Bette Davis, All About Eve

as Margo Channing

Won: New York Film Critics Circle - Best Actress • Cannes Film Festival - Best Actress

At long last, we’ve come to Bette Davis. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this performance and have attempted this write-up 3+ times, only to give up and shelve it away for a later time.

Why? Because this is a performance that has been praised to the high heavens, and yet…it’s played in quite a straightforward manner. It's executed in such a way that is potent but far from what one might deem as “mind blowing” or “revelatory.” Unlike the likes of Gloria Swanson and Judy Holliday, Davis isn’t projecting a character with eyesore and ear sore idiosyncrasies. She is playing Margo Channing forthright. Simply put, Davis does not transform into “Margo Channing” - she instead takes the character and shape-shifts it to fit a “Bette Davis” mold. The beauty of it all is that the character is a perfect fit to the actress - Davis may very well be playing herself, but this is an instance in which both character and actress persona fuse together seamlessly.

Happy Birthday Oscargasms!

Happy 4th Birthday to Oscargasms!

I'll keep it brief: my apologies for the infrequent posts in the last few months (in tandem with my very lagging coverage of 1950!) I have no excuses - I've been lazy with the free time that I have, and have used it going out, catching up on shows, and laying around doing a whole lot of nothing. Rest assured that I have started the Bette Davis post and hope to queue it up shortly before segueing into 1951, and I will try to cover that year at a more speedier pace. In any case, thank you for your patience and thank you thank you for the continued readership!* It really does means a lot.

*I also seem to be unable to produce comments, not sure why? Hope to get that sorted out soon as well.