• Rating:
• Genre: Drama
• Movie Type: Romantic Drama, Medical Drama
• Themes: Dying Young, Battling Illness, Doctors and Patients
• Director: Edmund Goulding
• Main Cast: Bette Davis, George Brent, Humphrey Bogart, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Ronald Reagan
• Release Year: 1939
• Country: US
• Run Time: 106 minutes
• MPAA Rating: NR

Plot

Bette Davis earned an Oscar nomination for her role in this classic four-hanky tearjerker. Judith Traherne (Bette Davis) is a very wealthy Long Island heiress whose life is a constant whirl of cocktails, parties, and wild living. Despite her hedonistic lifestyle, Judith derives little pleasure from life except for her horses, cared for by stable master Michael O'Leary (Humphrey Bogart). When Judith begins suffering from headaches and dizzy spells, Dr. Frederick Steele (George Brent) gives her the bad news: she has a brain tumor that could threaten her life if not treated immediately. Judith consents to surgery, and Frederick informs her that the operation was a success. A grateful Judith quickly falls in love with Frederick, and they plan to marry. However, the tumor returns, and when Judith discovers that she has only a few months to live, she calls off the wedding, convinced that Frederick is marrying her only as an act of pity for a dying woman. A major success and perennial favorite, Dark Victory was later remade as Stolen Hours with Susan Hayward and as a TV movie starring Elizabeth Montgomery. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Review

Adapted by Casey Robinson from a short-lived Broadway play starring Tallulah Bankhead, Dark Victory (1939) is one of Bette Davis's most affecting melodramas. Davis's superb performance taps a range of emotions, as her Judith Traherne transforms from a flippant playgirl into a spiritually redeemed terminal cancer patient, complete with a multiple hankie death scene rendered all the more poignant and moving by Davis's dramatic restraint. Fresh from her Oscar for Jezebel (1938), Davis is surrounded by a sleek production worthy of wealthy Judith, including beautiful gowns and furs by Warner designer Orry-Kelly and sparkling Ernest Haller cinematography (not to mention Humphrey Bogart and Ronald Reagan as spurned admirers). Receiving rave reviews, particularly for Davis, Dark Victory became one of four 1939 Bette Davis hits, and earned Oscar nominations for Best Picture and Best Actress. Davis, however, lost to Vivien Leigh for Gone With the Wind. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

Cast

• Bette Davis - Judith Traherne
• George Brent - Dr. Frederick Steele
• Humphrey Bogart - Michael O'Leary
• Geraldine Fitzgerald - Ann King
• Ronald Reagan - Alec Hamin

Henry Travers - Dr. Parsons; Cora Witherspoon - Carrie Spottswood; Dorothy Peterson - Miss Wainwright; Virginia Brissac - Martha; Charles Richman - Colonel Mantle; Herbert Rawlinson - Dr. Carter; Leonard Mudie - Dr. Driscoll; Fay Helm - Miss Dodd; Lotta Williams - Lucy; Wilda Bennett; Diane Bernard - Agatha; Richard Bond; Sidney Bracey - Bartender; Nat Carr; Mary Currier; Frank Darien - Anxious Little Man; Edgar Edwards - Trainer; John Harron - First man; Leyland Hodgson; Stuart Holmes - Doctor; Alexander Leftwich - Specialist; Frank Mayo - Judith's Friend; Will Morgan; Jack Mower - Veterinarian; David Newell; Wedgewood Nowell; John Ridgely - Second Man; Jeffrey Sayre; Rosella Towne - Girl in Box; William Worthington - First Specialist; Maris Wrixon; Ila Rhodes - Secretary; Marian Alden; Paulette Evans; Jack Goodrich - Doctor; Eddie Graham

Credit

Elsie Janis - Songwriter; Leo F. Forbstein - Musical Direction/Supervision; Edmund Goulding - Director; Edmund Goulding - Songwriter; Robert M. Haas - Art Director; Ernest Haller - Cinematographer; William Holmes - Editor; Orry-Kelly - Costume Designer; Casey Robinson - Screenwriter; Max Steiner - Composer (Music Score); Hal B. Wallis - Executive Producer; Bertram Bloch - Screenwriter; Bertram Bloch - Play Author; Robert B. Lee - Sound/Sound Designer; David Lewis - Associate Producer; George Emerson Brewer Jr. - Play Author

Similar Movies

Brian's Song; Dying Young; Love Story; Mr. Skeffington; Steel Magnolias; Untamed Heart; Sweet November; Dark Victory; Here On Earth; Autumn in New York; Sweet November