Davis is very good but Herbert Marshall is magnificent in this scene. He was one of the very few actors who could portray goodness, not an easy thing to specialise in, and his performance here is beautifully naturalistic.
@@piperita7557 Yes, so charming and so intense in "Murder". And so funny: When the landlady goes on and on about the Aspisdastra, while Marshall's trying to find facts to save the girl from the gallows, he says impatiently but ever so politely, "Yes, it's a fine plant. ..."
The always indomitable Bette Davis! My favorite scene...the hatred, the malice, the cruelty..all in her immobile face and eyes. No actress today can or would dare to do such a scene..
Bette and Herbert. Both absolutely superb. Neither need say a word to communicate but when they do they both have immaculate diction and phenomenal multi layered emotional expression. And all superbly handled by William Wyler.
For all the 'in your face' violence of modern films, hard to top this for 'spiritual horror'. Gene Tierney in Leave Her to Heaven as she lets her husbands young brother drown would be a close second .
from 1:50 onwards Bette Davis completely devastates in this film and immortalises herself as one of the best actors of all time just using her eyes. She doesn't say a word.
It was either George Arliss or Charles Laughton who once told Davis, "Never stop daring to hang yourself." She kept that advice close to heart, all of her professional life, never afraid to dare an audience to hate her, ready to sacrifice whatever degree of vanity to keep a characterization honest. Her best films are impervious to passing time.
@@davedvlaries7764 it was Charles Laughton (who had played Henry VIII) who said it to Davis on visiting the set of The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex where the young Davis was playing Elizabeth in her older years
Gregg Toland's camera work in this scene (the entire film) is superb, specifically with near focus on Regina while Horace climbs the stairs in the background. Genius in his field and died way too young.
That was done to hide the fact that Herbert Marshall was an amputee and unable to climb stairs without a lot of difficulty. Notice how he goes out of frame briefly. That's when his double steps into the frame, climbs the stairs and collapses.
This scene alone verifies the fact the Bette Davis was the best actress Hollywood has ever seen, and she has a few scenes better than this in that film.
Miss Davis could perform any role...as seen in this scene she could make us genuinely despise her while at the same time admiring her for her stabbing honesty.
Society in general too. Marriage has lost its sacredness with people playing house, divorcing left, right and center. People are all turning gay, transgender or whatever it is. Nothing against them but why does it have to be so open? Same with sex and PDA. We are literally bombarded with sex, symbols, sexual identity. What happened to having moral ethics and believing that thinking too much about it is sinful? Movies are all CGI driven. I enjoy some of them but I literally haven't gone to a movie theatre, saw a trailer and thought, "Why this is extraordinary!"
@@acdragonrider You're a minority dear. The true 1-percenter. No will understand, let alone empathize, with what you've said. Depravity is the new culture. Quality isn't remotely as lucrative as cheap rubbish. Fast-food VS home cooked so to speak.
@acdragonrider Why did you have to turn it into that? People have always been gay they just had to hide it. Why shouldn't it be out in the open? Why should they have to live in shame just for love? The ironic part is many of these actors you love in old movies were gay and forced into fake "lavender" marriages to keep their careers. I agree with you about most of the movies of today though.
@@acdragonrider as much as I wish to live in that time period where I’d fit in mostly and die happy. All I can do is be better than this that the common man would lament over wishing for what I’d hope to become. That’s better because you can do something for yourself and that the deceased would applaud you for.
Has there ever been such a malicious scene? Davis did her absolutely best acting under the direction of William Wyler (Jezebel, The Letter, The Little Foxes). With other directors, she sometimes went over the top, but with Wyler she got to the core essence of her characters.
Wyler also got her to stop relying on physical and vocal mannerisms and to go inward, letting the intensity come from stillness and concentration. He taught her the value of strength-through-silence. The rice flour makeup, which she designed herself, helped immensely in this regard, resembling an impassive mask. It gives a touch of Eugene O' Neill to the proceedings.
@@jasonhurd4379 The irony is Wyler is almost opposed to her changes of the character and the set. Too bad this is the last film they did together due to their fights.
@@genebijou3772 Indeed. Apparently Wyler fought with just about everyone. Olivier's account of the battles between Wyler on the one hand and himself and Merle Oberon on the other, on the set of Wuthering Heights, is appalling.
@@jasonhurd4379 Thanks for recommending me another film to watch. I was just working my way into old films after watching the infamous feud of Davis and Crawford.
@@genebijou3772 You've never seen Wuthering Heights? You are in for a real treat! The only other film I know of that mingles heartbreaking romance with dark, louring Romanticism so seductively is Portrait of Jennie. Olivier is absolutely magnificent, and Oberon is incandescent. Actually, for my money Wyler was the finest Hollywood director of all time. My favorite of his films is The Heiress, with Olivia de Havilland and Ralph Richardson. It is a powerful yet ambiguous story, with no clear-cut villains or good guys, just flawed human beings.
