In this Our Life *** (1942, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, George Brent, Charles Coburn, Frank Craven, Dennis Morgan) – Classic Movie Review 2,742

John Huston’s 1942 drama film In this Our Life stars Bette Davis, who is on the rampage again as an unscrupulous and devilish minx called Stanley Timberlake, who keeps stealing her sister’s men.

Director John Huston’s 1942 drama film In this Our Life stars Bette Davis, who is on the rampage again as an unscrupulous and devilish minx called Stanley Timberlake, who keeps stealing her sister’s men, first her boyfriend and then her husband. The film has suffered from a fairly modest reputation for many years but more recently has been re-evaluated upwards as part of Davis’s run of classics at Warner Bros.

Olivia de Havilland plays the loyal, self-sacrificing sister, Roy, who keeps forgiving Bette’s character Stanley. Note, by the way, the oddity that both protagonists have men’s forenames.

Billie Burke co-stars as their bed-sick mom Lavinia, who tells Bette to grab it all, backing her greedy and grasping brother William Fitzroy (Charles Coburn), while she continually puts down her craven hubby Asa (Frank Craven).

George Brent and Dennis Morgan get the thin end of the wedge as Stanley’s dumped fiancé Craig Fleming and Roy’s husband Peter Kingsmill, whom Stanley runs off with and marries, driving him to drink.

Huston, in his second film as director following his brilliant debut with the 1941 The Maltese Falcon, just lights the blue touch-paper and watches the fireworks as Davis gives one of her most amusingly over-the-top performances. She forms an excellent double act with de Havilland, who pulls off the tough task of playing the good sister convincingly by showing the character’s inner strength. Like Davis, de Havilland could act evil on screen, but her persona is sweet and underneath raunchy.

Howard Koch’s screenplay is based on Ellen Glasgow’s 1941 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. The trashy entertainment value is certainly up there on the screen, but alas not the quality of the book. Is the forever-interfering and battling Davis to blame as either star or actress, or is it Koch’s pulpy script?

Executive producer Hal B Wallis alleged that Davis threw tantrums over her hair, make-up and costumes, producing a look that her fans loathed, and that she interfered in the script to keep Stanley as horrid as she is in the book. But, when Davis discovered that Huston and de Havilland were having an affair and then saw de Havilland’s ravishing close-ups in the dailies, she went crazy.

Nevertheless, they remained pals, and years later Bette brought Olivia in for Hush, Hush… Sweet Charlotte (1964) when Joan Crawford mysteriously bailed. Their friendship was possible as they were never rivals as stars. Davis was one kind of star and de Havilland another. Both could act evil but they complemented each other. It the third of six films they star in together.

Huston’s father Walter appears briefly as a bartender, while Warner Bros stars Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Ward Bond, Barton MacLane and Elisha Cook Jr (all from The Maltese Falcon) pop in as his roadhouse customers.

Also in the cast are Hattie McDaniel, Lee Patrick, Ernest Anderson, William Davidson, Edward Fielding, John Hamilton, William Forrest, Eddie Acuff, Sam McDaniel, Lee Phelps, Walter Brooke, Eddy Chandler, Dudley Dickerson, Fred Kelsey and George Reed.

In this Our Life is directed by John Huston, runs 98 minutes, is made and released by Warner Bros, is written by Howard Koch, based on Ellen Glasgow’s novel, is shot in black and white by Ernest Haller, is produced by Hal B Wallis (executive producer) and David Lewis and is scored by Max Steiner, with Art Direction by Robert M Haas and Costume Design by Orry-Kelly.

It was released on May 8, 1942.

On a budget of $713,000, it took $1.7 million (US) and $2,794,000 (foreign) at the box office.

Movie Queens: Bette Davis by Graeme Jukes.

The film was disapproved in 1943 for foreign release by the wartime Office of Censorship, because it dealt truthfully with racial discrimination as part of its plot.

Raoul Walsh took over as director when Huston was called away for a war assignment after the United States entered World War Two, but he was uncredited.

The cast are Bette Davis as Stanley Timberlake Kingsmill, Olivia de Havilland as Roy Timberlake Fleming, George Brent as Craig Fleming, Dennis Morgan as Peter Kingsmill, Frank Craven as Asa Timberlake, Billie Burke as Lavinia Timberlake, Charles Coburn as William Fitzroy, Ernest Anderson as Parry Clay, Hattie McDaniel as Minerva Clay, Lee Patrick as Betty Wilmoth, Mary Servoss as Charlotte Fitzroy, William B Davidson as Jim Purdy, Edward Fielding as Dr Buchanan, John Hamilton as Inspector, William Forrest as Forest Ranger, , Eddie Acuff, Sam McDaniel, Lee Phelps, Walter Brooke, Eddy Chandler, Dudley Dickerson, Fred Kelsey, George Reed, Walter Huston as Bartender, and Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Ward Bond, Barton MacLane and Elisha Cook Jr as roadhouse customers.

Warner Home Video released the film on 1 April 2008 in the box set The Bette Davis Collection, Volume 3, which also includes The Old Maid; All This, and Heaven Too; Watch on the Rhine; and Deception.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2,742

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com

[My thanks for information to William Russell and John Lyttle.]