Rent Dark Victory (1939)

Surgical Soap (spoiler). - Dark Victory review by Steve

Quintessential Warner Brothers soap which is a vehicle for Bette Davis' star performance. She is one of the Trehernes of Rhode Island, a woman of inherited wealth and no responsibilities beyond a whirl of social events and the pursuit of pleasure. Only those headaches, and that blurred vision, are the early symptoms of an inoperable brain cancer.

Bette gets to explore the many sides of her star persona: a socialite who believes in the superiority of her breeding; the chastened bride-to-be who faces life saving surgery; a reckless thrill seeker intent on blocking out the reality of her relapse; finally, the selfless wife in snowy Vermont who accepts her death, compensated by a brief experience of love.

To allow Bette to shine more brightly, she was paired with her frequent leading man, George Brent as the brilliant brain surgeon who can't save her, but does at least marry her. The film is a tribute to the medical profession, but this is Hollywood pathology. Davis' symptoms are crafted to fit the requirements of the plot.

It's pure escapism. We get a tour of the privileges of the upper class. There are oddities. Humphrey Bogart plays an Irish stablehand and Ronald Reagan a drunken playboy, which suggests it was someone's first day in casting. But Max Steiner's score is typically superb. The choral swell when Bette bids farewell to her dogs is a sentimental heartbreaker. As is the film.