Jezabel

They said that nobody was better than Bette than when she was bad and in "Jezebel" she is pretty rank, hardly batting an eye as she encourages her suitors to fight duels over her. This is the one in which she wears a red dress to the ball when it was the custom for unmarried young ladies to wear white. Naturally she not only scandalizes the town but loses her uptight fiancée (Henry Fonda, excellent) as well. Of course she redeems herself in the end but it takes a dose of Yellow Fever for her to do it.

It was said she got the part as compensation for losing out on the role of Scarlett O'Hara and to make up for the slight she also got a (richly deserved) second Oscar. She's quite wonderful in the part as is Fay Bainter as her Aunt Belle, (Bainter also won an Oscar), and, as God is my witness, even George Brent is good this time round but then that great actor's director William Wyler was at the helm. It was, of course, a prestige production and John Huston was one of the three credited script writers and if the material was something of a sow's ear Wyler did manage to make a silk purse out of it.

Bette Davis dominates the whole movie with a mesmerizing performance,which earned her a second Oscar. As the love of her life we find a young and handsome Henry Fonda.Davis,who sometimes overacted gloriously, is kept more subdued by master director William Wyler. Her performance is the better for it.George Brent,playing the other male lead, has rarely been better.As the southerner unable to change his obsolete ways,he's a marvel.The musical score by Max Steiner is one of his best and adds to the brilliant depiction of a bygone era. Depiction of African-Americans in movies from this era are often very racist, but I found some scenes were they were portrayed more sympathetic than in other movies of the thirties. Jezebel is one of the best movies I have seen with Bette Davis.

Jezebel was Bette Davis's consolation prize for losing the Scarlett O'Hara sweepstakes. Considering the sacrifice that the title character makes in this film, it is fitting and proper that Davis got this role because she could have had Scarlett, but she wouldn't make Gone With the Wind if it included Errol Flynn as Rhett Butler.

Julie Marsden is as willful and and spiteful a southern belle as Scarlett O'Hara ever could be. But Scarlett would never deliberately violate the code the way Julie does and wear that red dress to a cotillion. Just simply not done in the best families.

Bette Davis is Julie and while she's going to be married to the very proper Henry Fonda, she likes the idea that she can still turn the head of every young blade in New Orleans. Especially George Brent's head as the dashing Buck Cantrell.

When Fonda doesn't jump at her beck and call he prefers doing business to catering to her whims she decides on a daring move. This is a woman who cannot stand not being the center of attention. She wears a red dress to a cotillion when polite society dictates that all the unmarried young ladies wear white. When she does, New Orleans society shuns her as effectively as the Amish can and Davis retreats to her plantation upriver.

Fonda goes north and returns after a while to New Orleans with Margaret Lindsay who he is now married to. An insult our southern belle won't put up with. Davis sets in motion a string of events that results in a lot of tragedy.

I have to say that just a description of the plot seems a bit ridiculous at times, but Bette Davis does make this whole thing quite believable. She won her second Oscar for Best Actress in this film and as her aunt who occasionally gives her a reality check every now and then Fay Bainter was named Best Supporting Actress of 1938.

Fonda and Brent are fine in their parts, but they are in support of Bette Davis in a Bette Davis film. Another performance I liked is that of Donald Crisp as the doctor who fights a lot of prejudice and ignorance in New Orleans in trying to deal with yellow fever.

Looming over all of the film is the knowledge we have that this society will come crashing down in another eight years or so in events so well told in Gone With the Wind. This film should be seen back to back with Gone With the Wind as a view of southern society.

This was Bette Davis's first film with director William Wyler who she admired above all other directors. Davis was not generous with praise for colleagues so any kind words towards one are really something. Apparently Wyler did have the magic touch in handling Bette.

Jezebel is one of Bette Davis's finest films, maybe not the finest, but definitely right up there. Unlike Davis's first Oscar for Dangerous which she said was a consolation for not winning for Of Human Bondage, this one she was proud of. And we're proud of it too.

"Jezebel" is a romantic drama where floral scents and shots of pride dance seductively along the edge of tragedy.

