The Bette Davis Collection, Vol. 3 (The Old Maid / All This, And Heaven Too / The Great Lie / In This Our Life / Watch on the Rhine / Deception)
starring: Bette Davis, Mary Astor, Miriam Hopkins, George Brent, Claude Rains
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Product Description:
Studio: Warner Home VideoRelease Date: 04/01/2008
Amazon.com:
To quote Claude Reins in "Deception," Bette Davis is "all eyes and talent," and both burn bright in six vintage films she made for Warner Bros. between 1939-46. Lesser known than her certified classics, these are not exactly best Bettes, but they are marvelously entertaining and a representative showcase for one of Hollywood's most enduring leading ladies. These eminently repeatable films put Davis (and viewers) through the ringer. Few actresses portrayed characters who suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune so grandly, so regally, so tragically, or so deservedly. As an ad for one of Davis' movies once famously proclaimed, when she was good, she was very good. When she was bad, she was terrific. Just check out John Huston's In This Our Life (1942), this set's unearthed treasure. Bette, flouncing like mad, jilts her fiancée, steals good sister Olivia de Havilland's husband, and promptly drives him to drink and suicide. And she's just getting warmed up! (You don't need Jeannine Basinger's informed commentary to debunk the tantalizing movie legend about a supposed cameo by members of the Matlese Falcon cast. Those gents at the bar look nothing like Bogie and company. But that is Walter, John's father, tending bar). Davis was also very good at being noble. In the prestige project, Watch on the Rhine (1943), based on Lillian Hellman's play and adapted for the screen by Dashiell Hammett, she is the steadfast wife to Paul Lukas, in his Oscar-winning role, as a "legendary figure of the underground movement," who carries on his fight against fascism in Washington, D.C. In The Old Maid (1939), based on the novel by Edith Wharton, Bette allows her cousin (Miriam Hopkins) to give her illegitimate child a respectable name, and, posing as the girl's unsuspecting aunt, must stand by while she grows up spoiled and "horrid." And in All This and Heaven Too (1940), she is a transplanted French schoolteacher who regales her initially scornful students with the true story behind her scandalous past. Deception is another ripping melodrama in which she stars as a pianist whose reunion with her lost love (Paul Henreid), a cellist is threatened by Rains as her arrogant and sadistic Svengali (who's responsible for those minks in her closet). Last but not least is The Great Lie (1941), pitting Bette against Mary Astor, who won an Academy Award as the bitchy concert pianist whose son Bette is raising (long story, but it involves missing aviator George Brent, whom they both love). These films offer such they-don't-make-'em-like-this-anymore pleasures as lush, melodramatic scores by such masters as Max Steiner, hothouse emotions, quotable dialogue, and, of course, indelible character actors at their peaks. These films are seen to their best advantage when viewed as part of each disc's bonus features that recreate an old fashioned "Night at the Movies," complete with theatrical previews, newsreels, short subjects, and Warner Bros. cartoons featuring Porky Pig or Daffy Duck. --Donald Liebenson
Studio: Warner Home VideoRelease Date: 04/01/2008
Amazon.com:
To quote Claude Reins in "Deception," Bette Davis is "all eyes and talent," and both burn bright in six vintage films she made for Warner Bros. between 1939-46. Lesser known than her certified classics, these are not exactly best Bettes, but they are marvelously entertaining and a representative showcase for one of Hollywood's most enduring leading ladies. These eminently repeatable films put Davis (and viewers) through the ringer. Few actresses portrayed characters who suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune so grandly, so regally, so tragically, or so deservedly. As an ad for one of Davis' movies once famously proclaimed, when she was good, she was very good. When she was bad, she was terrific. Just check out John Huston's In This Our Life (1942), this set's unearthed treasure. Bette, flouncing like mad, jilts her fiancée, steals good sister Olivia de Havilland's husband, and promptly drives him to drink and suicide. And she's just getting warmed up! (You don't need Jeannine Basinger's informed commentary to debunk the tantalizing movie legend about a supposed cameo by members of the Matlese Falcon cast. Those gents at the bar look nothing like Bogie and company. But that is Walter, John's father, tending bar). Davis was also very good at being noble. In the prestige project, Watch on the Rhine (1943), based on Lillian Hellman's play and adapted for the screen by Dashiell Hammett, she is the steadfast wife to Paul Lukas, in his Oscar-winning role, as a "legendary figure of the underground movement," who carries on his fight against fascism in Washington, D.C. In The Old Maid (1939), based on the novel by Edith Wharton, Bette allows her cousin (Miriam Hopkins) to give her illegitimate child a respectable name, and, posing as the girl's unsuspecting aunt, must stand by while she grows up spoiled and "horrid." And in All This and Heaven Too (1940), she is a transplanted French schoolteacher who regales her initially scornful students with the true story behind