Your favorite melodramas, mine is Dark Victory, in spite of George Brent.
Post clips if you can.
Hello and thank you for being a DL contributor. We are changing the login scheme for contributors for simpler login and to better support using multiple devices. Please click here to update your account with a username and password.
Hello. Some features on this site require registration. Please click here to register for free.
Hello and thank you for registering. Please complete the process by verifying your email address. If you can't find the email you can resend it here.
Hello. Some features on this site require a subscription. Please click here to get full access and no ads for $1.99 or less per month.
Your favorite melodramas, mine is Dark Victory, in spite of George Brent.
Post clips if you can.
by Anonymous | reply 94 | August 16, 2020 5:18 AM |
Zero replies? Really. The cinephiles are suddenly gone?
by Anonymous | reply 1 | August 2, 2020 10:58 PM |
I LOVE Dark Victory
by Anonymous | reply 2 | August 2, 2020 11:07 PM |
On the Movies channel right now. I had forgotten Reagan had a small part!
by Anonymous | reply 3 | August 2, 2020 11:08 PM |
If Far From Heaven counts, that's one of my favorites.
by Anonymous | reply 4 | August 2, 2020 11:10 PM |
Written on the Wind.
Dorothy Malone is supreme.
by Anonymous | reply 5 | August 2, 2020 11:20 PM |
The fun of Dark Victory is in the old idea that a person could be terminal but neither your doctor nor Geraldine Fitzgerald wouldn’t tell you. Then suddenly, zing!
by Anonymous | reply 6 | August 2, 2020 11:22 PM |
*would tell you^^
by Anonymous | reply 7 | August 2, 2020 11:23 PM |
Written on the Wind has suds, so many suds, and in a good way.
by Anonymous | reply 8 | August 2, 2020 11:31 PM |
Wow, Geraldine Fitzgerald only died in 2005.
by Anonymous | reply 9 | August 2, 2020 11:39 PM |
Modern suds welcome too, gaylings.
by Anonymous | reply 10 | August 2, 2020 11:40 PM |
Bette has one of the greatest death scenes in movie history in Dark Victory. She plays Judith, a young woman who has a brain tumor that she thought had been cured.
One day while her doctor-husband (stolid George Brent) is away, she's outside gardening with her friend Ann (Geraldine Fitzgerald) and suddenly notices the sky is growing dark. Then she looks closer at her hand and realizes she is losing her sight. Ann tries to convince her that the sky IS growing dark and starts weeping. Judith remains calm and tells Ann "to be my friend" and leave her alone.
Judith then blindly makes her way into the house, shoos her dogs aways, climbs the stairs, reaches her bedroom and collapses on her bed. She closes her eyes as the lush Max Steiner score plays on.
The End.
by Anonymous | reply 11 | August 2, 2020 11:44 PM |
I am such a Douglas Sirk fag! I can never get enough. This trailer has Jane Wyman talking directly to the viewer. She is the spitting image of my grandma when she was young.
by Anonymous | reply 12 | August 2, 2020 11:47 PM |
Yes, r11. She lays down to die as her housekeeper closes the window shades...
by Anonymous | reply 13 | August 2, 2020 11:48 PM |
I still love the man I killed!
by Anonymous | reply 14 | August 2, 2020 11:52 PM |
Can someone explain the window shades thing?
I’ve seen and understood stopped clocks, but shades confuse me.
by Anonymous | reply 15 | August 3, 2020 12:05 AM |
The Letter is my favorite Bette Davis melodrama
by Anonymous | reply 16 | August 3, 2020 12:10 AM |
r15 Closing the shades symbolized the closing of Judith's eyes forever.
Effective, but perhaps unnecessary. Bette had already made it the most dramatic of deaths.
by Anonymous | reply 17 | August 3, 2020 12:13 AM |
When Bette said goodbye to her dogs, with bff geraldine fitzgerald right there, oh the tears.
by Anonymous | reply 18 | August 3, 2020 12:18 AM |
I love "The Letter" too, a great mix of drama and suspense. "The Petried Forest" is hokier, but I love it too: wonderful performances from Davis, Leslie Howard, and Bogart.
by Anonymous | reply 19 | August 3, 2020 12:37 AM |
Now, Voyager is also great
by Anonymous | reply 20 | August 3, 2020 1:07 AM |
Mildred Pierce is perfect on every level of melodrama imaginable. Superb performances from everyone involved.
by Anonymous | reply 21 | August 3, 2020 1:12 AM |
Everybody, do the bump
by Anonymous | reply 22 | August 3, 2020 12:57 PM |
[quote]She closes her eyes as the lush Max Steiner score plays on.
