1940 – Bette Davis
The Letter
Here we are again with Miss Davis. This is Best Actress Nomination number five, proving that she was still Hollywood’s golden girl. The audiences and the critics loved her and it was easy to see why. She looked good, and she could act. The only problem is that, while she did a good job, I don’t see how her performance here was better than any of her past performances. In fact, she has a type that she typically plays, and she does it well, but this roll didn’t require to stretch herself as an actor. And the thing is, I have seen other films in which she has starred where she has shown us she is capable of better.
So as I am thinking through this, my disappointment isn’t that Davis did a poor job, but the role itself just didn’t seem to merit the attention. She played a woman who murders a man, shooting him to death, and then lying about her motives, making it seem like self-defense. But as it turns out, it was certainly nothing of the sort. It was a crime of passion. She was having an affair with him, and murdered him in a jealous rage. The plot is about how her story crumbles with the appearance of a letter that disproves all her lies.
For the most part, Davis played the character of Leslie Crosbie as a cold blooded woman, as comfortable with lies as she is with the truth. It is only when her lies are revealed that she loses her composure and spills her guts. But her defense lawyer, after learning the truth, buries the evidence and sways the jury to pronounce her innocent. The only real emotional breakdown she has is when her husband offers to forgive her so they can put her affair behind them and move on with their marriage. But she can’t do it. She is still in love with the man she killed.
Her guilt is enough to make her resolutely go to her murdered lover’s widow and allow herself to be stabbed to death in atonement for her crime. At least that satisfied the Hayes code that required all sinful character in every film to receive proper punishment before the end credits. But aside from that one breakdown scene, her acting just seemed a little like… business as usual. I didn’t feel like the role required that much of her. Let’s just say I’m glad she didn’t win this Oscar.