Stardust: The Bette Davis Story

As with any Silver Screen documentary co-produced by Turner Classic Movies, you would expect nothing less than an account of the highest quality, and STARDUST: THE BETTE DAVIS STORY does not disappoint. One of the most well-balanced accounts on the actress I've ever had the pleasure of seeing, it manages to be surprisingly subjective by presenting a portrait of one of Hollywood's most celebrated legends warts-and-all, complete with archival footage, sound clips and close-up interviews with friends, fans and those people still with us who knew her best.

By turns it's funny, amazing, amusing and very sad - showing a woman who was as complex as the best roles she played, and as someone who worked tirelessly to make sure that her performances (and in some cases the performances of her co-stars) were never "phoned-in", and how consumed with a passion for the work, she payed a terrible price by all but sacrificing the quality of what could and should've been a wonderful personal life.

But rather than go more deeply into the sordid details of affairs, failed marriages and rivalries with contemporaries and studio execs - especially her "surrogate father", Jack Warner, the doc spends a lot more time reviewing some of Ms. Davis's most lauded (and rightfully so) performances from such greats as NOW, VOYAGER, THE LITTLE FOXES, JEZEBEL and one of my personal favorites, THE LETTER.

Bette Davis was not a conventional Hollywood beauty. But then again, she wasn't a conventional anything. And thank goodness that writer/director Peter Jones saw fit to tell her story in anything but a conventional way. I think she would've really appreciated that.

Hats off again to Turner Classic Movies and their corporate sibling Warner Bros., for once again setting the highest bar for documentary film-making on Hollywood subjects.

Peter Jones is not a household name, but he should be. This magnificent director has created some of the best industry-based works I've ever seen. His portrait of Samuel Goldwyn on American Masters was superb, and even through the muck of A&E, his telling of the story of Ozzie and Harriet turned out to be one of the most moving, and heartbreaking studies of the American dream dissolved.

After a few years away from the 'spotlight' as it were, I saw this documentary on TCM after reading wonderful reviews. I wasn't skeptical about it, as TCM has generally (with rare exception in prior years) always delivered a first rate product.

Instead of taking the traditional approach, Jones has crafted a true MOTION PICTURE. Not a predictable clip/talking head/clip show. He gets under Davis' skin, and paints a portrait of a remarkable, yet basically sad person. Lest we forget her 1960s autobiography was called THE LONELY LIFE.

Jones celebrates her genius, and has a cast of colleagues and friends of Davis to back up his story, and it sets this show apart from the usual claptrap we see on other cable channels.

Not surprisingly, this is a co-production between Warner Bros. and TCM, which means a somewhat concurrent DVD release of the docu is part of an overall collection of great Davis films. WB has used this formula with both TCM and PBS to celebrate the likes of Errol Flynn, Cary Grant, Judy Garland, Garbo, and so many others. It's what sets WB apart from all other studios as the classiest and sharpest when it comes to their legacy on DVD, and also why Turner Classic Movies remains so acclaimed by critics year after year.

I look forward to the next Peter Jones Production! He's one terrific filmmaker. I think Bette would be proud.

It would be difficult to do a bad documentary on Bette Davis - she was such a dynamic actress and woman and never boring - but this beautifully produced documentary, "Stardust: The Bette Davis Story" is over the top in excellence, paying great attention to the actress' private life as well as her movie career. Using photos, film clips, interviews with family, Davis herself, and voiceovers from coworkers, a picture emerges of Davis as a driven actress, a perfectionist, a wonderful homemaker and ultimately, a very lonely woman.

Her son Michael, who unlike her spoiled daughter B.D., loved his mother very much, states that she drank quite a bit. This was probably much less true in her heyday and exacerbated as she aged. That perhaps contributed to her becoming increasingly more difficult to work with as the years went on. Like many great stars, without the cushion of a studio, with the loss of creative control/choice that comes with moving into character roles, Bette Davis became less secure. It became more important for her to be able to intimidate the director and those around her. During the major part of her career, she was surrounded by top directors and stars - these now became people with less talent than herself, and as a result, the later films suffered. Fortunately, though, she went out with a bang, with "The Whales of August."

Bette Davis had an indomitable spirit throughout her life. She gave us some great films and brilliant performances. "Stardust" gives us insight into the woman behind them.

