Your Homework Assignment is to Watch "Marked Woman" on TCM

Marked Woman (1937) starring Bette Davis is on Turner Classic Movies tomorrow (Saturday 8/8) at 9:30 PST.

If you've never seen it before I absolutely insist that you watch or record it. Don't get TCM? Then now is the time to rent it. Don't have a DVD player? Well for crying out loud what's the matter with you? And by the way, if you have seen it before I absolutely insist that you watch it again.

Marked Woman features one of Davis' four or five best performance and given the kind of career she had I obviously mean that as high praise indeed. Davis plays what is euphemistically called a "party girl" (you'll get what she really is) working in a mob run joint who decides to name names. Humphrey Bogart plays the crusading district attorney which is interesting considering that this was a time in his career when he usually portrayed guys on the the other side of the law.

Marked Woman is too little appreciated and too little known so let's make sure we all watch it. If enough of you do I may even write a post about it next week. Or hell, maybe one of you will beat me to it.

Any questions about your homework?

Why You No Good Low Down Dirty Stinking Rat!! The Most Despicable Characters of Film, Female Version

"You hate them. They are pure evil. As appealing as rancid butter. They're as cuddly as snakes. They make your hero's life miserable. They're up to no good and for selfish ends. They serve only themselves and the almighty dollar. You despise, loathe, detest, abhor, can't stand 'em. Yuck!" So began my blog post of last week in which I identified 10 of the most heinous characters of film.

You may have noticed they were all men.

Never one to be guilty of sexism, and having been prodded by that notorious buttinksi R.D. Finch (proprietor of the fabulous blog The Movie Projector) I now present the ladies.

Anyone who says a woman can't be just as evil as a man has never been married (the missus doesn't think that's funny. I chortled upon writing that line and she asked what was so funny. When I told her she just stared at me. I may be in trouble, folks).

But seriously, men don't have a monopoly on bad behavior, especially in films. I believe the ten ladies described below will prove this point.

Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate (1962). Calculating. How utterly ruthless, how precisely evil. Lansbsury was brilliant as the coldest, least obvious Commie spy of the Cold War. And all the time masquerading as an American-as-apple-pie mom. Lansbury played the most manipulative cold-hearted and ruthless political matriarch you'll ever meet. Great performance as a horrible person.

Charlize Theron as Aileen in Monster (2003). Heartless. There's something really distasteful about a serial killer. Most are men. so when a woman goes around killing people it really gets under my craw. Charlize Theron who is one of the most beautiful women in the world , not only played a serial killer but an ugly one. For this alone she deserved the Best Actress Oscar she was awarded. The movie was based on the real life exploits of Aileen Wuornos who killed seven men in a two period some thirty years ago. Theron played this real life monster, careful to give her the humanity that lurks within even the most distasteful humans.

Bette Davis as Leslie Crosbie in The Letter (1940). Icy. She's having an affair behind her poor, loving husband's back then shoots her lover in a snit. A real stinker, right? But look how she acts afterwards. The picture of innocence as she compounds her sins a hundred fold. Davis is so convincing that you soon forget what a cold hearted killer and cheat she is. Its one thing to fool those poor saps on the screen but she takes us in the audience for a ride too.

Glenn Close as Alex Forest in Fatal Attraction (1987). Persistent. Don't sing to her: "it was just one of those things just one of those fabulous flings." In her words, "I won't be ignored." No she won't. This is one affair that you're not going to get away with. To paraphrase Donnie and Marie, "she's a little bit obsessed, she's a little bit off her nut." She won't even spare the family pet, the stinker.

Barbara Stanwyck as Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity (1944). Seductress. She took poor Walter Neff for the ride of his life, the poor sap. Look where it got him, bleeding to death in Edward G. Robinson's office. No, she didn't exactly get off Scot free but this was all her own doing. Pretending to love a man, getting him to off her hubbie. That's low.

Lotte Lenya as Rosa Klebb in From Russia with Love (1963). Brutal. Are you glad to see me or is that a knife in your boot? Rosa was a lady who go her "kicks" out of killing incompetent or enemy spies. The perfect villain for the Cold War, a Russian spy with a face not even a mother could love.

Judith Anderson as Mrs. Danvers in Rebbecca (1940). Spooky. Talk about creepy. Does she walk or glide? And would a smile kill her? I couldn't even manage Danvers giggling. Like a lot of the bad ladies she's one cold fish. Dedicated to a deceased employer determined to rid herself of the new employer, the poor girl (played by Joan Fontaine. Honestly anyone who would be mean to Joan is just awful.). Mrs. Danvers may be the quintessential villainess.