In one of her books, Bette said that she knew she would be competing with Max Steiner when they filmed that scene.
by Anonymous | reply 23 | August 3, 2020 1:23 PM |
Wasn’t pulling down the shades some kind of death protocol? Like a black wreath on the door.
by Anonymous | reply 24 | August 3, 2020 2:50 PM |
"It will be gay! Very, very gay!"
by Anonymous | reply 25 | August 3, 2020 3:16 PM |
Bump for tear-soaked pillowases.
by Anonymous | reply 26 | August 4, 2020 8:57 PM |
Pillowcases!
by Anonymous | reply 27 | August 4, 2020 8:57 PM |
I love Bette's melodramas (especially The Little Foxes, The Letter and Now, Voyager), but my favorite old melodrama is Rebecca...
by Anonymous | reply 28 | August 4, 2020 9:58 PM |
Dark Victory is great, a marvelous movie. My personal favorite, though, is Now, Voyager. She is simply sublime in that part.
by Anonymous | reply 29 | August 4, 2020 10:05 PM |
If I had a year to live I wouldn't want my friends to lie to me about it. I think that used to be legal, too. Brilliant movie.
by Anonymous | reply 30 | August 4, 2020 10:58 PM |
One of mine is The Unfaithful (1947) which is a reworking of The Letter but this time the incriminating thing is a bust of Ann Sheridan. Also stars Zachary Scott, Eve Arden, Lew Ayres, John Hoyt, Jerome Cowan, and Steven Geray. Directed by Vincent Sherman with a great score by Max Steiner.
by Anonymous | reply 31 | August 11, 2020 2:57 AM |
Poor Ann is miserable during the entire film but she delivers a great scream.
by Anonymous | reply 33 | August 11, 2020 3:05 AM |
As a kid watching this, I became melodramatic.
I was so frustrated on behalf of Doris Day's character. I HATED seeing her traumatized.
by Anonymous | reply 34 | August 11, 2020 3:18 AM |
I love Dark Victory too. Was that little hat she wore supposed to cover where her head was shaved?
by Anonymous | reply 35 | August 11, 2020 3:43 AM |
R34, Midnight Lace is a good choice like you said, with poor Doris Day tortured and traumatized.
I wonder how much glee Hitch took in that.
by Anonymous | reply 36 | August 11, 2020 5:15 AM |
Geraldine pinged.
by Anonymous | reply 37 | August 11, 2020 5:17 AM |
About The Letter:
If the full moon unmasked a face in the dark and it was Gale Sonderrgaard, I would drop dead from fright, instantly.
by Anonymous | reply 38 | August 11, 2020 5:22 AM |
r34 Hitchcock didn't direct Midnight Lace, that was a campy Ross Hunter production below Hitchcock standards. Hitch did direct Day in a remake of his own The Man Who Knew Too Much, which is a good thriller also starring James Stewart.
by Anonymous | reply 39 | August 11, 2020 5:26 AM |
Other great women's pictures from the Golden Age of Hollywood:
Letter to an Unknown Woman with Joan Fontaine
Hold back the Dawn with Olivia de Havilland
The Hard Way with Ida Lupino
The Old Maid with Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins
The Heiress with Olivia de Havilland
Back Street with Margaret Sullavan
by Anonymous | reply 40 | August 11, 2020 5:40 AM |
All This and Heaven Too with Bette at her zenith while at Warners ,1939-45. Steiner again with a beautiful score, plus exceptionally handsome Charles Boyer, billed above the title with Davis.
by Anonymous | reply 41 | August 11, 2020 5:41 AM |
And of course more Bette Davis:
Old Acquaintance, with Miriam Hopkins
The Great Lie, with Mary Astor
Mr. Skeffington, with Claude Rains
by Anonymous | reply 42 | August 11, 2020 5:42 AM |
DL fave Helen Lawson starred in a remake of Dark Victory called Stolen Hours in 1963.
It wasn't nearly as effective but still fun to watch.
You can also catch Lawson with DL fave John Gavin in Back Street (1961). Gavin gives one of his most wooden performances, which will delight his fans here.
by Anonymous | reply 43 | August 11, 2020 5:48 AM |
Right now I'd say "Mildred Pierce". It's probably the best melodrama I can think of.
"Now Voyager" is also excellent.
by Anonymous | reply 45 | August 11, 2020 6:52 AM |
Elizabeth Montgomery did a television version of Dark Victory and if I recall correctly, the doctor was played by Anthony Hopkins.
by Anonymous | reply 46 | August 11, 2020 7:10 AM |
Brief Encounter, Noel Coward's great melodrama of unrequited love, with the gorgeous Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson.
