Encuentro invernal

Bette Davis stars as lonely NYC poetess Susan Grieve. Her best friend Stacy (John Hoyt) asks her to accompany him on a blind double date along with visiting war hero Slick Novak (Jim Davis) and Stacy's secretary Peggy (Janis Paige). The sparks are immediate between Susan and Slick, and they spend a snowy weekend together in the country where they both confront deep-seated issues.

Bette Davis is dependably good, but Jim Davis is one of the worst regularly-employed actors in Hollywood history. Watching him struggle through his lines is almost as painful as it is humorous. When his character finally reveals his "dark secret", it elicited a chuckle rather than a gasp, which I don't think was the intention. The film's high point is a surprisingly open performance by John Hoyt as the proverbial "gay best friend" from countless future romance films. Of course it's never explicitly stated that Hoyt's Stacy is gay, given this is still the production code era. It's not a mocking or condescending performance, either, which is doubly surprising for the time. Some of the dialogue between he and Davis has a pre-Code vibe, rich in double entendre. If only his character had been in service of a better story and movie.