Dark Victory

Rating: ****/*****, or 7/10

Typical but classic 'weepie' (or 'women's film') from the late Thirties, a star vehicle for Bette Davis who was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance but didn't win (no matter, since she was Oscar-nominated a whopping eleven times in total and took home two such trophies during her career). Davis portrays a young wealthy woman who enjoys life in a frivolous manner, drinking, smoking and sporting too much, until she is diagnosed with a terminal illness that will kill her within a year. Instead of crying over it (which is left to the audience), she chooses to concentrate on the important things in life, finds love with the doctor examining her and keeps her dignity until the very (bitter) end, thus going out in a 'dark victory' in her acceptance of the inevitable as she embraces her death instead of needlessly living in fear for the unavoidable for the remainder of her days. The final scenes in which she says goodbye to her new husband as he leaves for a business trip while she, unknown to him, is in the final stages of her physical collapse – in order for him to remember her as she wants him to – is a serious tearjerking moment like only the Thirties could provide; hence the genre nickname 'weepies'. Despite the emphatically tragic occurrences and strong performances making it feel compelling, the general level of melodrama is overly high for many (male) audience members, which is a reason films like these were mainly marketed to the female spectators. Co-starring Humprey Bogart in a pre-Casablanca role, not as a bad guy in this case.

Starring: Bette Davis, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Humphrey Bogart

Directed by Edmund Goulding

USA: Warner Bros., 1939