The story takes us to New Orleans in the year 1852, where a spoiled and fiercely headstrong Southern belle, Julie Marsden, devises revenge on her fiancé, banker Preston "Pres" Dillard, after he fails to accompany her to the final fitting of her ball gown due to business obligations.

In an act of defiance, Julie chooses a dress in a shockingly bold color, one considered scandalous for an unmarried woman. Her friends are stunned by her decision, but none manage to dissuade her. The Olympus Ball - the most important social event of the year - receives her gown with gasps and condemnation. Eventually, Julie begs Preston to take her home, while he, in silence, is already preparing a far more decisive course of action...

Director William Wyler masterfully uses close-ups to heighten the tension between characters. Julie is often filmed at an angle, half-lit, her eyes shadowed, only to briefly reveal her true emotions in passing glances. These visual choices serve to deepen her characterization.

The dialogue is not particularly sharp - except when Julie strikes back. Costume design is exquisite, particularly during the ball sequences, and Max Steiner's score, though used sparingly, punctuates moments of suspense with precision. In the second half, the powerful melodrama occasionally slips into soap-opera territory, largely due to Julie's abrupt transformation in character. Nonetheless, the film remains thematically rich, questioning a woman's place in a man's world - through symbols of pride, rebellion, freedom, shame, and submission.

The rigid codes of the Old South permeate the narrative - in titles, gestures, and colors - where deviation leads to social exile.

Wyler does not shy away from moral ambiguity, portraying Julie's "curse" not as evil, but as a volatile blend of stubbornness and privilege, leading toward a near-religious arc of redemption and sacrifice.

Bette Davis embodies Julie Marsden - a pampered, headstrong Southern "she-devil." Her eyes flicker with pride, passion, shame, and regret. Julie is a vulnerable character, yet every action she takes is deliberate - if not entirely calculated. I expected her fiery spirit to blaze through to the end, but she suddenly transforms into a martyr. Still, the Oscar ended up in her hands - and deservedly so. Her performance is arresting.

Henry Fonda plays Preston Dillard - a man guided by reason, standing tall along the spine of moral integrity. Preston is not vengeful, only disillusioned, for his beloved has become too toxic for the just world he envisions.

George Brent as Buck Cantrell exudes Southern charm, vanity, and masculine bravado. He flirts with honor itself, unaware that the game may end in deadly consequences. Fay Bainter as Aunt Belle Massey brings warmth, justice, and emotional clarity. She is Julie's conscience - the moral compass within a divided household. Donald Crisp as Dr. Livingstone serves as the voice of reason, the wisdom of an older generation - though even he realizes that logic alone cannot mend what has broken.

"Jezebel" is a potent romantic drama about characters caught between pride and passion, morality and desire - where every whim and vendetta demands its price.

A must-see stop for every true lover of the genre.

The American South has always had an aura of sadness around it. I don't know why exactly. This film tends to reinforce that perception. Characters start off with high hopes for the future, only to succumb to some unfortunate fate, as a direct result of their Southern roots.

In pre-Civil War New Orleans, Julie Marsden (Bette Davis) is a wealthy young woman, engaged to respected banker Preston Dillard (Henry Fonda). But Julie is strong-willed, independent, and impetuous, traits considered unwomanly by that era's Southern aristocracy. Against Preston's wishes, Julie wears a red dress, instead of the customary white, to a gala ball. This event sets up the rest of the story.

While the support cast in "Jezebel" is fine, especially Fay Bainter, the film would not be the same without Bette Davis. I just can't see anyone else in the role of Julie. Davis' performance and the film's setting are what make this film so memorable. The costumes, the production design, the cinematography, and the music combine to convey a genuine sense of the antebellum South, with its stately manners that conceal narrow-mindedness and barbaric "chivalry".

Normally, I don't care for films whose subject matter is long ago history. But "Jezebel" is an exception, because it is so well made. I guess it is the tone of the film that really got my attention. The stately beauty of that time and place masks an underlying sadness, as a prelude to tragedy. Some might call it melodrama. But to me, that's just good drama.