Customer Reviews

In This Our Life [VHS]

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a story about two sisters, Stanley and Roy, who live with their invalid mother, Lavinia, and their downtrodden father, Asa Timberlake. Roy is married, and her hunky husband, Peter Kingsmill, a surgeon, lives with his wife and in laws, as well. Theirs is an unenviable position. Stanley is dating an attorney, Craig Fleming, and they are expected to marry. Stanley's biggest admirer is her maternal uncle, who never hesitates to give her lavish gifts and is very touchie feelie with her.

Stanley and Roy are total opposites. Stanley is spoiled, self absorbed, and totally amoral. She wants what she wants, when she wants it. Roy is sincere, low key, and just plain generous of spirit, an all around good, thoughtful person. Stanley sets her sights on Roy's hunky husband and before you know it, she and Peter have run off together, leaving the family to pick up the pieces. Her suitor, Craig, becomes totally despondent over being dumped by Stanley.

Roy divorces Peter. Peter marries Stanley. Before you know it, Stanley, being Stanley, has driven Peter to drink, In the meantime, back home, Roy and Craig have hit it off and start dating, bringing Craig back from the edge of despair. They are a well suited pair, who ultimately decide to marry. No sooner do they come to this decision, than they hear that Peter has died by his own hand. Stanley returns to the bosom of her family and sets her sights back on Craig, except that Craig will have none of it.

After trying to drink her sorrows away one night, Stanley gets behind the wheel of a car. While driving, she runs over a mother and child. When the police arrive on her doorstep, instead of owning up to the crime, she blames Parry, the intelligent, hardworking, and totally innocent son of the family's African-American maid. Parry is arrested and in profound despair, though he protests his innocence. Roy finally catches on that Stanley is lying, as does Craig, and a showdown is had. Just when you thought Stanley could not be any worse, she shows her entire family just what a slime she really is.

Bette Davis is sensational as Stanley Timberlake and at her wicked, over the top, best. The makeup artist even gave her a kind of new look, as she is heavily made up with truly bee stung lips. She is absolutely smashing in her portrayal of the amoral Stanley, the woman the viewer loves to hate. Olivia DeHavilland plays true to form as Roy, the good sister. Her portrayal Roy is reminiscent of her role as Melanie Wilkes in "Gone with the Wind". Billie Burke is marvelous as the emasculating, harpy, invalid mother. Frank Craven is credible as the patient and weary father. Charles Coburn is terrific as the uncle who spoils Stanley and seems to want more than a niece/uncle relationship with her. Dennis Morgan plays the errant and handsome surgeon to perfection, while George Brent is tailor made for the role of Stanley's long suffering suitor, who ultimately finds happiness with Roy. Ernest Anderson, as the young black man, and Hattie McDaniel, as his mother, are terrific. There is not one bad performance in the bunch.

Moreover, the film does something unprecedented for its time. It is one of the few films of the era in which an African American male is not portrayed as some sort of Stepin Fetchit character. It is a wonderful melodrama that will keep the viewer riveted to the screen. Fans of Bette Davis and classic movie lovers will really enjoy this film.

I know most people don't even know this movie exists, but to me its one of the oldies but goodies and I love it. I think it is way ahead of its time as it touches on many topics still relevant today - drunk driving, incest and racism. Maybe that's why audiences stayed away! In any event, Bette was never so hateful! You will love this movie!

P.S. Its not a chick flick either!

