REVIEW

DVD Review: Bette Davis Collection - Volume Three

Written by Rebecca Wright
Published April 25, 2008
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While Stanley is away, Roy falls in love with Craig. Stanley returns home after she drives Peter crazy by just being herself. After Stanley returns and accidentally kills a child with her car, all of the family relationships are put to the test.

The InThis Is Our Life DVD features a commentary by film historian Jeanine Basinger. She knows a lot about women in films and Warner Brothers, so her thoughts are extremely informed.

Deception (1946) is based on Louis Verneuil's 1928 play, Jealousy. Aspiring pianist Christine Radcliffe (Davis), having believed her fiancé Karel (Paul Henreid) died in the war, is thrilled to find him performing in a cello concert in New York. The two are quickly married, but trouble begins when Davis' wealthy mentor composer Alexander Hollenius (Claude Rains) learns about his protégées marriage.

Deception ranks a close second to Watch on the Rhine as my favorite film in the collection. Both Rains and Henreid hold their own with Bette onscreen. Rains' character is totally neurotic and does an excellent job of playing a man who is haunted by his experiences from the war. Henreid plays Hellonius as the perfect tyrant. He knows he's a monster and could care less. Because the plot of Deception revolves around lies, the spot-on performances by all the actors only adds to the tension of the picture.

Film historian Foster Hirsch offers a commentary that discusses the making of the film and offers some insights about the personal difficulties that were going on in Davis' life at the time.

These six films show Bette Davis' ability to work in a wide range of genres — war time melodrama, woman's pictures, and era pictures spanning from the Civil War to World War II — and Warner Brothers gave her the platform to shine.

All of the DVDs are in black-and-white, with a standard 1.37:1 screen ratio of the time. It shows up fairly well in this 1.33:1 transfer. The sound is in Dolby Digital 1.0. There are French Subtitles with English captions for the hearing impaired.

Along with the audio commentaries, each DVD comes with a Warner Night at the Movies, assorted vintage newsreels, vintage short subjects, vintage cartoons, and original theatrical trailers.

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Rebecca is a freelance writer, concentrating in the areas of film, television and music criticism. Her B.A. is in the Humanities with an emphasis in film and writing.She holds an M.A. in American and British literature with an emphasis in dystopian literature and detective fiction.
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DVD Review: Bette Davis Collection - Volume Three
Published: April 25, 2008
Type: Review
Section: Video
Filed Under: Review, Video: Classics, Video: Drama
Writer: Rebecca Wright
Rebecca Wright's BC Writer page
Rebecca Wright's personal site
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