From my Facebook archives, June 17, 2015:
There are three films we've seen over the last couple weeks that I still need to write about. All are quite enjoyable to varying degrees. First, Finian's Rainbow, Fred Astaire's last major musical; second, Perfect Strangers, a 1950 jury room romance drama starring Ginger Rogers; and most recently, the one I am writing about today, Jezebel, a 1938 Warner Brothers drama set in the plantation South, directed by William Wyler, and with Bette Davis is the title role.
Jezebel was made the year before Gone With The Wind was released, but is in the same genre (albeit in black-and-white and not so lengthy). It's a spectacularly-made film, with fabulous sets and costumes.
As may be expected from a 1930s film set in the South, black slaves are portrayed in the stereotyped manner, which is hard to watch at times. A few of the black cast do have meatier roles than in most films of this era, notably Lou Payton as Uncle Cato.
For me the film started slow, but it gradually became more and more compelling as it went along, until it became extremely dramatic in the final third. The final scenes are superb and well worth everything preceding.
Bette Davis dominates the film and understandably won an Oscar for her role. Henry Fonda and George Brent do well, if not spectacularly, in their roles.
Fay Bainter won an Oscar for her supporting role, though frankly I did not notice her character on this first viewing as much as perhaps I should have.
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