Margaret Wycherly as Ma Jarrett in White Heat (1949). Enabler. Good ole mom part two. Her young un is the notorious gangster Cody Jarret and he seems a chip of her gnarly faced mom's block. Ma Jarret is one of the greatest co-dependents of all time, encouraging and abetting son Cody's misdeeds. Cody loves his dear old ma. Usually this is a fine attribute in a son, but when ma was Mother Gun Moll, not so good.

Joan Bennett as Kitty March in Scarlett Street (1945). Dishonest. You can't get much lower than swindling a lonely old bachelor and bringing him to rack and ruin. Kitty may have other forces pulling her strings but that's no excuse for the kind of chicanery she's up to. When you get a an older gent to fall in love with you so you can soak him...Shame on you!

Judie Dench as Barbara Covet in Notes on A Scandal (2006). Manipulative. On the surface she is a perfectly respectable little old lady but watch how she ingratiates herself into the life of a vulnerable friend. She feeds on vulnerabilities and uses them to collect the most powerful weapon of all -- information. Once you've opened yourself up to her, you've got a most unwelcome friend. Emotional blackmail in its most refined form.

Hello Stranger!

The Petrified Forest (1936) is mostly remembered for Humphrey Bogart's performance as Duke Mantee -- a brilliant re interpretation of John Dillinger --and the hostage scene that comprises the film's second half. But to me the most intriguing aspect of the movie is the first half when Alan Squier (Leslie Howard) walks into Gabrielle Maple's (Bette Davis) life.

Interlude:
A July 4th weekend when I was 15. At a large family gathering. My first cousins and I were bored to tears when in walked a distant relative we'd never met. Steven was 19, a true hippie, an intellectual. Funny, fun loving. He spiked our lemonade with vodka. I was never the same again. It's not that Steven’s introducing me to demon rum that was so significant. In the course of the weekend he helped transform me from a naif to bohemian. The booze was but one aspect of this change. I started reading more seriously, laughing more uproariously and questioning authority more openly. This devilish raconteur had unlocked something within me. The lid would never go back on Pandora’s Box.

It happens in life that one someone strides into a person's sphere and they are forever changed. Often they bring true love and all the attendant joy and grief. But it can be so much else or more than that. Witness Gabrielle.

She lives with her father and grandfather out in the stultifying Arizona desert where she works at the family diner. She dreams of going to France and staying with her mother. Ahh to to go France where anything is possible! Meanwhile she's pursued by the hired help, a big lummox, strong of body, weak of mind and fore square in his intent to betroth Gabby. He's clearly not in Gabrielle's class. She loves poetry, painting and her larger than life dreams. My God how many women have succumbed over the centuries to lesser men either out of necessity or desperation? (Don't do it young women, hold out for someone special, like my wife did...okay, maybe not a great example.)

Into the diner walks an Englishman, exotic for his nationality alone. But he brings more. This Mr. Squier is a writer, a traveler and a very deep thinker indeed. That he is penniless is of no matter, he brings other types of riches, far more valuable ones. Alan can enrich Gabrielle's mind if not her purse. He brings charm, wit, contemplation and experience.

Our Gabrielle will never be the same.

In the end, of course, he makes the ultimate sacrifice so that she can pursue her dreams. But the greatest gift was not the insurance money but unlocking possibilities.

That's what a new person entering our life can do. Help us experience or to see different ways of living or at least of viewing the world. The Petrified Forest explores this idea as well as any film before or since. But surely Gabrielle is not merely the beneficiary of extraordinary luck. Anyone may be exposed to the new and interesting. It is crucial to be open to it, to be able to appreciate it, to explore it. If Gabrielle were not intellectually curious then Alan’s arrival would be like giving a great book to an illiterate.

Of course there is another stranger who enters the diner: Bogart's Duke Mantee. Surely his presence is crucial to Gabrielle as well. But he is all accident, mayhem and death. He forces change by barging in and wreaking havoc, not by enriching or opening minds.

In addition to Bogie, fine performances by Howard and Davis highlight the film as does Genevieve Tobin in a small but crucial role as a fellow hostage. As Mrs. Chisolm she represents the very opposite of what Gabrielle's aspires to be. Mrs. Chisolm heartbreakingly tells of how she gave up her dreams when she married for money and has thus lived with regret ever since.

