Main Cast: Bette Davis, Joseph Cotten, David Brian, Ruth Roman, Regis Toomey, Minor Watson
Release Year: 1949
Country: US
Run Time: 96 minutes
Plot
"What a dump!" That's the classic line delivered by Bette Davis at the halfway point of Beyond the Forest, her final Warner Bros. effort of the 1940s. Some Davis devotees feel as though this vituperative utterance is the high point of an otherwise turgid melodrama; others consider the line a succinct assessment of the entire film. Based on a best-selling novel by Stuart Engstrand, the film stars Davis as Rosa Moline, a small-town girl with big-city ambitions. Trapped in a dull marriage to just-getting-by lawyer Lewis Moline (Joseph Cotten), Rosa plots and plans to sexually entrap millionaire industrialist Neil Latimer (David Brian). That Rosa's scheme is doomed from the start is telegraphed at every juncture by Max Steiner's sledgehammer musical score (few will ever want to hear the song "Chicago" again after this). Hampered by the censorship standards of the era, the film is prevented from being as frank as the novel; in one scene, for example, Rosa is obviously visiting an abortionist, but the sign on the door reads "Psychiatrist." A standard entry in most film historians' "Worst Movies" lists (even Davis herself hated it), Beyond the Forest is rather entertaining in its own schlocky fashion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Dona Drake - Jenny; Sarah Selby - Mildred; Mary Servoss - Mrs. Welch; Frances Charles - Miss Elliott; Joel Allen - Minister; James Craven - Man; Ann Doran - Edith Williams; Creighton Hale - Old Man; Hallene Hill - Woman; Charles Jordan - Jury Foreman; Eve Miller - Switchboard Operator; Buddy Roosevelt - Man; Harry Tyler - Stationmaster; Judith Wood - Waitress; Frank Pharr - Coroner; Ralph Littlefield - Driver; Gail Bonney - Woman; Hal Gerard - Waiter; Eileen Stevens - Operator
Rosa is the neglected wife of a small-town doctor. She grows bored and becomes infatuated with a visiting Chicago businessman. She extorts money from her husband's patients and uses the cash to flee to Chicago. However, the businessman does not welcome her, although he manages to impregnate her before driving her away. She is unable to remain in Chicago and unwelcome at home, but the businessman has a change of heart and pursues her, trying to win her back. After several plot twists, Rosa meets a tragic fate.[1][2]
The film marks Davis' last appearance as a contract actress for Warner, after eighteen years with the studio. She tried several times to walk away from the film (which only caused the production cost to go through the roof), but Warner refused to release her from their employment contract.[3] She remembered the project as "a terrible movie".
The tag line used to promote the film was "NOBODY'S AS GOOD AS BETTE WHEN SHE'S BAD!"