Lots of gay subtext too.
The whole movie's on YouTube.
by Anonymous | reply 47 | August 11, 2020 7:20 AM |
I’m happy to reply to any thread to spite George Brent!
He was such a sap, it’s hard to believe he killed a man when he was in the IRA.
by Anonymous | reply 48 | August 11, 2020 7:24 AM |
Gaslight, the original 1940 version that Hollywood supressed
by Anonymous | reply 49 | August 11, 2020 10:40 AM |
Why do I see YouTube preview images for r49 and r28 but not for any of the other linked YouTube videos?
by Anonymous | reply 50 | August 11, 2020 5:48 PM |
Now I have a bizarre image of Hitchcock watching a Ross Hunter production.
I envision him scoffing at the melodrama but taken in by the visual displays of glamour and wealth.
by Anonymous | reply 51 | August 11, 2020 5:54 PM |
Merle Oberon died in Olivier’s arms in “Wuthering Heights.” A much hotter death.
by Anonymous | reply 52 | August 11, 2020 6:04 PM |
Mrs. Danvers had the hottest death of all.
by Anonymous | reply 53 | August 11, 2020 6:17 PM |
R53 The last shot of Dame Judith should have had her sniffing Rebecca's panties.
by Anonymous | reply 54 | August 11, 2020 6:37 PM |
Barbara Stanwyck! Nancy Coleman! Geraldine Fitzgerald!
(And yes, George Brent.....)
by Anonymous | reply 55 | August 11, 2020 6:38 PM |
Now THIS is Melodrama!
Ronald Reagan and Robert Cummings playing bosom buddies who must have played around as kids. They are just too close. And then there's vibrant Ann Sheridan, neurotic Nancy Coleman, kray-kray Betty Field, murderous Claude Rains, monsterous Charles Coburn, demanding Judith Anderson, lovable Maria Ouspenskaya and all sorts of others.
The great place to raise your children indeed!
by Anonymous | reply 56 | August 11, 2020 6:42 PM |
[italic]"All of the wondered when one of them wandered."[/italic]
"A Letter to Three Wives" from 1949, based on the 1945 novel "A Letter to Five Wives" by John Klempner. (I guess they wanted to save two star's salaries.)
It's the story of a woman who mails a letter to three women, telling them she has left town with the husband of one of them. It starred Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell, Ann Sothern, Paul Douglas in his film debut, Kirk Douglas, Jeffrey Lynn, and Thelma Ritter. An uncredited Celeste Holm provides the voice of Addie Ross, the unseen woman who wrote the letter to which the film's title refers.
Linda Darnell was gorgeous and Thelma Ritter was, well, Thelma Ritter.
by Anonymous | reply 57 | August 11, 2020 7:08 PM |
Paulette Goddard takes on Judith Anderson and Francis Lederer, and keeps Irene Ryan from shrieking! Florence Bates and Burgess Meredith as the kinky couple next door add humor to the melodrama.
by Anonymous | reply 58 | August 11, 2020 7:34 PM |
Most melodramatic Bettes (not counting intentional horror):
Of Human Bondage
Bordertown
In This Our Life
Deception
Beyond the Forest
Another Man's Poison
Dead Ringer
by Anonymous | reply 59 | August 11, 2020 7:40 PM |
Kay Francis wears a Dietrich wig to sing a torch song.
"Confession" (1937), one of the solid tearjerkers of all time!
by Anonymous | reply 60 | August 11, 2020 7:43 PM |
"Leave Her To Heaven" with Gene Tierney as the insanely jealous murderess. Surprising, there’s an excellent HD copy on YouTube.
by Anonymous | reply 61 | August 11, 2020 8:10 PM |
R57 Christ, that really looks like Deborah Messing on that poster.
by Anonymous | reply 62 | August 12, 2020 1:02 AM |
R51, This is a truly bizarre scenario.
R57, love this movie, love Paul Douglas. The whole cast is great, even Jean Crain! Me and my friends call it A Letter to Three Bitches.
by Anonymous | reply 63 | August 13, 2020 7:05 PM |
George Phipps is cringing, R63...
by Anonymous | reply 64 | August 13, 2020 7:10 PM |
My apologies, Jeanne. Maybe I will see you over on the Failed Leadimg Ladies thread. I won’t make the same mistake twice.
by Anonymous | reply 65 | August 13, 2020 7:14 PM |
R63: I loved Lora Mae's/Linda Darnell's brand-new (first new post-war design) Lincoln convertible. Her husband in the movie (Porter/Paul Douglas) could afford it - all those department stores.
