Friday, March 10, 2000

Being 'with baby' gets 1941 treatment

When Oscar-winning actresses Jodie Foster and Susan Sarandon birthed their out-of-wedlock babies, nary an eyebrow was raised in Hollywood and it certainly had no negative effects on their movie careers.
   Flash back about half a century to a different time in Tinseltown. Loretta Young had to disappear for a few months and then return with an "adopted" baby daughter rather than let it be known that she'd been "in a family way" as a result of an affair with Clark Gable. Her secret wasn't revealed until just a few years ago, when the daughter uncovered the truth on her own and wrote about it.
   Ah, yes, things were different in the old days. And the great old black and white flick "The Great Lie" (1941) deals with just how different they were.
   Bette Davis and Mary Astor star as romantic rivals for the affections of aviation-obsessed cad George Brent. Davis plays a simple country girl, living in a huge Maryland mansion staffed with dozens of black servants supervised by the always awesome Hattie McDaniel (two years after her Oscar for "GWTW" and still getting cast as the maid).
   Astor's character is a fiery concert pianist prone to snit-fits and temper tantrums. She resides in one of those towering art deco apartments seen only in the movies of that era.
   Lost in the Amazon
   When the story begins, Davis has broken off her second engagement to Brent and he's run off and married haughty Astor. Turns out, however, that Astor's divorce wasn't quite final before her second honeymoon began, so Brent returns to Davis' arms and they get married, much to Astor's displeasure.
   After a quick cuddle with Davis, Brent flies to South America and, like a scene from a Lifetime cable movie, he's reported lost in the Amazon jungles.
   Back home, Astor is preggers from her brief fling with Brent. But Davis, now the grieving widow, has a plan. She talks Astor into hiding out with her in a desert cabin, giving birth to the child and letting Davis claim it as hers. Thus is scandal averted on all sides.
   The scenes with the two women holed up together in the rustic outpost are pure heaven. Davis is the dutiful, patient one, cooking up healthy stews and fetching fashion mags for the snotty Astor, who swans around the cabin in sequined dressing gowns, chain smoking unfiltereds.
   "I've smoked three since lunch!" Astor huffs as Davis gently rebukes her for smoking too much. "OK, I've had 12! Why shouldn't I?"
   "Because you're special," says Davis, using the euphemism for "pregnant" because the word couldn't be uttered onscreen back then.
   Grande dames
   All is well after the delivery, until Davis' life as a happy mother is interrupted by news that Brent isn't dead after all and that Astor wants him and the baby back.
   For once, Davis sits back and lets another actress hit the emotional high notes and boy, does Astor let 'em fly in a performance that won her an Academy Award. McDaniel is also terrific as the highly protective housekeeper who tries to come between Davis and disaster.
   Directed by Edmund Goulding, "The Great Lie" is truly a find, a four-star oldie starring three of the greatest grande dames in moviedom.
   "The Great Lie" isn't rated, but younger kids probably would be bored by its adult themes of jealousy and retaliation.
  
  
  

 
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