The Corn is Green (1945)

[Mr. Arkadin]

My personal favorite Bette Davis film is coming up. Why is this not on DVD? Discussion or comments?

[klondike]

This is a lovely film, with a wonderfully gentle, yet strongly firm performance from the Divine Ms. Bett, sort of the classic hammer-in-velvet personna for a quietly challenging role.
And Nigel Bruce is an absolute delight as the gruff-but-goldenhearted squire; certainly not much of a departure for him, but perhaps rather a case of being used in a film that just better deserved the gem-like expertise of his endearing Victorian bluster.
All in all, a more satisfying film experience, I feel, than the '79 remake with Kate Hepburn, energetic & polished though that was.

[movieman1957]

It's a lovely film. I thought Bette Davis was very un-Bette Davis. Very well done. The poem that the title is taken from is used and that too is a lovely piece of art.

[moira finnie]

Thanks for reminding me of this upcoming broadcast, Ark. Mildred Dunnock as Davis' assistant & John Dall as the student (a character based on playwright & actor Emlyn Williams' early life), were both exceptional in this movie. It is odd that it's not on dvd yet, just as it's strange that a film on the other end of the Davis spectrum, the floridly entertaining Deception (1946) is also not yet on disc.

I thought that The Corn is Green (1945) was one of the few times that Bette Davis underplayed her role. She did it beautifully, just as she did--very effectively--in Watch on the Rhine and A Catered Affair.

BTW, another film featuring rather untypical performances by Bette Davis and Errol Flynn is also on the schedule this week too:
The Sisters (1938) On Thur., Sept. 13th at 6:15 AM EDT.

[feaito]

I would like to watch this film. It has never been aired by TCM Latin. Last week I missed Bette's "In This Our Life", which I have never seen and I'm curious because I have read that it contains one of Bette's most outlandish & hysterical performances (just the opposite of "The Corn is Green"). I also saw decades ago the Kate Hepburn version.

Another film I watched recently which contains a very understated, subtle, untypical Bette Davis performance is "The Man Who Came to Dinner".

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi,

This is my second favourite movie of Bette's after "The Letter"...
Both show what a good actress is, while giving a restrained performance.
I also like "The Little Foxes" but I want to just kill her in that one.
Mildred Dunnock is always good as is the rest of the cast.
Happy viewing!!

Fernando -
"In This Our Life" and "Beyond the Forest" are films you must see, just to see Bette rant and rave and tear up the scenery.
She's way over the top but so wonderfully campy that you can just see where the 'drag queens' all got their material. Especially Charles Pierce, who was the greatest of them all....

Larry

[feaito]

Fernando -
"In This Our Life" and "Beyond the Forest" are films you must see, just to see Bette rant and rave and tear up the scenery.
She's way over the top but so wonderfully campy that you can just see where the 'drag queens' all got their material. Especially Charles Pierce, who was the greatest of them all....

Larry

Thanks for the recommendation Larry. BTW, I recently read James Spada's biography of Bette Davis, where he describes how campy her performances are in both films. She states that she was totally (emotionally) out of control when she made "ITOL". Something similar happened with "BTF", being her last film for Warners (where she had been under contract since 1932 or 1933).

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Klondike, what a wonderful way to describe the Squire!
Johnm, I'm glad you finally saw this wonderful film.

The Corn is Green inspired me a long while ago and helped me to realize one of my life's ambitions and my life's work, as well as Martha Scott as Miss Bishop and Anne Bancroft as Anne Sullivan in the two films that followed.