Review: In This Our Life (1942)

My contribution for the Dueling Divas blogathon at Backlots.

IMDb Synopsis: A young woman dumps her fiancée and runs off with her sister's husband.


I've been contemplating over the last few weeks about which film I wanted to write about for this blogathon. My original choice was The Dark Mirror in which Olivia de Havilland  plays twins, but I wasn't able to find it online. Instead, I chose John Huston's In This Our Life which pairs de Havilland alongside Bette Davis.


Davis and de Havilland made several films together, and in most of them they play rivals, as they do here. This time, the reason for their strife being that Davis runs off with de Havilland's husband (played by Dennis Morgan, who I consider to be extremely underrated). Other actors worth mentioning are George Brent as Davis' fiancee and Charles Coburn. 


The characters the actresses play in this film are the type of roles they were most commonly known for- Davis is a "bee" with an "itch", and de Havilland is convincing as a kind but strong woman who doesn't let her sister and her husband's actions destroy her life.


Overall, I wouldn't consider In This Our Life to be the greatest of either Davis or de Havilland's work (that's saved for Now, Voyager and The Snake Pit) but they both deliver solid performances and the film is definitely worth watching.

3.5/5 stars

Review: Baby Face (1933)

IMDb Synopsis: A young woman uses her body and her sexuality to help her climb the social ladder, but soon begins to wonder if her new status will ever bring her happiness.


If you like classic films as much as I do, you'll probably agree that one of the best things about classics is pre-codes. I think it's so interesting to see how much film makers got away with in the early thirties, as apposed to films made after the Production Code went into effect in 1934. There are so many great pre-code films that never would have made it past the Hays Office, and Baby Face is one of them.


Barbara Stanwyck's performance is top-notch. She's so convincing as Lily Powers, and this is my favorite of her earlier roles, along with Night Nurse (1931). I haven't seen many of George Brent's films, but I enjoyed his performance as well. Also notable are Donald Cook and a young John Wayne towards the beginning of his film career.


Overall, Baby Face is the most provocative pre-code film I've seen, and one of the best. I would suggest watching it if you're looking to see more pre-codes, or are just a Barbara Stanwyck fan.

5/5 stars