her scandalous past. Deception is another ripping melodrama in which she stars as a pianist whose reunion with her lost love (Paul Henreid), a cellist is threatened by Rains as her arrogant and sadistic Svengali (who's responsible for those minks in her closet). Last but not least is The Great Lie (1941), pitting Bette against Mary Astor, who won an Academy Award as the bitchy concert pianist whose son Bette is raising (long story, but it involves missing aviator George Brent, whom they both love). These films offer such they-don't-make-'em-like-this-anymore pleasures as lush, melodramatic scores by such masters as Max Steiner, hothouse emotions, quotable dialogue, and, of course, indelible character actors at their peaks. These films are seen to their best advantage when viewed as part of each disc's bonus features that recreate an old fashioned "Night at the Movies," complete with theatrical previews, newsreels, short subjects, and Warner Bros. cartoons featuring Porky Pig or Daffy Duck. --Donald Liebenson
Related Items:
- Bette Davis Centenary Celebration Collection (All About Eve / Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte / The Virgin Queen / Phone Call from a Stranger / The Nanny)
- The Bette Davis Collection, Vol. 1 (Now, Voyager / Dark Victory / The Letter / Mr. Skeffington / The Star)
- The Joan Crawford Collection, Vol. 2 (A Woman's Face / Flamingo Road / Sadie McKee / Strange Cargo / Torch Song)
- Daisy Kenyon (Fox Film Noir)
- TCM Archives - Forbidden Hollywood Collection, Vol. 2 (The Divorcee / A Free Soul / Night Nurse / Three on a Match / Female)
- see more
Browse for similar items by category:
- VHS » DVD » Genres » Drama » General
- VHS » DVD » Genres » Drama » Classics
- VHS » DVD » Specialty Stores » Custom Stores » Actors & Actresses » ( A ) » Astor, Mary
- VHS » DVD » Specialty Stores » Custom Stores » Actors & Actresses » ( B ) » Boyer, Charles
- VHS » DVD » Specialty Stores » Custom Stores » Actors & Actresses » ( B ) » Brent, George
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- BETTE DAVIS IS A GODDESS!!!!
It is so fantastic to be able to own these wonderful films! 'In This Our Life' and 'The Old Maid' are the definate highlights and the others are in no way among Bette's flops (of which there are not many anyway). All of the films are filmed in the high point of her career and while they are not her most famous (Vol 1 and 2 contain those), any Bette fan would be CRAZY to not buy this set! Bette Davis' talent is simply breathtaking!
This being said, I had this product shipped internationally ... Read More
Rating: 
- bette davis collection vol 3.
I have always been a fan of bette davis and I have found his set to be great.The fims are all remastered and the sound his good. So I thorouglyreccomend this set .I also purchased it when the price was reduced.
Ken Barrett MooroolbarkVictoriaAustralia .
Rating: - The Bette Davis Collection, Vol. 3
The movies contained in this video collection are spectacular.Each movie in this collection are I think Bette Davis' best pictures!A great edition to my classic movie collections.
Rating: - Loves it!
Great package, great films.Worth it!Spend the money!Bette Davis rules!
Rating: - Love Vol.'s 1-3, But Where is Vol. 4?
Thank you Warner Bros. et al, for giving us what you have, but where is Vol.4? I know I'm not the only one who'd like to have Dangerous, Beyond the Forest, Juarez, a viewable print of,Of Human Bondage, The Man Who Played God etc. I hope this series has not gone the way of Warner's Film Noir Collections, which have not been issued in nearly two years. Where are the previously mentioned Jean Harlow & Lana Turner Collections? How about a Gable & Crawford set? We can't spend the money if you don't deliver the ... Read More
- BETTE DAVIS IS A GODDESS!!!!It is so fantastic to be able to own these wonderful films! 'In This Our Life' and 'The Old Maid' are the definate highlights and the others are in no way among Bette's flops (of which there are not many anyway). All of the films are filmed in the high point of her career and while they are not her most famous (Vol 1 and 2 contain those), any Bette fan would be CRAZY to not buy this set! Bette Davis' talent is simply breathtaking!
This being said, I had this product shipped internationally ... Read More
- bette davis collection vol 3.I have always been a fan of bette davis and I have found his set to be great.The fims are all remastered and the sound his good. So I thorouglyreccomend this set .I also purchased it when the price was reduced.
Ken Barrett MooroolbarkVictoriaAustralia .
- The Bette Davis Collection, Vol. 3The movies contained in this video collection are spectacular.Each movie in this collection are I think Bette Davis' best pictures!A great edition to my classic movie collections.
- Loves it!Great package, great films.Worth it!Spend the money!Bette Davis rules!
- Love Vol.'s 1-3, But Where is Vol. 4?Thank you Warner Bros. et al, for giving us what you have, but where is Vol.4? I know I'm not the only one who'd like to have Dangerous, Beyond the Forest, Juarez, a viewable print of,Of Human Bondage, The Man Who Played God etc. I hope this series has not gone the way of Warner's Film Noir Collections, which have not been issued in nearly two years. Where are the previously mentioned Jean Harlow & Lana Turner Collections? How about a Gable & Crawford set? We can't spend the money if you don't deliver the ... Read More