Stardust: The Bette Davis Story (2006)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Extremely entertaining documentary on the life and career of legend Bette Davis features countless interviews with the actress from various shows including 60 Minutes and the Steve Allen Show. The documentary runs 90-minutes and I feel an extra half hour would have helped things because the movie quite often jumps around from her film life to her sexual life. We hear about all five husbands but also how many other actresses, including Joan Crawford, ended up hating her because she would sleep with their husbands or boyfriends. I'm really not sure all of the dirt was needed but it's here. Also on hand is discussing about how difficult she was to work with and how Jack Warner eventually had to sue her to get her to work. We get interviews with James Woods, Jane Fonda, Ellen Burstyn, Gena Rowlands and Samuel Goldwyn, Jr.. Vincent Sherman is also interviewed where he discusses how difficult she made shooting their first film together and when he asked to be let go, according to him, Davis took him back to her house for a sexual night. In the end we pretty much learn that Davis had a very rough life style and it probably ended with her being very lonely. After a series of strokes and the heartbreak of her daughter writing a not-so-friendly book, she eventually went on a tour to great acclaim. No matter how tough her life is, there's no doubt she left us with some great films, which is the documentaries main point to get across.

...And how it Broke Bette's heart.

I became very interested in Bette after seeing this the first time in 2006 when I came out... Not that I did not already love her as one of my favourite actresses... But because of this documentary, I have changed my opinion of Miss Davis, as not just one of the best, but The Best Actress, ever.

And as such, she was never really left a moment's peace in her personal life. However, this documentary shows, that fact never affected Davis work ethic, and she plod on regardless of what was going on with her life.

I think the documentary ought to have had a bit more to say about The Hollywood Canteen, a pivotal point in her career, and one that awarded her the highest civilian honour in real life, even above Bob Hope. It is almost like I am proud to be a Davis fan because of what she did for our Servicemen in WWII.

A lot of people always measure Davis by the Joan Crawford Yardstick... And the documentary maker here also does that, to a small degree. I think in reality, Davis probably never had the slightest Crawford, but Crawford, who was always combative with the other high profile stars at her studios (aka, Norma Shearer at MGM) - It is almost as if, Since Norma Shearer, who beat Crawford hands down at MGM, retired in 1941... Crawford targeted Miss Davis as her new "antagonist"- Something which I don't think Davis thought of at all, as any Crawford/Davis feud (Or Crawford/Shearer feud) was always more so on the part of Crawford. It is a sad laughable thing about Crawford, not that it makes me disrespect Crawford for it, but Davis just wasn't like that at all, Miss Davis was always more interested in the health of the Film (to the point of micromanaging things) to deal with petty Crawford Feuds.

The documentary maker of this, I think could have used better wisdom collecting the filmed anecdotal items: Such as those comments from Davis Former Husband William Grant Sherry's wife (who used to be Davis' nanny - I forget her name, but her name is unimportant, as, the PERSON is unimportant) - I can't believe that the documentary makers would use that particular source of footage- INCLUDING the footage where the woman, if I could loosely use that term woman, just about makes a blanket statement that Bette had something to do with Arthur Farnsworth's untimely death.

I appreciate the clips from Bob Osbourne and James Woods... And it is important to show all aspects of the person, but Betty was as complicated as anyone- The film does however show the high level of disrespect of BD Hyman toward her mother, something that shocked me, especially as how Hyman considers herself not just a Christian, but a Minister: And As Such is a very Poor example of one.

The tragedy of this documentary are the clips from BD, whose betrayal must have hurt Bette more than anything done to her by anyone else in her lifetime.

I am glad that they showed the BD clips, as they show this Girl/Woman, whom Davis loved more than anything... What an inconsiderate Phony "Christian" she was and is, using a "Mommy Dearest" attack to accumulate 100,000 dollars (which is more than the usual sum publishers forked out in those days) which she claims to have used to Christian Ministries:

And if I were to tell this BD Hyman anything, it would be that money obtained from the public Disrespect of one's blood Parent... Is NOT money that God has blessed and has put His hand on.

This documentary shows this disrespect, and not in a flattering light toward Hyman.

Hyman did not consider, that good ministry, IS looked at by the public, and if Hyman's anti-Mom books are considered by Hyman as something God either WANTED, Ordained, or Supported: That She is WRONG and as a Christian I want nothing to do with THAT God, who would allow parental disrespect as a means to access money for so-called Christian Works, and any Minister or Ministry that is FOUNDED on such.

I am glad that the original book was laughed off of the shelves by the critics. - Hyman was revealed as a Hypocrite who needs to either shut-up or make it right with her Mother.

BD, Your Mother loved you, and you can actually make it right even now.