John Huston's second film, "In This Our Life" may have been just a job
of work for him and nothing more than a trashy melodrama but it's
undeniably entertaining with a very classy cast even if it does have one
of Bette Davis' worst performances, (she's still the bitch but her
acting is pinched as if her heart wasn't in it, as if she knows what a
crock she's landed herself in). She's the bad sister who steals her good
sister's husband and drives him to suicide. Olivia De Havilland is the
good sister who finds her backbone after she's been dumped. It was quite
daring for its day, even touching on the subject of incest, (Bette has a
randy old uncle who has the hots for her and is played with
lip-smacking relish by Charles Coburn). The men in their lives are
George Brent, (who else?), and Dennis Morgan and there's a nice
supporting turn from the young African-American actor Ernest Anderson,
(whatever happened to him?) as the boy Bette tries to incriminate in a
hit-and-run. Unfortunately poor Hattie McDaniel, only a couple of years
after winning an Oscar, is back to playing Mammy and Billie Burke is
wasted as the mother who never seems to get out of bed. Huston's heart
may not have been in it any more than Bette's but he keeps it moving
along at quite a gallop nevertheless.
Friday, 29 March 2019
IN THIS OUR LIFE **
John Huston's second film, "In This Our Life" may have been just a job
of work for him and nothing more than a trashy melodrama but it's
undeniably entertaining with a very classy cast even if it does have one
of Bette Davis' worst performances, (she's still the bitch but her
acting is pinched as if her heart wasn't in it, as if she knows what a
crock she's landed herself in). She's the bad sister who steals her good
sister's husband and drives him to suicide. Olivia De Havilland is the
good sister who finds her backbone after she's been dumped. It was quite
daring for its day, even touching on the subject of incest, (Bette has a
randy old uncle who has the hots for her and is played with
lip-smacking relish by Charles Coburn). The men in their lives are
George Brent, (who else?), and Dennis Morgan and there's a nice
supporting turn from the young African-American actor Ernest Anderson,
(whatever happened to him?) as the boy Bette tries to incriminate in a
hit-and-run. Unfortunately poor Hattie McDaniel, only a couple of years
after winning an Oscar, is back to playing Mammy and Billie Burke is
wasted as the mother who never seems to get out of bed. Huston's heart
may not have been in it any more than Bette's but he keeps it moving
along at quite a gallop nevertheless.
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