A woman steals her sister's husband, drives him to his ruin, divides her family, and nearly destroys the life of a young man in a film directed surprisingly by John Huston. Bette Davis, at her most unsubtle, is the selfish Stanley, a woman bent on having fun and getting what she wants at the expense of all around her. Olivia de Havilland is her level-headed sister Roy, who loses the most at the hands of her sister. George Brent and Dennis Morgan are the men in their lives, although neither actor makes a particularly strong impression. The supporting cast of welcome character actors like Charles Coburn, Billie Burke, Lee Patrick, and Hattie McDaniel contribute their usual expert performances. But it's hard to get noticed in a film where Davis cuts loose even more than usual, her famous eyes afire as she plays the bad girl to the hilt and then some, in an endless state of agitation and drama. However, give credit to de Havilland, underplaying her character and keeping the film rooted, matching her co-star with a strong performance that displays her skill, especially when she is simply reacting to her sister's devious nature. The film is very melodramatic, and some of the dialogue is pretty stilted. But it's never boring. What's also fascinating is the portrayal of the family's maid's son, a young black man helped by de Havilland who wants to be a lawyer. He's presented as intelligent, ambitious, and very decent. He must have been one of the first positive black characters to be featured in a major film and it's great to see it. Equally fascinating is the almost incestuous relationship between Davis and her uncle Coburn. Not much is done to hide the sexual overtones in Coburn's doting. In This Our Life is a memorable melodrama aided by the performances of its lead actresses and its unusual themes.

"In This Our Life," a 1942 film directed by John Huston, stars Bette Davis as Stanley Timberlake, anothing one of her patented bad girl characters. Selfish and spoiled, Stanley is supposed to marry successful attorney Craig Fleming (George Brent). Instead, she runs off with her brother-in-law, Peter Kingsmill (Dennis Morgan), a young surgeon. Stanley's heartbroken sister, Roy (Olivia de Haviland), divorces Peter so that he can marry her sister, at which point Roy and Craig fall in love. Realizing he has made a very big mistake, Peter commits suicide. Stanley returns home to her forgiving family and once she sees what is going she decides to win Craig back. Furious when Craig stands her up for a date, Stanley speeds away from the roadhouse and runs down a woman and child, killing the child. Witnesses identify her car, but Stanley insists she was home and had given the car to the cook's son Parry (Ernest Anderson), to wash. The boy is arrested by his mother (Hattie McDaniel), swears the boy was home with her that night. Roy believes her and gets Craig to defend Parry. Craig confronts Stanley with evidence of her guilt, but she refuses to confess. She turns to her Uncle William (Charles Coburn) for help, and he agrees, but for a price even Stanley refuses to pay.

Although it sounds like a plot from a Tennessee Williams play, "In This Our Life" is based on the novel by Ellen Glasgow. Obviously, Stanley and Roy's father, Asa (Frank Craven), wanted boys, which might have something to do with why his wife Lavinia (Billie Burke), a bedridden neurotic, is an emasculating harpy. But since this is fiction one daughter turns out to be an angel while the other takes the low road in life. It is just a question of waiting for events to catch up with Stanley's actions so that she pays for all her wicked deeds. This is standard Bette Davis fare, no where near as good as her next film, the classic "Now, Voyager," but the cast is excellent. Of course, Olivia would get her chance to tormet Bette years later in "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte." Final Note: In the roadhouse scene pay attention to the extras. Not only will you see director Walter Huston as the bartender, but if you look quick you will also spot Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Elisha Cook, Jr., Ward Bond, and Barton MacLane. In other words, the cast of "The Maltese Falcon."

Bug-eyed Bette behaves worse than you can possibly imagine, shocking even us jaded modern viewers, wreaking havoc on her fallen southern family, doing what she does best and completely incorrigible. John Huston adds his dramatic noirish surface-to-air camera angles, and the melodramatic soundtrack music literally never stops. Who knows why the doomed doctor would run away with this psychotic (and in my opinion, unattractive) twisted sister, forsaking Olivia de Havilland? Then again, who cares? We watch gleefully as tragedy mounts upon tragedy and Davis shamelessly skirts her own repulsive behavior with a delightfully hideous lack of humanity. The movie is also interesting for a characterization of a young black man that is refreshingly deep for its time and less patronizing than you might expect. Probably John Huston was behind that. Definitely a satisfying diversion.

