Jezebel (1938)
Jezebel (1938)
DVD9 | VIDEO_TS | NTSC, 4:3 (720x480) VBR | 01:44:01 | 6.19 Gb
Audio: English AC3 1.0 @ 192 Kbps | Subs: English, French, Spanish
Genre: Drama, Romance
DVD9 | VIDEO_TS | NTSC, 4:3 (720x480) VBR | 01:44:01 | 6.19 Gb
Audio: English AC3 1.0 @ 192 Kbps | Subs: English, French, Spanish
Genre: Drama, Romance
In 1938, Jezebel was widely regarded as Warner Bros.' "compensation" to Bette Davis for her losing the opportunity to play Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind. Resemblances between the two properties are inescapable: Jezebel heroine Julie Marsden (Davis) is a headstrong Southern belle not unlike Scarlett (Julie lives in New Orleans rather than Georgia); she loves fiance Preston Dillard (played by Henry Fonda) but loses him when she makes a public spectacle of herself (to provoke envy in him) by wearing an inappropriate red dress at a ball, just as Scarlett O'Hara brazenly danced with Rhett Butler while still garbed in widow's weeds. There are several other similarities between the works, but it is important to note that Jezebel is set in the 1850s, several years before Gone With the Wind's Civil War milieu; and we must observe that, unlike Scarlett O'Hara, Julie Marsden is humbled by her experiences and ends up giving of her time, energy, and health during a deadly yellow jack outbreak. Bette Davis won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Julie; an additional Oscar went to Fay Bainter for her portrayal of the remonstrative Aunt Belle (she's the one who labels Julie a "jezebel" at a crucial plot point). The offscreen intrigues of Jezebel, including Bette Davis' romantic attachment to director William Wyler and co-star George Brent, have been fully documented elsewhere. Jezebel was based on an old and oft-produced play by Owen Davis Sr.Synopsis by Hal Erickson, Allmovie.com
Jezebel, which wrapped up as Gone With the Wind was entering pre-production, was either Bette Davis' feature-length screen test for Scarlett O'Hara or a consolation prize for not getting the part. Regardless, she handles the title role with the catty, manipulative cruelty that characterized many of her best performances. As her beau, Henry Fonda appears a little uncomfortable in the period piece. Ultimately, the film's success is wrapped around Davis' steely performance and the elegant production values: it is filmed in evocative black-and-white, and the cinematography uses light and shadow to build texture and mood and to help us forget that Davis' scandalous red dress is left up to our imaginations. Composer Max Steiner's music (he also composed the score for Gone With the Wind) is atmospherically effective. The film's study of the conventions and gender roles of the antebellum South occasionally makes the film feel more like a socio-historical document than a drama. Jezebel was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, winning for Davis and for Fay Bainter as her aunt.Review by Dan Jardine, Allmovie.com
IMDB 7,7/10 from 7 389 users
Wiki
Director: William Wyler
Writers: Clements Ripley, Abem Finkel, John Huston, Owen Davis (play)
Cast: Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, Margaret Lindsay, George Brent, Donald Crisp, Spring Byington, Henry O'Neill, Richard Cromwell,
John Litel, Fay Bainter, Georgia Caine, Jack Norton, Gordon Oliver, Irving Pichel, Janet Shaw and other
Jezebel (1938)
Jezebel (1938)
Jezebel (1938)
Jezebel (1938)
Jezebel (1938)
Jezebel (1938)
Jezebel (1938)
Jezebel (1938)
Jezebel (1938)
Jezebel (1938)
Jezebel (1938)
Jezebel (1938)
Jezebel (1938)
Jezebel (1938)
Special Features:
Audio commentary by film historian Jeannine Basinger.
Featurette: "Jezebel: Legend of the South" (23:53).
Vintage musical short: "Melody Masters: Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra" (9:12).
Classic cartoon: "The Mice Will Play" (6:51).
Original Theatrical trailer (1:56)
All thanks to original releaser - vicki
More interesting Movies in My Blog