Themes: Mothers and Daughters, Sibling Relationships, Blackmail
Main Cast: Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, Teresa Wright, Richard Carlson, Patricia Collinge, Charles Dingle
Release Year: 1941
Country: US
Run Time: 116 minutes
Plot
Playwright Lillian Hellman first wrote of the horrible Hubbard family in her 1939 play The Little Foxes. In this lavish 1941 film version, Bette Davis takes over for Broadway's Tallulah Bankhead in the role of conniving turn-of-the-century Southern aristocrat Regina Hubbard Giddens. Regina's equally odious brothers (Charles Dingle and Carl Benton Reid) want her to lend them 75,000 dollars to help build a cotton mill. To do this, she must make peace with her long-estranged husband, Horace (Herbert Marshall) -- and failing that, she tries to arrange a wealthy marriage between her daughter, Alexandra (Teresa Wright), and her slimy nephew Leo (Dan Duryea). Horace refuses to give Regina the money, whereupon Leo is pressured by his father (Reid) to steal bonds from the family business. Regina uses this information as a means of blackmailing her brothers for a share in the new mill. In retaliation, Horace claims that he gave Leo the bonds as a loan, thereby cutting Regina out of the deal. When Horace suffers a heart attack, Regina makes no effort to give him his medicine, and he dies without revealing his willingness to loan the money to Leo. Regina is thus still able to strongarm her brothers into giving her a piece of the mill -- but the price for her evil machinations is the loss of her daughter's love and respect. The Little Foxes caused a censorship stir in 1941; by refusing to give Horace his medicine, Regina technically gets away with murder. However, the censors decided that Regina was punished enough when her daughter left her to marry an honest newspaperman (Richard Carlson). Given the usual Tiffany treatment by producer Sam Goldwyn, The Little Foxes was a success; several years later, Lillian Hellman wrote a "prequel" to The Little Foxes, titled Another Part of the Forest. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
The Little Foxes is a triumphant screen translation of Lillian Hellman's classic stage melodrama, blessed with an exceptional cast and expert direction. True, there are a few minor missteps in the manner in which the play has been "opened up" for the screen, the most obvious being the addition of a rather stereotypical crusading journalist boyfriend for Alexandra. But these flaws are made up for by the glorious production, which manages to add a few new layers to some characters who can, in the wrong hands, come across as a bit too clearly drawn. Presiding over the cast with a velvet glove cast in iron is Bette Davis, turning in the kind of performance that made her a screen legend -- and deservedly so. Davis clearly presents Regina's hardness and severity, but she doesn't overplay that hand; her Regina knows how to charm, and to do so with conviction. The actress also shows the audience the character's vulnerability, but only enough glimpses to make us almost feel for her. She's well-matched by Herbert Marshall's extremely well-judged Horace, Patricia Collinge's magnificent Birdie, and Charles Dingle's dangerous but subtle Ben. Teresa Wright pushes a little too hard to demonstrate Alexandra's innocence and naïveté, but otherwise she's thoroughly engaging. Add in William Wyler's spot-on direction and a first-rate physical production, and the result is a true classic. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
The focus is on Southern aristocrat Regina Hubbard Giddens (Bette Davis), who struggles for wealth and freedom within the confines of an early 20th century society where a father considered only sons as legal heirs. As a result, her avaricious brothers Benjamin (Charles Dingle) and Oscar (Carl Benton Reid) are independently wealthy, while she must rely upon her sickly husband Horace (Herbert Marshall) for financial support.
