An absolute waste of money

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Drama dealing with two sisters. There's Roy (Olivia de Havilland) who's good and Stanley (Bette Davis) who's psychotic. Stanley steals Roy's husband Peter (Dennis Morgan) from her cruelly dumping her current boyfriend Craig (George Brent). Then there's a creepy uncle (Charles Coburn) who seems way too fond of Stanley.Fast-moving and well-done with a great script. Director John Huston blasted this film in later years but I can't see why. Most of the acting is great. de Havilland is given the thankless good girl role but pulls it off. Davis is given the prime role and she attacks it full-force--sometimes TOO full force! More than once I found her overacting more funny than dramatic. I wish Huston had reined her in. Still she's great. The only debits are Brent and Morgan who are pretty wooden. Still this is well worth seeing.

...regardless of how badly and wildly you behave. That's probably why Davis' character, Stanley, always has to be dancing or listening to music or doing something. She dare not be left alone with her thoughts or her conscience. So at first, you think you are watching the story of a woman who has never grown up, who is emotionally two, who wants what she wants when she wants it. Instead, you are watching a layered tale in which an American film does something rare during WWII - it airs the nation's dirty laundry, such as institutionalized racism and how cheaters do prosper and often did during the Great Depression, and even some implied incest. Let me explain. Olivia de Havilland plays Stanley's sister Roy (nobody ever comments on the odd sisters' names). Stanley runs away with Roy's husband (Dennis Morgan), leaving behind a perfectly serviceable fiancé (George Brent,) and then drives Morgan's character to suicide. Meanwhile Roy takes up with Stanley's old boy friend. They become engaged. And even though it was Stanley who destroyed Roy's marriage and ultimately Roy's husband, Roy brings her back home after the suicide. Then Stanley gets ideas she can get her old fiancé away from Roy, After all, she has done this before.The girls' parents are a broken-down business man (Frank Craven) and an invalid mother (Billie Burke). Craven has been cheated out of the family business by his partner and brother in law (Charles Coburn) who seems to have an awfully familiar relationship with Stanley, as in he seems to want more than just daughterly love from her. Blech. Stanley seems to get her "it's okay to rob from family with a song in your heart" ideas from her uncle, but in the end, even the uncle sees Stanley's real face. She is really not there for anybody. She could have easily coined the phrase "What have you done for me lately?", and good riddance if the answer is nothing.So reckless driver Stanley mows down a mother and child on her way back home from a tavern where her old boyfriend Brent has stood her up, just like he said he would in the first place. She then panics and just drives straight home. When the police come calling, she blames the accident on the housekeeper's son (Ernest Anderson), whom she claimed borrowed her car. This is where the racism angle comes in. Anderson's character tells Brent that the police do not care what he has to say. Because of his race they would always take Stanley's word over his own. His mother (Hattie McDaniel) backs up her son's story, so Roy and Brent start to dig around and find out the truth.This may be Davis' most unsympathetic role. The entire cast is quite good and the story is fast paced. Walter Huston, Lee Patrick, Mary Servoss, and William Davidson co-star. Anderson was particularly good in a very atypically humanizing role for an African American in 1942. His character wants to be a lawyer, and his speech about why he wants to be a lawyer is particularly insightful dialogue for its time. He says that a white kid can take any job and work his way up, but a black kid can either keep a job or lose a job. So he wants to be an attorney, something that cannot be taken away from him...in Virginia...in the 1940's. Bette didn't like this one, but it is one of my favorite Bette Davis films after she hit stardom.This is Bette's movie all the way. Say did you notice that the same Ernest Anderson who is the wrongly accused housekeeper's son sells ice cream to Baby Jane Hudson in "WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?". Check that out. Don't tell me Bette didn't have anything to do with that casting.

Bette Davis chews up the scenery along with most of her co-stars in this fabulously fun melodrama. As Stanley Timberlake, she plays a character with absolutely no redeeming value in this engrossing Warners film from 1942. Olivia de Havilland, playing good sister Roy Timberlake, gives a believable performance, though, if Bette were my sister, I would have done something about her years ago. The film is justly celebrated for it's depiction of racial prejudice as well as it's positive portrayal of African-Americans, something very rare in 1942. The DVD hosts a cornicopia of special features including the theatrical trailer, two Technicolor shorts, one patriotic, the other a beautiful Ballet Russe number, an incomprehensible news reel minus most of it's sound, and a pretty funny Porky Pig cartoon. The film transfer is excellent, with great picture and sound quality, and the quality highlight of the special features is the aforementioned ballet short, in the most gorgeous Technicolor, perfectly restored and presented here.

Now this one was a wild ride. I think this was the film that gave Bette Davis her reputation. Obviously she did many before this that were excellent but this one is just...wow. She's dead evil in this one.To say I was surprised at the end of this would be an understatement. I've seen quite a few of Davis' films but none have come close to evil/over-the-top of this character...IMO (maybe "The Anniversary" is close).This is certainly a well made film from cast to production. Enough can't be said about the supporting cast. They did an A+ job on getting their hands on this bunch. They all did quite well in this one.Basic premise is that Bette Davis is one of 2 sisters in a "once" rich family and she's obviously the star of the lot. She's spoiled beyond reason. If that's not bad enough, her uncle spoils her more than her father. And this relationship borders on creepy. She does whatever she wants and cares ZERO for the consequences. The whole thing starts off by her stealing her sister's husband and darting off outta town. After this it's all down hill. We get to see Davis in her absolute pinnacle of over-the-topness. You'll be stunned at the things this character does. She's shallow and cold-hearted and well...she's a Sociopath with a capital "S".Olivia de Havilland is OK. I've never been a huge fan of hers but she fills the void in her performance. With the exception of "The Snake Pit" and "Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte"...she's pretty much the same in every role so you know what to expect in this.I'm not gonna go into the rest of the film because you have to see it to believe it. It's not on the level of "Little Foxes" but it's a good film. The title itself I think was wrong but I guess they couldn't call it..."Spoiled Brat".