And at least in the movie version, he turned out not to be a shit after all.
by Anonymous | reply 66 | August 13, 2020 7:26 PM |
Jeanne Crain and Cary Grant in People Will Talk. When it comes to Mank, I like this film and Letter To Three Wives more than Eve and Cleo.
by Anonymous | reply 67 | August 13, 2020 8:26 PM |
“You shouldn’t have touched her!”
by Anonymous | reply 68 | August 13, 2020 8:32 PM |
I love Bergman and like her version of Gaslight (Boyer was great and fun to see young, scheming Lansbury), but just from looking in the image at R49 , the actress in the screen shot exudes a mousy, timid feel that seems much more likely to be duped by an oily suitor than twenty-something Bergman who is in her physical prime.
by Anonymous | reply 69 | August 13, 2020 8:54 PM |
R69 -the point of Bergman in Gaslight is that she deteriorates from a strong woman into a neurotic mess.
by Anonymous | reply 71 | August 13, 2020 11:28 PM |
Dark Victory will be on Movies! at 8PM ET!
by Anonymous | reply 72 | August 15, 2020 11:43 PM |
OP, I suspect you're a treasure.
by Anonymous | reply 73 | August 15, 2020 11:51 PM |
Thanks r72!!
by Anonymous | reply 74 | August 15, 2020 11:53 PM |
My pleasure!
by Anonymous | reply 75 | August 15, 2020 11:54 PM |
Aww, thank you r73.
Shall we use this thread for a viewing party or do you want a fresh thread?
Hurry, it's almost curtain time.
by Anonymous | reply 76 | August 15, 2020 11:55 PM |
What is Movies!
by Anonymous | reply 77 | August 15, 2020 11:56 PM |
I think it's just a movie channels, r77, and I can't get it myself.
by Anonymous | reply 78 | August 16, 2020 12:18 AM |
"Why do you ask me such stupid questions???"
by Anonymous | reply 79 | August 16, 2020 12:26 AM |
"You can't fool me, its still a piece of silk." (giggles)
by Anonymous | reply 80 | August 16, 2020 12:31 AM |
Movies! is 469 on Fios.
by Anonymous | reply 81 | August 16, 2020 12:37 AM |
Dr. Steele says he's going to Vermont.
Judith: "Vermont?! Do you mean that pinched up little state on the wrong side of Boston?"
by Anonymous | reply 82 | August 16, 2020 1:14 AM |
🎶 Oh give me time for tenderness,
To hold your hand
To understand,
Oh give me Time 🎶
by Anonymous | reply 83 | August 16, 2020 2:11 AM |
One of the most underrated films of the genre, LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN, with the foxy Louis JOURDAN....in all its glory on YouTube.
by Anonymous | reply 84 | August 16, 2020 2:57 AM |
R55 I always wondered how they got the marital rape scene past the censors.
by Anonymous | reply 85 | August 16, 2020 3:00 AM |
Trivia for the hardcore:
Name Judith's two beloved dogs.
by Anonymous | reply 86 | August 16, 2020 4:10 AM |
Is this a trick question? Because I think Humphrey Bogart is one of them.
by Anonymous | reply 87 | August 16, 2020 4:13 AM |
R86 Daffy and Dash
by Anonymous | reply 88 | August 16, 2020 4:29 AM |
Bogart was oddly cast here. Reagan, on the other hand, played drunk well.
by Anonymous | reply 89 | August 16, 2020 4:31 AM |
R88, i think you have Daffy, or Daphne correct, but Dash sounds nothing like what Bette said.
Was it Dawn? Don?
by Anonymous | reply 90 | August 16, 2020 4:34 AM |
The heart stopper for me had to do with Martha. Here was Martha, hands always in her apron, eyes wide and asking what it was that she could do.
Then The day comes that Miss Judith cannot see and is clearly dying. Miss Judith climbs the stairs, and Martha follows quietly, silently. Miss Judith lays down on the bed, and Martha closes the shades
This is where I get all broken up:
Martha turns to see Judith on her knees bedside, hands in prayer, a final prayer. Max Steiner is there.
Martha quietly approaches Judith and sees there is nothing left to do. Her shoulders once strong and mighty fold downward. It is the first and only time that we see defeat in Martha.
I need a clip of that.
by Anonymous | reply 92 | August 16, 2020 5:02 AM |
Perfect, r93. Thank you.
by Anonymous | reply 94 | August 16, 2020 5:18 AM |
Yes indeed, we too use "cookies." Take a look at our privacy/terms or if you just want to see the damn site without all this bureaucratic nonsense, click ACCEPT. Otherwise, you'll just have to find some other site for your pointless bitchery needs.
Become a contributor - post when you want with no ads!