Mrs. Skeffington is AWESOME - Mr. Skeffington (1944) Discussion

[–] inoldhollywood 20 years ago

After "Now, Voyager", this is my favorite Davis film. I agree with you... it's simply awesome and intensely entertaining. Good comments!

reply

[–] MadamFleur 19 years ago

Hearty second, trooperboots. "Now, Voyager" is my all-time favorite BD movie. This one is quite good as well.

reply

[–] AFanForLife 20 years ago

I'm actually watching this right now & have to agree with you that this one of the best Bette Davis movies. It just tells such a good story of showing that to have love in your life is the only way to find happiness with oneself.

Again, after Now Voyager this is one of my fav movies.

reply

[–] EclecticCritic 20 years ago

First of all, it's MR. Skeffington, not MRS. And this movie was so over-the-top in terms of melodrama that it was laughable. It can only be enjoyed as camp. As I watched it I thought, Ed Wood must have directed this. It was like a parody of melodramas that had been put on by either "Saturday Night Live" or "The Carol Burnett Show". And if you think this is one of Bette Davis's best performances then you have a tin ear for acting. It was cringe-inducing. Her voice was like fingernails on the chalkboard (or blackboard). "Now, Voyager", on the other hand, I did like. But the 7.6 rating that this movie has gotten here at IMDB and the many 10s it has gotten are mind-boggling to me. Are there that many people out there who have no sense of quality? I bet most of the raters here have read every Harlequin romance novel and loved each and every one even though they all told a virtually identical story. I shouldn't criticize the people here who liked this movie. I should feel sorry for them. And I do.

reply

[–] 20 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 20 years ago

[deleted]

[–] phillytop 20 years ago

I must agree with EclecticCritic: While Ms Davis was definately a consumate actress (given the proper venue) she was never a "screen siren" and having her portray a women whom men by the dozen virtually stalked is a bit too much for the average film fanatic to believe. Loved her in "Now Voyager", but found her completely unbelieveable as Mrs. Skeffington in "Mr. Skeffington". "Awesome"? I hardly think so. Chalk on a blackboard about sums it up...

Still a watchable movie, given the stellar performance turned in by Claude Rains and the super costuming and props.

"What do you expect me to do? Sleep alone?" Liz Taylor

reply

[–] 20 years ago

[deleted]

[–] kak122760 20 years ago

EcleticCritic is actually the one to feel sorry for, if you can't comprehend that people have different likes and dislikes. I wouldn't say this movie is awesome, but I like it very much and Davis' performance also.

reply

[–] EclecticCritic 20 years ago

And her voice and mannered, stilted, stagey, self-conscious delivery didn't bother you in the least? In all fairness to Bette, who IS one of my favorite actresses, probably because she is so over-the-top so often, the dialogue was pretty horrendous, too, which is a little surprising considering it was written by the Epstein brothers, who wrote "Casablanca". And the music! It was so heavy-handed and melodramatic that I suspect the composer chuckled slightly as he watched the movie, knowing he had put one over on everyone, and no one was willing to say that the emperor had no clothes.

My original post was a trifle (trifle?!) mean-spirited because I couldn't believe some of the positive reviews I came across here. I wanted to shake some sense into you. Surely you can't be serious! But I think you really are. And you really do think Bette Davis gave a good performance. She was nominated for an Oscar in this role, so you obviously weren't alone. If you wanted to be nominated for an Oscar back then (and to some extent, even now), it paid to lay it on as thick as you possibly could and really show that you were acting up a storm (as opposed to the Spencer Tracy school of acting, which had as its goal to not show any sign that you were acting at all), and Bette certainly didn't disappoint in that regard.

I suspect that most people who watch this movie have a hard time watching it with a straight face.

reply

[–] 20 years ago

[deleted]

[–] movie_crazy999 19 years ago

Yes, he breaks mine too.

reply

[–] movie_crazy999 19 years ago

Please lighten up a little!

Even if Davis WAS over the top, Claude Rains was still stupendous! (I love the part where he falls)

reply

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] wmoores 19 years ago

I hate for somebody to tell me what I should like and that I have a tin ear for acting.

I have a mind of my own and a right to like whatever strikes my fancy.

Not everyone here is a critic, thank god, and some who think they are, are living in a fantasy world.

I wasn't particularly fond of Mr. Skeffington but... I watched the movie because somehow or another, I missed this one in my earlier days. Yes, the reason for watching the movie is to watch Bette Davis and Claude Rains. The storyline is typical but the actors bring it to life.

I agree that Now, Voyager or Jezebel are Bette's best roles. Even 'Whatever happened . . .' and 'Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte' are better roles for the actress than Mrs. Skeffington in Mr. Skeffington.