Having married his much-maligned, alcoholic wife Birdie (Patricia Collinge) solely to acquire her family's plantation and its cotton fields, Oscar now wants to join forces with Benjamin to construct a cotton mill. They approach their sister with their need for an additional $75,000 to invest in the project. Oscar initially proposes a marriage between his son Leo (Dan Duryea) and Regina's daughter Alexandra (Teresa Wright) - first cousins - as a means of getting Horace's money, but Horace and Alexandra are repulsed by the suggestion. When Regina asks Horace outright for the money, he refuses, so Leo is pressured into stealing Horace's railroadbonds from the family business. In order to acquire a larger share in the mill, Regina threatens to report the theft to the police. In retaliation, Horace says he will claim he gave Leo the bonds as a loan, thereby cutting Regina out of the deal completely. When he suffers a heart attack, she makes no effort to give him his medicine, and he dies without anyone knowing his plan, thus enabling Regina to blackmail her brothers. The price she ultimately pays for her innate evil is the loss of Alexandra, who elopes with newspaperman David Hewitt (Richard Carlson).
Production notes
The title comes from Chapter 2, Verse 5 in the Song of Solomon in the King James version of the Bible, which reads, "Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes."
Tallulah Bankhead had garnered critical acclaim for her performance in the 1939 Broadway production of Hellman's play, but director William Wyler, who previously had teamed with Bette Davis on Jezebel (1938) and The Letter, insisted on casting her in the lead role instead. Producer Samuel Goldwyn had no reason to argue, since none of Bankhead's films had been box office hits. Coincidentally, Davis had recreated on film another of Bankhead's Broadway roles, Judith Traherne in Dark Victory.
Herbert Marshall, Teresa Wright, and Bette Davis
The character of David Hewitt was not in the original play. Hellman created him to add a second sympathetic male to stand alongside Horace among all the venomous Hubbard men.
As a contract player at Warner Bros., Davis was earning $3,000 dollars a week. When she learned Goldwyn had paid Jack Warner $385,000 for her appearance in Foxes, she demanded and ultimately received a share of the payment.
Davis and Wyler frequently fought during filming, about everything from her appearance to the set and costume design to her interpretation of the role. Davis had yielded to Wyler's demands during production of The Letter, but this time she held her ground. She finally walked off the picture, but returned after rumors she would be replaced by Katharine Hepburn or Miriam Hopkins began to circulate. Even though the film was a critical and commercial success and nominated for nine Academy Awards, she and Wyler never worked together again[1].
The film premiered at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The New York Times reported it was seen by 22,163 persons on its opening day, setting what was then an all-time attendance mark for a normal opening day at the theatre[2].
In his review in The New York Times, Bosley Crowther observed, "Lillian Hellman's grim and malignant melodrama . . . has now been translated to the screen with all its original viciousness intact and with such extra-added virulence as the relentless camera of Director William Wyler and the tensile acting of Bette Davis could impart . . . [It] leaps to the front as the most bitingly sinister picture of the year and as one of the most cruelly realistic character studies yet shown on the screen . . . The test of the picture is the effectiveness with which it exposes a family of evil people poisoning everything they touch. And this it does spectacularly. Mr. Wyler, with the aid of Gregg Toland, has used the camera to sweep in the myriad small details of a mauve decadent household and the more indicative facets of the many characters. The focus is sharp, the texture of the images hard and realistic. Individual scenes are extraordinarily vivid and compelling . . . The Little Foxes will not increase your admiration for mankind. It is cold and cynical. But it is a very exciting picture to watch in a comfortably objective way, especially if you enjoy expert stabbing-in-the-back."[3]
Variety said, "From starring Bette Davis down the line to the bit roles portrayed by minor Negroes the acting is well nigh flawless . . . Marshall turns in one of his top performances . . . On top of the smooth pace, Wyler has handled every detail with an acutely dramatic touch."[4]
Time Out London says, "Lillian Hellman's play . . . now creaks audibly. But you are unlikely ever to see a better version than this, caressed by Gregg Toland's deep focus camerawork, embalmed by Wyler's direction and Goldwyn's sumptuous production values, galvanised by some superlative performances. The sulphurous Davis, her face a livid mask as she dispenses icy venom behind feline purrs, outdoes herself to provide the proceedings with a regally vicious centre."[5]
