Day #51 - Jezebel

IMDB Link

Ah, yes. My first Bette Davis experience :) Jezebel was recommended to me by my Mother-in-Law and I'm so glad I took her up on it - I had never heard of Jezebel before she mentioned it. Released in 1938 by Warner Brothers, Jezebel was oddly similar to Gone with the Wind which would come out the following year. Bette Davis and Fay Bainter both won Oscars for it - this essentially took Bette Davis out of the running to play Scarlet O'Hara in Gone with the Wind as she had basically already played the role in Jezebel. I found Bette Davis to be FAR more beautiful than I thought she would be. In picture she always looked a bit bug eyed, haha, but I thought she was really pretty - and BOY she has the evil look down pat. She even puts it to Vivien Leigh.

Jezebel is about Julie Marsden (Bette Davis), a southern Belle in New Orleans before the Civil War. Very headstrong and fearless, Julie gets angry at her banker fiance, Preston Dillard (Henry Fonda), when he won't leave a meeting to go dress shopping with her. She gets back at him by choosing a red dress for the upcoming ball (scandal!) - a ball where every unmarried woman wears white. Wanting to teach Julie a lesson, Preston makes her dance in front of the whole crowd, even after Julie realizes her mistake and begs him to let her leave, humiliated. Preston then leaves her, thus breaking their engagement. Julie was convinced he would return immediately, but when he doesn't come back for a whole year, she is desperate to apologize and humble herself to him upon his return. She holds a ball to celebrate his return and even wears her white dress to greet him - however, it was too late - Preston was married to a woman from New York. Eager to get back at him, Julie uses her persuasive ways with her friend Buck, hoping he will challenge Preston to a fight. He ends up challenging Preston's brother and in a turn of expectations, Buck ends up killed. Preston then comes down with yellow fever which was sweeping the city. In a last minute move of redemption, Julie offers to accompany Preston to the isolated island, knowing that she is sure to contract the fever herself and die.

I like Henry Fonda a lot, but not in this role - partly because I just don't think he fits the part well but also because with the movie being so close to Gone with the Wind, he just can't compete with Clark Gable and Leslie Howard! As I said, I really liked Bette Davis - very evil and perfect. I would really like to see her in more movies!

Here's a good video from the movie - this is where Julie first meets Preston's wife at the ball. You can see her BEAUTIFUL white dress :)