To all of those out there in the audience who disagree with me, "I'd love to kiss ya, but I just washed my hair!"

reply

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] wfreder 19 years ago

I liked the movie and I love Bette Davis, but her voice in this one was very annoying and talk about over acting of course nothing was subtle about Bette

reply

[–] beamsamuel1 18 years ago

Carol Burnett did satirize Mr. Skeffington and it was hilarious.

reply

[–] EclecticCritic 18 years ago

I wish I had seen that. Thanks for letting me know about that. *K*

Last night I wound up falling asleep because of alcohol. I am disgusted/embarrassed/ashamed (it took me way too long to type disgusted...ashamed stuff) about that. I wound up waking up in a room that I don't even remember entering. If I had someone here with a whip I would request that they beat me. I deserve it. I MAY throw up soon. I SHOULD. I try. I usually fail. I'm sorry. Bears game today. Hope they win. Take caree, y'all-even if you weren't born in a squall.

reply

[–] EclecticCritic 18 years ago

I wish I had seen that. I would have thought that Mr. Skeffington wasn't well-known enough to do that. How many viewers would have known what was being satirized? Still, it is one of the most melodramatic things I've ever seen. So I would satirize it-if I knew that my viewers knew what was being satirized.

reply

[–] jrhpax 19 years ago

Bette Davis was brilliant in such movies as "Jezebel," "All About Eve," "The Letter," and many others. So when she stars in a stinker such as "Mr. Skeffington," let's call a dud a dud.

Bette isn't the problem. The script is preposterous, and the movie is 45 minutes too long. It's hilarious, too, that when Bette is supposed to be in her 40s and 50s, her makeup makes her look around 80. She's scarier than when she was Baby Jane!

That said, "Mr. Skeffington" is so campy that it's enjoyable. But when you view Bette's oeuvre 60 years later, "Mr. Skeffington" marked the beginning of her decline at Warner Bros.

reply

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] inoldhollywood 19 years ago

It is not just Fanny's pretty looks and Orry-Kelley wardrobe that men are attracted to. She was openly courting them with her "apparent wealth" and position in New York. She was spoiled and pretentious, yes... but she was also charming and ornamental. Today men seem to think a woman has to have knock-out looks to be attractive... when in fact, in days gone by, money, charm, manners and position also had value to suitors.

reply

[–] mikeoak840 19 years ago

Regarding "It's hilarious, too, that when Bette is supposed to be in her 40s and 50s, her makeup makes her look around 80," it's clearly explained that she's had a bout with diphtheria which ages its victims prematurely and terribly. That's part of the point of the story - the most beautiful woman in New York gets this horrible, disfiguring disease that takes her beauty, but Mr. Skeffington still loves her nonetheless (although technically, I guess, he's blind at this point). She finally comes to truly love him, and he's always loved her, regardless of her beauty.

reply

[–] FranLovesBetteD 19 years ago

Totally agree: I loved the movie! Especially because of Miss Davis, who is very touching in it.

There are two sequences that made me cry: when she received the letter where says that her brother died at war (one of the Bette's best crying scenes ever), and the beautiful beautiful beautiful ending!

To err is human, but it feels divine.

-Mae West-

reply

[–] MrsTavin 19 years ago

And I agree with you, Fran. Bette Davis was excellent in this movie. I truly enjoy watching this movie any time I get the chance. As a matter of fact, my slogan is that a woman is beautiful only when she is loved.

It really holds true, doesn't it?

reply

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] inoldhollywood 19 years ago

Absolutely correct donareinoff... exactly! Good observation!

reply

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Harold_Robbins 19 years ago

Thanks for correcting the film's title in the SUBJECT - seems like so many posters here are in such a hurry to post their all-important comments that they can't take the time to check the spelling of a film's title or a star's name.

However, as Bette Davis herself referred to the film as MRS. SKEFFINGTON in her 1962 autobiography, THE LONELY LIFE, I guess we'll have go easy on this one - especially as the error was repeated again in a 1990 paperback reprint of the book! We can only wonder - was it ego, or just a typographical oversight???

Those of you who think you know everything should politely defer to those of us who actually do!

reply

[–] Babys-man 19 years ago

Clearly, Fanny is the central character. I always thought the title should have been Mrs. Skeffington. It doesn't have to be ego; calling it Mrs. would fit the thesis of the movie.

reply

[–] Harold_Robbins 19 years ago

Very true, but as the author titled it MR SKEFFINGTON, who are we to argue? And despite having a child with Job, Fanny was really "Mrs Skeffington" in name only - in her behavior she always remained Fanny Trellis.

Those of you who think you know everything should politely defer to those of us who actually do!

reply

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] mike-h 18 years ago

No, surely not? Ask yourself- what would have happened had Job not been blind? Why was his blindness even written into the script? For the simple reason that if he had been able to see her, he's have still loved her but, importantly, it allows Fanny to remain in power over him. She is as selfish as ever- if not more. What is worse is that she is deluding herself that she is taking him back out of love when actually it is because she realises that the psycho analyst's words are true and that Job is the only one left to save her from loneliness- a huge fear for her. It's a very negative last image of Fanny and by implication, through Job's Jewishness, America's attitude to entering WW2!

reply

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] beamsamuel1 18 years ago

A woman is beautiful only if she gets eight hours of beauty sleep each night and goes to the beauty parlor twice a week,......and bone structure has a lot to do with it!

reply

[–] hawks-bill 18 years ago

Bette Davis was one of the few actresses of the classic Hollywood era who, in film after film,could get away with such a wicked lack of sentimentality.

I will always treasure this exchange:

Job Skeffington: A woman is beautiful when she's loved, and only then.
Fanny Trellis Skeffington: Nonsense. A woman is beautiful when she has eight hours' sleep and goes to the beauty parlor every day. And bone structure has a lot to do with it too.

reply