests at a party, setting up her strong will. It then moves to the infamous
red dress (in reality it was bronze to play well for the black and white film),
this showed her defiance and quick remorse for the decision. Next was the white
gown as she humbles herself to her ex-lover. Finally is a black dress with
edges that become worn as she watches after the dying Pres. These four
distinctive costumes perfectly change and evoke the character of Julie as she
changes through the picture.
As with any picture about that period in American history there is the
portrayal of Southern slaves to look at. To avoid any Southern censorship the
black slaves are made to look like they happily serve their masters, even with
the hint of abolitionism in the film. It is important to remember that though
slavery is retrospectively look back on as a blemish, in film it is looked at
with sweet icing as if nothing was wrong so the Southern audiences would not
stand up against the idea they were flawed. It is an issue panned over hoping
it would not cause problems, thus the overly happy slaves in the film.
Jezebel is quite a treasure
to find in 1938. Despite it being the product of a fad at the time, its strong
performance by the stars, beautiful direction, and greatly understated score by
Max Steiner all make for one of the best pictures of the year. In fact the film
would be up for best picture, best cinematography, and best score at the Oscars
that year, aside from the two awards for its actresses. In 2009 the feature
would be named to the National Film Registry and stands as one of the
culturally significant films in American cinema history. Jezebel stands as a reminder of how the motion picture business
reacts to what audiences like many times, but can still turn up a wonderful
picture at the same time.
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