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Dark Victory

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Dark Victory

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Summary

Melodrama starring Bette Davis. Long Island heiress Judith Traherne has a jet-setting lifestyle revolving around her thoroughbred horses. Plagued by headaches, she is persuaded to visit eminent brain specialist Dr Frederick Steele, who advises that only an immediate operation can save her.

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Review

A star rating of 4 out of 5.

Tony Sloman

Possibly the best terminal illness movie prior to Love Story, and easily surpassing that tear-jerker in style, this Bette Davis vehicle boasts one of her best performances as heiress Judith Traherne, tragically stricken with a brain tumour. The condition means that she will go blind before dying, and so paves the way for a death scene so memorably heart-rending (aided by a knockout Max Steiner score which the star understandably loathed) that it took Davis to the number one female movie star slot in the States. All of those classy Warner Bros production values are well in evidence, hiding the fact that this is really a load of old codswallop. Humphrey Bogart performs as though he knows he's been miscast - it's hard to imagine watching this that Casablanca was only three years away.

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7.4/10

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Credits

Cast

rolenameJudith TraherneBette DavisDr Frederick SteeleGeorge BrentMichael O'LearyHumphrey BogartAnn KingGeraldine FitzgeraldAlec HaminRonald ReaganDr ParsonsHenry TraversCarrie SpottswoodCora WitherspoonMarthaVirginia BrissacMiss WainwrightDorothy PetersonColonel MantleCharles RichmanDr CarterHerbert RawlinsonDr DriscollLeonard MudieMiss DoddFay HelmAgathaDiane Bernard

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Crew

rolenameDirectorEdmund Goulding

Details

Languages

English

Available on

video and DVD

Formats

Black and white

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