DANGEROUS

[mrsl]

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I know this was a drama, but it seemed like more of a contradiction in terms. Franchot Tone was cursed with usually playing the milquetoast, with a wet noodle for a spine, but in this . . . . . in one scene he's being strong, and two seconds later he's succumbing to Bette's phony tears, and giving in to her drunken pleas.

On the other hand, Bette is the female version of Franchot's role. One minute she's being hard as nails, and the next she's scrubbing away tears as she begs for forgiveness, or because she isn't worth anyones' help.

She's a full out drunk and he takes her out to his lovely country house to let her dry up and get better. Naturally all she can think of is escaping (as if the doors are locked), and she goes about breaking things or tearing up pillows and such; in other words, destructive to this guy who's helping her. BTW, he's not there, he's left her with a lady housekeeper, so it's not like she has to worry about her priceless body being ravaged.

Through all of this, Tone is breaking dates with his trusting and faithful fiancee', while she holds on waiting for him, until he finally gives her the gate, I guess because he can't desert this poor kid who needs help. BTW, she thinks this is all a jinx she puts on anyone who loves her. I cannot believe Davis won the Oscar for this piece of drivel, but she did. I guess even back then politics were heavily involved in awards.
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[JackFavell]

Gosh, I loved this movie, mrsl. I thought it was super...I only wish I'd recorded it.

[sandykaypax]

Anne, even Davis herself said she shouldn't have won the Oscar for her role in Dangerous. She believed, as many others do, that she should have won it the year before for Of Human Bondage. I'm inclined to agree.

It's been a few years since I've seen Dangerous, but I do remember liking it. Davis is such a force of nature, that I can completely understand Tone's infatuation with her.

Might need to dig this one out and watch it again...

Sandy K

[JackFavell]

I liked it much better than Of Human Bondage... I think Davis sets just the right tone in this one, and I'think she is pretty awful in OHB. I did read the book before I saw the movie though.

In Dangerous, I thought she was great at playing crazy neurotic, but very much alive. I can perfectly well see why Tone went for her. She is deluded, self destructive, but has something very earthy and real inside her. She really believes in the "curse" and it fuels her self destruction and her toying with those around her. I actually felt empathy for her, which I think a lesser actress might not have pulled off with such a complex and destructive character. I thought the chemistry between Davis and Tone was wonderful. Davis was certainly far more alive and fascinating than the repressed Margaret Lindsey, who was extremely good - I loved the Davis and Lindsey bookend scenes -

"Will he come back?"
"I think he will"

The writing was very good.

This is also one of the few times in the movies where I can really believe that an actress was the best of her generation - a real once in a lifetime find... usually you just feel like laughing when a starlet is billed as a Sarah Bernhardt.

[mrsl]

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I feel kind of bad about giving it such a bad review now, but it just proves, "One mans' trash is another mans' treasure", right?
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[JackFavell]

How true.

[intothenitrate]

I seem to remember that Tone's character saw Davis' character in a play...and that her performance changed his life...and that he couldn't believe that someone who had inspired him so deeply could be just a bitter and empty shell of a person...

They seemed very careful to remind us of that every time the Tone character did something that defied credulity.

Maybe some of the extra "chemistry" had to do with Tone's being involved with Joan Crawford. Perhaps Bette messed him because, well, because she could.