I cannot finish this post without including these wonderful words from Squier: "Any woman's worth everything that any man has to give: anguish, ecstasy, faith, jealousy, love, hatred, life or death. Don't you see that's the whole excuse for our existence? It's what makes the whole thing possible and tolerable."

Amen, brother.

All About Eve and Margo and Tracy and Annie and Stella and Ilsa and Evelyn and Marge....

In my preceding post I listed 11 (why 11? you ask, why not 11 I reply) memorable male film characters. I excluded anyone previously famous in another medium such as literature (sorry Phyllis Dietrichson of Double Indemnity (1944)) or as a real person (apologies Edith Piaf of La Vie en Rose) or a recurring character (another time Princess Leia of Star Wars (1977 et al). Under the same ground rules I now present 11 (that's right I said 11, you got a problem with it?) notable female characters of film.

Margo Channing played by Bette Davis in All About Eve (1950). Eve may have got what she wanted but Margo didn't lose an iota of dignity or stature. It took her awhile to catch on to Eve's machinations but she eventually saw it all clear enough and would not be so fooled again. Margo was the pre feminist woman. Self possessed and self reliant without being self absorbed. A true talent unafraid of men or her own ability to woo them. Who else could have played this role as well as the great Bette Davis. Try no one.

Tracy Lord played by Katherine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story (1940). Ultimately she needed some interloping news reporters to help edge her away from the wrong man and back in the arms of her true love, Cary Grant's CK Dexter Haven. Twas Mr. Haven who said of Tracy, "Not interested in yourself, Red, you're fascinated. You're far and away your favorite person in the world." Bit harsh but he was making a point. And you should really make a point to watch Lord more carefully next time you take in this fine film. She's far more complex a person than most give her credit for. Accused of not having her own mind, an anti-feminist, she's actually quite independent and suffers only from confusion. Sure she needs a shove in the right direction. Not a crime, that.

Annie Hall played by Diane Keaton in Annie Hall (1977). It's a hell of an advantage to have your character name in the film title but it was Diane Keaton's Oscar winning performance that made Annie shine. That and the clothes which started a mini fashion trend. She was a devastating combination of cute, pretty, smart, neurotic and funny. Writer/Director Woody Allen has a most well earned reputation for creating memorable roles for women (just ask Diane Weist, Scarlet Johannson or Mia Farrow, Actually forgot that last one she and Woody had a bit of a falling out). Annie might have been his best.

Stella Dallas played by Barbara Stanwyck in Stella Dallas (1937). Again the title and the character are one and the same, but the similarities end there. Stanwyck's Stella Dallas is the archetype of the self sacrificing mom who will do anything for her child even to the extreme of giving her up and stepping aside. The movie provided Stanwyck with one of her best roles which is going some considering how many great ones she had. This is melodrama at its best and if Stanwyck's performance doesn't choke you up you maybe better check your pulse.

Eve Carrington played by Anne Baxter in All About Eve (1950). That conniving little b*tch. Look how she manipulates people. What a phony! But she gets what she wants in the end, though stuck with George Sanders in the bargain. Few actresses have had a role like Eve to stick their teeth into and Baxter took full advantage. You had to admire Eve even in he act of despising her. She has a strange dark appeal to the baser nature of men, hence her being saddled with sanders seems appropriate.

Ilsa Lund played by Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca (1942). Ya know, all she had to really do was look at a man in just the right way with those soulful eyes and you wouldn't need Sam to play "As Time Goes By" for him to melt. Ilsa was a looker all right but she was also one of the good guys. Sure she was ready to give up her heroic hubby for Bogie's Richard Blaine, but she was such a good person that the selfless Blaine couldn't accept. Just gave her a nudge. Here's looking at you, ilsa.

Evelyn Mulwray as played by Faye Dunaway in Chinatown (1974). She was the mother, the sister, the mother the sister, the mother AND the sister. Dunaway was teamed with Jack Nicholson and John Huston and more than held her own. Ms. Mulwray was all things to all people. Spoiled. Manipulative. Victim. Heroine. Mostly she was memorable.

Marge Gunderson played by Frances MacDormand in Fargo (1996). Gunderson was Sarah Palin with brains. She wouldn't shoot a wolf from a helicopter but would hunt down a desperate criminal through snow drifts. Pregnant, plain speaking in that Upper Midwest accent. A dogged professional. You betchya!

