Dark Victory (1939)

Moving
Wonderful, moving film. Not Bogie's best, but still decent. One of Davis' best performances.

"I think I'll have a large order of prognosis negative!"
Based on a play by George Emerson Brewer Jr. and Bertram Bloch, DARK VICTORY provided Bette Davis with one of her last great performances of the 1930s, capping off a banner decade that had seen her win Academy Awards for "Dangerous" and "Jezebel".

In DARK VICTORY, Davis is millionaire heiress Judith Traherne, plagued with crippling headaches and eyesight problems that are later diagnosed as symptoms of an incurable brain cancer. Judy will eventually lose her vision altogether before peacefully slipping away, but until that day comes she'll spend the remainder of her life happily married, and surrounded by good friends. Davis provides a stirring portrait of courage under fire in this inspirational and moving romantic drama. In lesser hands the character of Judith would have come across as wildly melodramatic, but Davis cuts through the treacle and delivers a sympathetic yet practical performance.

Davis is surrouded in DARK VICTORY by one of her strongest ensemble casts, including frequent co-star George Brent as Dr. Frederick Steele, and Geraldine Fitzgerald as steadfast best friend Ann. Warner contract players Humphrey Bogart and Ronald Reagan can also be enjoyed in several scenes. In that legendary year of 1939, DARK VICTORY was unfortunately forgotten in the midst of "Gone with the Wind" and "The Wizard of Oz", but has since gone on to demonstrate it's endurance as one of the great Bette Davis classics.

The DVD of DARK VICTORY (newly-restored and remastered in a flawless digital print) also includes a Making-Of featurette "1939 - Tough Competition for Dark Victory", audio commentary with James Ursini and Paul Clinton, and the original trailer. (Single-sided, dual-layer disc).

Reacquaint yourself with an old classic that feels anything but old
There's not much left to say about "Dark Victory", so I'll only add that the film's sentiment and tears come not only as a result of the tragedy we're seeing onscreen, but the frequent examples of characters reaching out to help each other, to give thanks to one another, and other expressions of humanity. I always liked that about this movie, that it chokes us up not just over the... well, darker things going on, but also because of how it very effectively shows us humanity at its best. Recently watching the movie again, I was reminded of how great it is.

Warner Home Video's DVD of "Dark Victory" features pristine picture and sound, and a nice collection of interesting, illuminating extra features.