The Little Foxes
by William Wyler
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Actor: Bette Davis, Dan Duryea, Herbert Marshall, Richard Carlson, Teresa WrightDirector: William Wyler
Brand: DAVIS,BETTE
Cinematographer: Gregg Toland
Editor: Daniel Mandell
Producer: Samuel Goldwyn
Writer: Alan Campbell
Writer: Arthur Kober
Writer: Dorothy Parker
Writer: Lillian Hellman
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 115 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-09-18
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
DVD Reviews of The Little Foxes
DVD Review: Regally Ruthless
Summary: 5 Stars
There was never an actress like her and there is still no one in sight to take her place. Bette Davis lost the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1941 to Joanne Fontaine in "Suspicion." Though Fontaine was wonderful in the role of the innocent and frightened wife, the test of time shows Davis's performance to have been the great one.
"Little Foxes" was nominated for 9 Oscars but won none. It was a tough year to be in Academy competition when the competition included "Citizen Kane"," The Maltese Falcon, and "How Green Was My Valley." Sometimes success is a matter of the luck of timing.
This movie is based upon Lillian Hellman's stage play of the same name. As with most stage plays it was undoubtedly difficult to stage as a movie. Nevertheless, William Wyler, the director, did it as well as it can be done. Do not look for nuance in character. A stage play makes its points crystal clear through forceful, dramatic and in this case stunning dialogue.
Davis, as Regina (notice the regal name) Giddens is the dominating head of the foxes, which also include her two brothers, Ben and Oscar. Dan Duryea as Oscar's son, Leo, is an unconscious but hopeful initiate to the pack, not yet part of it. The plot revolves around Regina's scheme to use her innocent daughter, Alexandra (Theresa Wright), to lure her alienated and ill husband (Herbert Marshall) back from Chicago to their small southern town. The foxes need his wealth to help them finance an investment scheme.
To watch them connive among themselves and against each other is to watch great acting among a wonderful and accomplished ensemble cast. As mentioned, the movie is based upon a stage play and so there are good and bad people with no in-between.
Herbert Marshall gives a stellar performance as Regina's dignified husband Horace Giddens. His disdain for the foxes from the perspective of an honest man and on the verge of death from his illness is spot-on. Patricia Hollinge, as Alexandra's sweet Aunt Birdie gives an Oscar-nominated performance. Her scene of regret, with Alexandra, Marshall and the loyal servant Addie (the good ones) deserved the nomination. Birdie is as her name conveys; flighty, innocent, honest and still naive as an older women. Those qualities naturally make her an object of disdain among the foxes. A young Dan Duryea is excellent as Oscar Hubbard's son, Leo. He is happily dissolute and willingly corruptible with a good dose of cowardice as an aspiring fox.
But then there is Miss Bette/Regina. Her regal bearing lends all the more force to her calculating detached and cynical nature. Her sneering cruelty juxtaposed with her calculated charm is mesmerizing. In a scene in which she moves from verbal persuasion to verbal force with Marshall she projects a screen presence and magnetism that made her a superstar before the term was invented.
Watch especially for the scene where she wishes death upon Marshall to his face. Those three lines are some of the cruelest, most savagely written and magnificently delivered that you will ever see. Marshall's subsequent death scene and Davis's reaction as he struggles up the stairs for medicine non-verbally reinforces Davis's that malevolently stunning death wish.
Good does not win out in this movie except for, Alexandra, thankfully. She escapes Regina's dominating clutches by running off with a true love, rather than marrying the slimy Leo as Regina had planned for her. That is the Hollywood part of the ending.
However, the finale after Alexandra flees and Regina has the upper hand on her brothers delivers Hellman's dark view of greed ingrained within human nature. Regina's brother Oscar is furious to have lost out to his sister. But the wizened and almost-as-foxy brother Ben laughingly and loudly celebrates that dark side of human nature. Taking the long view, Ben in a low-key and menacing manner concedes Regina's financial victory as merely one battle in a continuing war among the pack. Davis's tacit agreement is clearly conveyed by facial expression only, with no need for further words in the clutches of such a great actress.
Hellman teaches us that there will always be people like the foxes, but rarely is a point-of-view conveyed so vividly. Released in a different year, this movie and its performances would have won many of the awards it missed in 1941. Regardless, it is a great movie as Bette Davis was one of our greatest actresses.
Description of The Little Foxes
Davis stars as the vicious Regina Giddens, the southern lady who destroys everyone around her while trying to satisfy her desire for wealth and social position.Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: NR
Release Date: 18-SEP-2001
Media Type: DVD
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