Tramonto

When Bette Davis was in ball buster mode, watch out!! But when she decided to suffer nobly, she could suffer with the best of them.

In "Dark Victory," Davis plays a woman dying from the deadliest of deadly diseases---the vague, unnamed illness that beautiful actresses died of in movies from the 1930s. The symptoms never seem to be the same, but they're always tear-inducing. Here, they make Davis go blind and we know when the disease is getting worse because a fuzzy black halo begins to appear around the edges of the frame.

Actually, this movie is a rather pale companion to the ultimate Davis melodrama, "Now, Voyager." But it has perhaps my favorite line ever delivered in a Bette Davis movie. She's found out that her illness is fatal, and she's at dinner with the doctor who has kept this from her to protect her fragile soul. When the waiter comes to take her order, she says, "How about a nice big helping of..." pause, as she throws the most withering of withering stares at her companion ..."prognosis negative." That should really be on a bumper sticker somewhere.

As for the other actors.....wait, other actors? No one watches a Bette Davis movie to see other actors. I'm not even sure there were any other actors in this movie.

Grade: B