TCM Pick O’ The Day: Wednesday, February 25th
by John Nolte
5pm PST - Dark Victory (1939) – A flighty heiress discovers inner strength when she develops a brain tumor. Cast: Bette Davis, George Brent, Humphrey Bogart, Geraldine Fitzgerald Dir: Edmund Goulding BW-104 mins, TV-PG
Classic Bette Davis melodrama filled with too many story twists to count, a miscast Humphrey Bogart and perfectly cast Ronald Reagan as a playboy drunk all too aware of his own shallowness. Davis puts all she has into her role (one she fought for) as a rich socialite thrown on an emotional rollercoaster after receiving a death sentence due to one of those movie tumors which allows for maximum dramatic impact and the all important ticking clock.
George Brent’s both strong and sympathetic as the doctor who treats Davis, falls in love with her, and ultimately helps the spoiled party girl discover the simple pleasure of life and what real happiness means.
The last ten minutes will have the logical half of your brain rolling your eyes, but there will be tears in them eyes because Davis is all movie star and makes you buy completely into the sweet, bitter, ridiculous, melodramatic, wonderful sadness of it all.
Also, be sure to catch Edward G. Robinson in “Dr. Erlich’s Magic Bullet” at 3pm, an outstanding biopic, one of my personal favorites, that I look forward to writing more about the next time it doesn’t air on the same day as an epic Davis weepie.
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11 Comments
Hey, DH, you missed THE DEVIL & DANIEL WEBSTER on TCM last nite. Based on the Stephen Vincent Benet story, starring Edward Arnold as Daniel Webster and Walter Huston as Scratch. Huston was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his performance but lost out to Gary Cooper in SERGEANT YORK. Webster drives a team of horses named "Constitution" and "Bill of Rights" , calling them, "Slow and steady but the best choices to arrive safely on a long journey." Sounds like obvious Pick O' The Day material to me !
Hey, John. I just thought you'd be interested to know that I just received an e-mail from the people at Big Hollywood telling me that any comment mentioning the name of the director of "North by Northwest" and "Psycho" will be automatically deleted because the last syllable of his name is obscene. I am not making this up. (I have the e-mails to prove it.)
It's interesting to see that Mr. Nolte chose not to highlight TCM's lineup tonight, which include classic Japanese films Harp of Burma, Rashamon, Kwaidan, and Seven Samurai. Some movies are more "classic" than others, eh what, John?
I tell you what, Pete. You enjoy the movies you want to, and John will enjoy the movies he wants to…If that's too hard for you to understand, I'll try again with smaller words. Deal?
Hey, this is as classic as it gets for a Bette Davis fan! And Ronald Reagan was wonderful in his role, good enough to make you forget you're watching Ronald Reagan.
Wow…people here at BH are really defensive. Considering a few of the Japanese movies that TCM showed last night routinely make "Best of all-time" lists, it was simply surprising that John skipped them yesterday.
Whenever I watch these old black and whites (which I adore), I always think back to those old Carol Burnett Show skits where she and Harvey Korman and Tim Conway would spoof these old movies. Hilarious. Bette Davis rocks!
http://the100mostannoyingthings.blogspot.com/
Isn't this blog titled Big Hollywood? Were the Japanese movies made in Hollywood? Maybe that has more to do with it than covert racism. Although it IS much more fun to hint that someone is a racist than just a movie snob, no?
One of the nice things about the month leading up to the Academy Awards is TCM's thirty one days of Oscar. I was able to record some great movies, letterboxed, and with a minmum of the intrusive logos that always pop up in the bottom right of my screen.
Not that this has anything to do with Mr Nolte's pick- it doesn't. However, did anyone see 'The Final Option' on MGMHD yesterday? It is a cracking adventure (and actually somewhat of a real SAS training film) about left wing terrorists seizing the US ambassador's residence in the UK… the action in it is first rate and extermely realistic- the best of both worlds, real SAS and the Bond crew (Martin Grace, Bob Simmons) doing what they do best… gets the same critical reviews as 'Red Dawn' (1 star!) and would be a kick butt double feature.
Just thought I'd bring it up…
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dark-Victory-Bette-...
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