This is the kind of film perfection that should be held up to students of filmmaking because it is a master work by America's First Lady of Cinema, the director who took her, Streisand, and A. Hepburn to Oscars (and then some), and one of the greatest American playwrights. Everyone seems to have their own special favorite Bette Davis film, but too few give their reasons. I want you to view and own this film so I'm going to try to convince you to do so by giving you my reasons here. Bette Davis' role is based on a true story about Hellman's well to do family and greed. However, she's surrounded by men who are domineering and trying to steal her share of the family fortune. Because she steps out of her social expected role to allow all of the men to take control over her, Hellman makes her character seem wicked and scheming. But that's the perspective of that era of society. That's the lens that Hellman forces us to view an bright, great business-minded, self-sufficient woman. It took extremely great skill by both the woman actor and her director to understand and use great control to channel this character from screenplay onto film. In short, it took brilliance, genius, two very clever people who were well ahead of their time as far as their understandings of sexism. They had to love what gift Hellman had written in order to want to make all of the efforts to deliver such motion picture perfection. "The Little Foxes" is one of Bette Davis' and William Wyler's finest classic films of all time. It is undoubtedly Lillian Hellman's greatest screenplay. This is not a movie; but rather, a truly great work of art.Read full review
(potential spoiler alert by reviewer) Of all of Bette Davis' 100+ films, of all of Lillian Hellman's superb screenplays, of all of William Wyler directed masterpieces, this is the classic of classics for them all. (The only missing element that could possibly have made this picture perfect would have been a Claude Rains master performance; but alas, there is no part for him to play that's worthy of his great talent). Hellman's Hubbard family men aren't the type to aspire to. As the Burl Ives song goes, they'll do anything for money and it's not even their money! They've taken over control of it from a woman, by marriage. Fortunately, their sister, Regina (Bette Davis), is determined to control the family fortune. Remember that her husband (Herbert Marshall) isn't a Hubbard. He's a Giddens and nothing like them. As a feminist, it seems fair and fitting that, since the Hubbard brothers usurped power and control over Birdie's family fortune, and they treat her as if she's a rag doll, Regina seizes power over all of them and the money. Bette Davis' career is smoking hot at the time this film is made. Her idealic actor-director relationship with the most successful director Hollywood has still ever produced undoubtedly had much to do with the absolutely stunning performance that Davis turns in. I think we (as audiences) have been lulled into complacency with mediocrity. All one need do is really focus on this film and contrast it with any given dramatic performance since and to date. The climax in this film is not the ending. It is a series of moments when Bette Davis and William Wyler make hay with what has turned out to be the best of Lillian Hellman's screenplays of all time. Ultimately, the master works of all three culminate in the performance of Bette Davis. Davis had to deliver the silent, barely moving, expressions while the camera was rolling for it to be a Wyler cut to print. He expected nothing less than her best and knew better than anyone else what skills Bette Davis was capable of giving to her art. Audiences will always remember Davis' knock line, "Hang on to your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night," from "All About Eve." The reason they do not remember Davis' knock out punch from this film is because she didn't even have to say one word! As Barbara Stanwyck noted, great dramatic acting is done with the eyes. Once seen in this film's climax, I guarantee, Bette Davis' expressiveness with only her eyes will not be forgotten.Read full review
After reading the other 5 star reviewers, what can I add but another nod? Hellman's screenplay (although watered down to make Regina Hubbard Giddens tamer apparently because we, the audience, couldn't possibly handle Hellman's full throttle wide open) is classic writing. William Wyler pulls all of the major elements of this masterpiece together to make a perfect picture. Miss Bette Davis delivers one of her finest Oscar nominated performances of all time. My question to leave you with is this: since Hellman claims that this screenplay is based upon her own family, who in the heck was Regina in her family? Whomever she is or was, I sure would want to meet her. I don't view her as wicked in the least. I see her as a woman ahead of her time who had one heck of a grand business mind and dared to put it to use when up against all family men who tried to scam her.Read full review
Bette Davis is selfish, cruel woman and she plays that up to the hilt. Teresa Wright does some show stealing, as the young daughter of Davis. It's written by Lilian Helllman so you can't lose on this. Wright's character starts as extremely naive, and the man in love with her, is always chastising her for not standing up for what is right. At the end, Wright's character (Alexandra, called Zan) defiantly stands up to Davis (Regina) and leaves the house for good. I won't explain the movie, it's easy to follow. You have to watch this movie more than once, to pick up all the nuances and then you appreciate that each character, and most of them are also cruel and selfish. The Black servants in the house have some great lines, showing that they know what is going on around them, especially Addie. Dan Duryea's character is completely disgusting, and you just see him slither around each scene. Aunt Birdy's character is a sweet woman who has been abused all of her life, and can't stand her own son (Duryea) when she begs Zan not to marry her son (they are first cousins) because she couldn't bear for Zan to be stuck with such a creep. The father of Zan and husband of Bette (the same character as the husband to Bette in "the Letter" -- another great movie -- where Bette is a murderer) is played as the physically weak, but morally uplifting! The 2 other major characters are Ben and Oscar, Regina's brothers and the plot twists between the 2 brothers v. Regina, on who can bring a Chicago manufacturer into the deep south, where wages would be paid less than half of what they pay in Chicago. See this movie.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Arguably the greatest of all of the Bette Davis & William Wyler endeavors, "Little Foxes" certainly wouldn't be a classic film without the script & screenplay work of the late great Lillian Hellman. The way I view all 3 major performance artists careers is that they were obviously under the spell of "The Midas Touch." That's because everything they worked on now seems to be turning into gold. Wyler's all around figures of successes make him the top director of all time. Bette Davis' continuing very strong appeal to modern audiences has earned her the title "The First Lady of American Cinema." Lillian Hellman's writing is simply incomparable. Mixing these three accomplished artists together creates cinematic majesty.
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