Norma Desmond played by Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard (1950). I'm the first to admit that I tend to lavish massive amounts of praise on anything movie related that I love. So here goes: Swanson's Norma Desmond is one of the 10 greatest film characters of all time. That walk down the stairs at the end of the film alone would be enough to cement her place in cinematic lore. My God you just don't get any better than this. Nuff said.

Sugar Kane Kowalczyk played by Marylin Monroe in Some Like it Hot (1959). If by hot they mean Sugar Kane, I'm in. Monore was all bouncy ass and breathy sexiness. A physical wonder of nature with nothing false about her. An admitted gold digger who knows herself far more than supposedly smarter dames. It's not just the physical endowments one remembers about her. Monore breathed some real depth into Sugar Kane.

Mildred Ratched as played by Louise Fletcher in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). Better known as Nurse Ratched, this character has come to symbolize the villainous nurse (the anti Florence Nightingale, if you will). What's scarier than a sadistic medical professional? Fletcher was one of those serviceable actors who had one great role and played it to the hilt. Nurse Ratched, just the name (shiver). What a fink.

There's Nothing Like A Dame Part 2

In my post of Tuesday November 11 I wrote of my love of women in general and women in film in particular. I rhapsodized about how lovingly and accurately women have sometimes been depicted in film. That was followed by ten examples spanning over 70 years of great female film performances. I tried to find ten representative performances. Clearly I merely scratched the surface. So here’s another ten.

Joan Crawford as Mildred Pierce in Mildred Pierce (1945). In some ways its the ultimate woman’s role. Mildred is a working girl who wants to be her own boss. She juggles family, lovers and work on her way to the top. Mildred’s such a loyal mother she’ll even take the rap for her bratty daughter. Mildred Pierce would have been the role of a lifetime for most actresses, for the great Joan Crawford it was merely the cream of a bumper career crop.

Bette Davis as Mary Dwight Staruber in Marked Woman (1937). Davis had any number of performances that warranted inclusion on this list. I selected this one because in addition to being one of her best its one of her most underrated. She’s one of many call girls in the employ of a nogoodnik crime boss. But she has the courage to say no to him and yes to the crusading DA who wants to slap the bum in irons. She’s brave and steadfast and heart breaking.

Giuletta Masina as Maria Ceccarelli in Nights of Cabiria (1957). It’s the last shot of her that does it for me. It sums up the heart of an utterly indestructible woman. Regardless of how many lemons life dishes out and you can still make with the lemonade. Cabiria starts of feisty and fun. She rides ups and downs and pushes on. A great film heroine. If you’ve never seen this film rent it at your earliest convenience. You’ll enjoy the whole film but you’ll really savor those closing seconds.

Frances MacDormand as Marge Gunderson in Fargo (1996). Can a woman cop be in an advanced state of pregnancy and still track down the bad guys? You betchya. Marge was doing that whole Sarah Palin a dozen years before the Alaska Governor besmirched the national scene. This quirky cop proved that a woman could balance career and impending motherhood.

Audrey Tautuo as Mathilde in A Very Long Engagement (2004). Patience is a woman. Persistence is a woman. Resourcefulness is a woman. Faith is a woman. Love eternal is a woman. Mathilde is a woman with all these qualities and more. Her intended missing and presumed dead in the trenches of World War I? Our gimpy beauty ain’t buying it. No matter how long it takes she’ll find him and love will be served. Tres bien!

Danielle Darrieux as Comtesse Louise De... in Madame De... (1953). Conniver, schemer, cheater, she’s all of these things and more. The Madame, whose name we never learn, is going to live life her way. By hook or by crook Madame generally gets what she wants and sacrifices nothing along the way. Darrieux was never a big name in the US but based on this captivating performance alone she should have been.

Norma Shearer as Jerry Bernard Martin in The Divorcee (1930). Cheat on her, will ya? She’s got a way to repay you and in spades, buddy. There were a lot of great performances by actresses in pre code films. Shearer delivered many of them. This was one of the best as a wife who proves that’s what goes for the gander is good for the goose.