As one of Bettes largest fans I was impressed and captivated just by her mere presence, yet her performance is not initially as heart felt and demanding... Olivia who is probably the goddess of subtly definatly demands my attention. Davis and DeHaviland are like fire and water, one destroys while the other nutures and provides sustainance. Davis is the entity of "fire and music", and I'm the first one to box anyone who disagrees, .........but Olivia rocks the house right over!!!! go on girl!

Bette Davis does it again in this movie. The story revolves around two sisters, Stanley and Roy. Roy, (Olivia DeHaviland) is married to Peter, and in the opening sequence, Stanley (Bette Davis) runs off with him on the eve of her own wedding. In this early film, Bette is sparkling and less mannered than her later films. Olivia DeHaviland is also good as the strong sister Roy. Dennis Morgan and George Brent as the two male leads are less memorable, but against these two ladies, who can blame them!

Bette always referred to this unforgettable movie of sibling rivalry in a Southern town of the early forties as "a real flop." Bette was never her best critic. It made more money than any of her earlier movies. Her performance as the conniving, psychopathic Stanley, who has the morals of Adolf Hitler (she referred to her role in a fan magazine as "a regular little Hitler of a girl!")is mesmerizing as we watch her go from one appalling act after another: stealing her sister's fiance, driving him to suicide, running down a mother and child and then trying to blame a young black man with the crime. The final scene with her uncle (Charles Coburn) to save her from the police is one of cinema's most powerful. This racial discrimination angle was very rare and daring for a big studio movie of l942, which has made it so topical for today's viewers. Hattie McDaniel, whose role of a maid is brief, is also memorable. Davis is brilliant, dazzling and deserves the studio's publicity line: "Nobody's as Good as Bette than when she's bad!"Her performance, as well as her extraordinary performance as Rosa Moline in the much maligned "Beyond the Forest' should both be studied in acting schools as to how to really galvanize the movie screen. But what actress today could compare with the incomparable Davis?

No one is better, more entertaining or more riveting than Bette Davis when she is playing a truly bad to the bone woman. To borrow a line from Mae West that certainly applies to Miss Davis as she tears up the screen and the first few rows of the theater in "In This Our Life", "When I'm good, I'm good. But when I am bad I'm better." Very few characters in film history are worse than Stanley Timberlake (Davis).

"In This Our Life" is a standard 1940's family melodrama cock full of wonderful performances by both major players and a myriad of great character actors. Olivia De Havilland as Bette's sister Roy Timberlake is her usual sweet self but buy the end of the film the evil that Bette has unleashed on her family and anyone with in a fifty mile radius of New Orleans turns her as hard as steel. This is a great performance by Miss De Havilland in an often over shadowed role. But come on! It is understandable that Bette takes the cake, the table, the groom and the church away from De Havilland in this movie.

Charles Colburn is so utterly slimy, creepy and perfect as Stanley's manipulative uncle. And the truly evil core of his nature is bone chillingly fun to watch as he plays out his scenes with his favorite nice. But wait...wait until the end. One of the screens greatest moments comes when a desperate Davis beseeches Colburn to save her sorry skin. It is like dying and going to movie heaven when this scene rolls up like a hissing snake in a long black hearse.

Also on hand is the incomparable Hattie McDaniel. She is a joy to behold in any film she inhabits and demonstrates her great talent, humor and grace as she plays her ever-loyal servant role who knows all the skeletons of the family to perfection. George Brent appears as a stalwart George Brent ever ready to support the queen of the Warner's lot. Billy Burke is fun as always as Bette and Olivia's bedridden mother. And rounding out a great supporting cast is the brilliant Lee Patrick who should be remembered more than she is as a brilliant player in films.

But the film belongs to Davis as she scales the heights of melodrama to a near fatal altitude. An absolutely fun movie that will entertain you long after it has collapsed in complete exhaustion at it's over the top and utterly satisfying ending.

GREAT Bette Davis movie..very risque for it's time but
not now. It's one of those movies where something is going
on all the time and all relates in some way. You can get
quite involved with the plot...this is CLASSIC Bette Davis!