William Wyler is the best director ever. The Best Years of Our Lives and Ben-Hur. Enough said. Not to mention the fact that he brought out the best in every single actor he ever worked with. And it's not easy dealing with arrogant, pompous ass, condescending actors who think they are above everybody else. Wyler not only brought them down to earth but extracted their very best essence. He was the best. Period.... End of story.
Ah, but at the end her own daughter tells HER the truth, right to her face, and she gets a taste of her own medicine. Regina Giddens is one of the vilest female characters in dramatic history, surpassed in cruelty and sadism only by Goneril and Regan in King Lear.
@@jasonhurd4379 I agree. Alexandra is the last person in her life who viewed Regina with even the least idealism, and that's gone by the final scene. ("Would you like to talk with me, Alexandra? Would you like to stay in my room tonight?" " _Why Mama, are you afraid_ ?"). Additionally, and for the rest of her life, Regina will have to keep her back to a wall when in the same room with her revenge-thirsty brothers, surely about to waste no time in undermining her, no matter where she moves to.
@@kboyer1 not considered box office. Davis at this point was the number one female at the box office. Wyler apparently wouldn't do the film without Davis
@@malmck1758 there's a reason why bankhead was hardly doing movies. not all actors can do well both in theathers and in films. she couldn't translate well in films as she would in theaters, so davis was the ultimate choice.
Bette was always a genius when it came ot being still. Same look on her face when she caught Joan Crawford on the telephone in what ever happened to Baby Jane
Bette wanted Tallulah Bankhead to reprise her role as Regina from the play, but Wyler wanted Bette. In the play, Regina is more of a victim, rather than cold and conniving.
I’ve always found the way that Bette Davis played it that Regina is a sympathetic character - she explained to Horace that there was no way she could get the things that she wanted. The money was left to her brothers. Marriage was the only way. And Horace disappointed her in that - I thought you would get me the moon. Then Horace has the audacity to say to her, “Why didn’t you divorce me?”
@@Jasper7182009Bette's Regina is just as avaricious as her brothers. Horace gave her a comfortable life, but she wanted grandeur. I don't find her sympathetic at all.
She conveys perfectly what it must have been like to be a woman and depend utterly on marriage for sheer survival. Those whalebone corsets were painful enough to drive any woman to murder. Betty was first and foremost a feminist. Not a man-hating academic feminist, but a true feminist after true equality.
Bette was not afraid to tackle unpleasant characters. Like this. Or unpleasant looking. This makes her miles above glamour queens of her era and makes her modern.
The Little Foxes was the best film of 1941. Yes, I'm aware Citizen Kane and HGWMV were out that year. Bette Davis and Herbert Marshall are giving an acting masterclass here. Combine that with William Wyler's impeccable direction, Hellmann's devastating script, and Gregg Toland's remarkable cinematography -- and you have a masterpiece. The entire cast of Foxes gave absolutely outstanding performances. The Little Foxes should've swept Best Picture, Director (Wyler), Actress (Davis), Actor (Marshall), Supporting Actress (Patricia Collinge), Supporting Actor (Dan Duryea), Adapted Screenplay (Hellman). I would give Cinematography, Editing, and Original Script to Kane.
When he drops and breaks the bottle of medicine, I never noticed it before but I do now. He says to Regina, “The other bottle, upstairs in my room.” He doesn’t ask her - it’s a directive to his wife. He never thought to ask her.
When Horace says “You’ll wreck the country and your kind..” Mr. Trump’s ears must have been burning…. For a play written in the 1930’s, still VERY topical….
bete chose to keep her eyes wide open when she could have added dramatic effect by closing them as to "Pray for his death" and not be a part of it. a witness to a murder. yet her eyes wide open illustrated that she wanted to enjoy his demise to see his actual suffering. she never blinked once !
No one's ever freaked out by the fact that Miss Davis almost never blink in every movie she's ever made?! I'm such an absolute fan but it's starting to hurt me ^^
Isn’t hate and the contempt the same thing? Even thur this given to be Bettie Davis crowning performance I still wish we had some footage of Tallua Bankheads legendary turn from the stage play.
I’m on Regina’s side. She said she wanted Chicago. Her husband was a typical, controlling male. Listen to the pervasive voice of control throughout this scenario. It scrambles for domination. Nobody puts baby in a corner.
@Roger Rather you two hate reality. If a person let's their values be known and your ego doesn't allow you to accept that you can't FXCK away their interests you will end up detested that's your god damned problem. I have no pity for entitled men nor delusional women. You see it all the time, so-called "good" people playing victim to the wickedness they are attracted to. Simply because they can't accept rejection for what it is. They can't accept their loss and just go. They try to force it because they are control obsessed psychos.
The cinematographer Gregg Toland was a master at deep focus photography. The foreground and background are in focus. James Wong Howe was another great cinematographer.
There was no reason for them to question her. All they knew is that she found him on the stairs. She was a conniving, greedy, selfish bitch who was not going to stop at anything to get what she wanted---even if it meant killing Horace in the process. I was so proud of Alexandra in the final scenes when she basically told her Mother to go to hell and left home to be with David.