Janet Gaynor as Kay Brannan in Small Town Girl (1936). Every list has to have at least one offbeat pick This selection is evidence of that. The title tells you a lot about the film. This is a young lady who could easily settle in to a comfortable life in her hometown with the affable young telephone line worker Elmer Clampett (Jimmy Stewart) as her mate. Her cozy and lovable family, their store and big home are wonderful sources of security. But Kay, sweet little Kay is a dreamer who yearns for excitement. When it comes it comes suddenly and emphatically in the person of a very wealthy, handsome and sophisticated big city dwelling doctor (Robert Taylor) she jumps at the chance. In the face of numerous obstacles and rejections our plucky friend proves to be as tough as she is cute. It’s no just a charming performance but an inspiring one for all little women who dream big.

Claire Trevor as Dallas in Stagecoach (1939). Life has dealt Dallas some nasty blows. The stuffy and huffy women of a an old western community literally send her packing. “Proper Christian” folk don’t want her type around. She remains unbowed and proud. She proves that woman can recover from a morally questionable past and find love and happiness. But you’ve got to be tough -- great stuff.

Sigourney Weaver as Ripley as in Alien (1979). Can a woman be the last man standing in battle against a voracious alien killing machine? You better believe it. Ripley was brave, resourceful and clever in fighting for survival. But this was no cartoon character, this heroine showed real human fear. Not incidentally, Ripley was a knockout.

"With All My Heart I Still Love the Man I Killed."

You did not just say that, Bette.

But she did. And to her husband, no less! In William Wyler's The Letter (1940) the late oh so great Ms. Davis gives one of Hollywood's greatest performances. It doesn't seem the slightest bit subjective to write that. She is transcendent.

How to do describe Davis' character, Leslie Crosbie? How about utterly shocking? Totally audacious. Amoral. Calculating. Deceitful. With such a proper veneer no less. One that no one can seem to see through.

But how about this: Is Leslie Crosbie a cold blooded killer or hot with passions that lead to adultery and murder?

Has anyone ever lied so artfully, even at the point of being found out? Then played for sympathy so adroitly? We don't know whether to wish Leslie dead or every happiness. As Leslie, Davis bewitches the audience, even at the distance of 68 years on the relatively small screen of a TV set. Masterful is what it is, I tell you.

I watched The Letter for perhaps the fifth or sixth time just now and plan many more viewings. It's a mesmerizing film. But no performance, no matter how great can bring one back to a movie again and again. There's so much more to the film. For one, Davis draws great performances from her co stars such as Herbert Marshall as her cuckolded husband. The poor man takes everything at face value, has the Innocent and faith of a child on Christmas Eve. Marshall plays the poor sap perfectly but never drops the sophistication. A lesser actor would have made the man maudlin or cloying. But we needed to like the guy to make Davis that much more of an utter fink. Watch Marshall when informed of the cost of the letter. For several beats his face betrays nothing. He allows the shock to slowly settle in. Poor guy.

Gale Sondergaard is brilliant as the victim's Eurasian widow. So seemingly sinister, saying so much with her eyes while uttering nary a word. I don't recall any actress doing quite so much with so few movements in so little screen time.

Rarely talked about in discussions of the film is James Stephenson as the family friend and attorney. He's on to Davis early courtesy of the incriminating letter. He provides a moral center, despite betraying the ethics of his profession. His first duty is to save his client and his ability to compartmentalize the whirl of contrasting facts and emotions is astonishing. Stephenson plays him perfectly. He's all urbanity and practical wisdom.

But it is Davis around him all others orbit. It's a performance made grand by subtlety. The sly quick look. The slight pause the slighter inflection while concocting or confessing or just passing the time. But does Leslie Crosbie ever just pass the time? Davis gives meaning to all her words, all her moves.

When we first meet Leslie Crosbie she is emptying a revolver into a man who is tumbling down the steps of a veranda. Look at her face. Utterly passionless. Cold and hard. Soon she's swooning, playing the victim for the police, the lawyer and her husband. weaving her story so effortlessly. Gaining their immediate sympathy even respect.

In prison she is stoic but when confronted with the existence of the letter able to think on her feet and create anew, tossing in a literal swoon for good measure.

Davis must have realized that in Leslie Crosbie she had a role that she could sink her teeth into. But Bette likely knew how easy it would be to foul it up with board emotions. So she faced the supreme challenge of doing so much without seeming to do a lot. The character and her words were shocking. Davis had to let the words have power. She respected the words, the direction, the camera, her co stars. In The Letter Bette Davis embodied her character, that world, the milieu. She became.

Art is making something look as special as it is.

Bette Davis as Leslie Crosbie in The Letter is great art.