1935 – Bette Davis
Dangerous
Bette Davis’s first Oscar nomination was only a year earlier in 1934. But here she is again with her first Oscar win for Best Actress. And here, I think the award was well-deserved. Not only did I like the movie and her character more, but I think she played it beautifully. She had just as much skill and conviction as she’d had the previous year, but here, there was the extra added bonus of a character that was almost relatable, almost likable.
There was a fire and a passion that Davis had that she knew how to use. She had the sweet face of an angel, and those incredibly expressive eyes. But based on her 1934 role in Of Human Bondage, and this performance, she was getting used to playing a certain type of woman, one that was a femme-fetal. The woman she plays is self-centered and even heartless sometimes, but Davis always plays it so well.
At least here, her character had some redeeming qualities that made me like her, by the end of the film. She played the part of talented stage actress Joyce Heath whose star had fallen, turning her into a pitiful drunk, wandering the city streets. She believes herself to be cursed, only able to connect to men by draining them dry and destroying them. But her character had a wonderful arc. There was a moment of epiphany that changed her for the better, and by the end of the movie, she had become a good intentioned and honest woman who could set aside her own selfish desires in order to do the right thing.
And Davis played it all with skill and passion. It wouldn’t be a Bette Davis film with the obligatory scene in which she yells at someone and tells them off. It almost seems to be a trend or a signature with her. But with those intense eyes, she is always able to pull it off. And something else she had here was a little bit of sexy. There was a scene in which she is trying to seduce Franchet Tone’s character, and she really gave off a smoldering, sexy vibe that worked pretty well. And that’s something that I don’t really associate with Bette Davis as a celebrity or a personality. She is dramatic, intense, and always, somehow, imperious, but rarely sultry. So, well-done Bette. You deserved your Oscar win.