Dark Victory (1939)
Director: Edmund Goulding
Honors:
In the earlier part of the 20th century the world
of major internal medicine was to a point still very much a mystery, and here
we get a picture that deals with the subject of cancer entangled in a tragic
love story. Dark Victory stars the
common Warner Bros. pairing of Bette Davis and George Bret with the delicate
subject of the impending death of the film’s female star, which could only be
filled by incomparable Davis who was known to weather the storm of rather risky
characters and dramatic roles. A picture with a heart breaking story, made with
some of the very best talent to ever come out of Hollywood , Dark Victory falls in to the realm of
many wonderful features out of 1939 as a remarkable production that would be
overshadowed by the massive giants of classic films to come out that year.
Dark Victory is a
drama, in fact a medical drama of sorts, of a love between a doctor and his
terminally ill patent and lover, both juggling the emotions of happiness and
sorrow with the undeniable facts of her impending death. Stubborn socialite
Judith Traherne (Bette Davis) after bouts with headaches and severe vision
issues is referred to Dr. Frederick Steele, brain specialist and surgeon who
had plans of retiring his practice and work in cancer research. After much
fighting Judith allows Steele to perform brain surgery and despite eliminating
her ailments Steele has knowledge that she has only a short time to live, but
keeps the information from her so that she may live in happiness. Steele and
Judith grow fond of each other and are engaged to be wed, when she discovers
her true condition while they pack to move out of the big city. They agree to
live in blissful contentment, disregarding what would be a sudden death for the
sake of enjoying life. When sudden symptoms strike revealing her impending and
immediate death, she decides to play along as everything is fine, sending
Frederick on his way to an out of town conference as she prepares for her
peaceful death in her happy home moments later in a very sad conclusion.
The picture is a wonderfully powerful drama of two
individuals that come into each other’s lives at just the right time and care
so much for each other that they refuse to share traumatic news when it
presents itself. Bette Davis and George Brent had played romantics many times
before in films, but here they are lovers not of passion, but of care and
nurturing that only want to focus on the good of being a loving couple than of
the gut wrenching news that Judith will inevitably die. The drama is rooted in
the scenes where Frederick keeps Judith’s condition from her, and then the
tables are dramatically turned as Judith keeps her situation from him and sadly
passes away. It produces moments that surely had audiences misting up when
Bette Davis crawls into bed in her final moments as the screen darkens signifying
the end to both Judith and the film.
Dark Victory has
its roots form a Broadway play that had a very short run of only 51
performances five years prior in 1934. Hollywood producers originally planned
to take the story and turn it into a vehicle for the very dramatic Greta Garbo,
but she would be wrapped up into other projects when years later Bette Davis
fit the bill.
At the time Bette Davis was one of the biggest risk takers
of any actress in Hollywood, playing less than glamorous, dramatic roles. At
the time of production Davis was in the middle of a divorce from her first
husband after she had had many affairs with other Hollywood celebrities.
Perhaps due to this ugly time in her life she provides impressive vivid
performance of a woman going through major life traumas. In the middle of
production Davis begged to be let go of her contract as she was very depressed,
but producers could not imagine doing so based off her performances seen in the
dailies they were watching. From this performance Davis would receive an
Academy Award nomination for her role as Judith, and years later she would look
back on the film as her favorite performance in her career.
As Bette Davis’ usual co-star George Brent makes yet another
performance as the man that eventually falls in love with Davis’ character.
Brent plays Dr. Frederick Steele, a brain surgeon who is jaded by his practice
because of how more often than not work his surgeries on the brain end in bad
news, renewing his efforts to the study of cancer, that is until the case with
Judith. He shows real care for her as a relationship blossoms, though not one
of romance, even though they do become engaged. Watching the characters it is
difficult to believe that these two would consider a married life together, but
you can believe how these two have deeply affected each other’s lives and care
very much for the other. Despite Brent being a major player in the film, his
performance overall is rather stiff compared to the drama carried by Davis, as
she shares far more emotion than he does. But, then again he is a doctor.
The film’s supporting cast is rather remarkable. First you
have a newcomer to the states in Geraldine Fitzgerald, an Irish born actress
who can be said to have one of the most impactful first two pictures in
Hollywood history up to that time. Her performance as Judith’s loving best friend
Ann plays on par with Davis in dramatic effect. You literally see her heart
breaking on screen as she realized Judith is showing her signs of emanate
death. Her roles here and in Wuthering
Heights were two of the best supporting performances of the year. Two other
notable actors of the supporting cast are a young and still upcoming Humphrey
Bogart and small time actor by the name of Ronald Reagan. Bogart was in
Warners’ system of rising stars, paying his dues as he would one day be one of
the industry’s biggest names. Here Bogart plays your not so usual Bogart type
character in an Irish horse trainer that nearly has an affair with Judith.
Ronald Reagan was a former baseball announcer for the Chicago Cubs that had
signed with Warner Bros. and had been in a number of B films for the studio,
here as a drinking friend of Judith, a role with really no meat on its bones.
We all know what heights Reagan would one day achieve.
The film would be one the better box office successes of
Warner Bros. on the year. Critics and audiences were both enamored by the love
story and medical tragedy that was presented in this picture. In an age with
still limited medical knowledge to present a plot around a character with
cancer was a risk, as seen in the Broadway failure, but Bette Davis makes it a
wonderful picture. Davis would lose Best Actress to Gone with the Wind’s Vivien Leigh, as would the film in the Best
Picture category. Max Steiner would produce an understated score for the
feature, a subtle composition compared to his more bombastic works of the past.
Steiner would be nominated for Best Score, of which he was nominated along with
his work on Gone with the Wind, but
lost to score of The Wizard of Oz.
Dark Victory was
not your typical Hollywood feature film, but Warner Bros. loved to play beyond
the lines of what audiences usually through of glamorous pictures. With
wonderful names in the cast of little known actors who would become big players
and the great Bette Davis, this picture stands as a very strong film from 1939.
Named #32 in AFI’s Top 100 Passions list, Dark
Victory is a good find for anyone looking for an intriguing film out of
this age in Hollywood and worth looking at for it dramatic effect on a love
story.
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