In August, TCM has featured a different star each day. Some days feature big stars such as Humphrey Bogart and Bette Davis. On Tuesday, Hattie McDaniel was TCM's star of the day. Of course, Gone With the Wind was shown in prime time. It's Hattie's most famous movie and contains her Oscar winning performance.
I noticed that all three of Hattie's films with Bette Davis were included.
One of the films was Thank Your Lucky Stars from 1943. This was a wartime film dedicated to the armed services. According to IMDB, Bette insisted that the profits be contributed to the war effort. The story is about a singer and a songwriter trying to break into show business via the big show, featuring Warner Brothers stars mostly in musical numbers. Hattie was one of the featured singers in the song Ice Cold Katie.
Another film was The Great Lie (1941.) This is a melodrama with an okay script. I watch this to see Bette (of course) but also to see Mary Astor's Oscar winning performance as Sandra. This was a case in which the two actors worked together to improve the script by beefing up Mary's part. Hattie as usual played a domestic. I've seen this film many times, but last week, the scene of the "happy darkies singing" after the marriage of Bette and George Brent really bugged me. Had I really missed this scene all those times I've watched this film? It reminded me of the "happy slaves singing" scene from Bette's film, Jezebel. But Jezebel was set in the 1840's and The Great Lie in the mid-20th century. How little some things had changed.
The last Bette Davis--Hattie McDaniel film shown was In This Our Life from 1942. Hattie is a domestic for Davis' Southern family. Bette is a selfish bitch who steals her sister's husband who later commits suicide. Bette gets bored and tries to steal her ex-fiance from the same sister. At her worst, Bette is in a hit-and-run accident and tries to blame the accident on Hattie's son.
There are some poignant scenes in which Hattie and her son (Ernest Anderson) discuss the futility of trying to tell his story, which contradicts the white woman's. It takes an investigative effort from Bette's sister (Olivia de Haviland) and her fiance (and Bette's ex--George Brent) to disprove Bette's story. This film was honored for its race relations.
In This Our Life was a melodrama like The Great Lie. At least the treatment of the black characters was more realistic and respectful.
No comments:
Post a Comment