Little Foxes, The (DVD)

Academy award nominations: Picture, Director-William Wyler, Leading Actress-Bette Davis, Supporting Actress-Patricia Collinge, Supporting Actress-Teresa Wright, Screenplay, Black and White Set Design, Film Editing and Scoring of a Dramatic Picture.March Boy nominations: Supporting Actor-Herbert Marshal, Supporting Actress-Patricia Collinge, Black and White Cinematography, Black and White Costume Design and Black and White Set Design.Wins: Song--"Never feel too weary to pray."William Wyler’s The Little Foxes is a period drama based on Lillian Hellman’s play of the same name.The story is about a dysfunctional family of early 20th century southern American aristocrats. (Two brothers and a sister: Oscar Hubbard, Ben Hubbard and Regina Giddens) Oscar married a weak-willed, ‘doormat’ woman Birdie because she was the heiress to a cotton plantation. His brother Ben is a co-partner in the business and they wish to build a mill, so they ask their sister, Regina for a $75,000 loan.Regina would be glad to get in on the project and maintain good relations between her brothers by arranging a match between her daughter Alexandra and Oscar’s slimy son Leo but her sickly husband Horace Giddens disapproves because:1. He doesn’t like her brothers.2. He doesn’t believe in get-rich-quick schemes.3. He knows his wife has a tendency to spend and worries if he gives her this much freedom she may bring about his family’s financial ruin.She bullies Horace over and over about it because she is just as greedy and self-absorbed as Oscar and Ben and sees him as the ball chained to her leg.One day, Horace exposes a case of theft between Oscar, Ben and Leo. He says he will let them keep the money they stole from his safe in the bank and leave his will to his daughter Alexandra INSTEAD OF HIS WIFE Regina to PERMANENTLY prevent her from entering this ‘mill project’ with them.He has a heart attack and screams for help but she looks the other way pretending to be oblivious as he grovels on the floor struggling to get to the medicine on the tables for she knows if she lets him die without making his will known with witnesses around she’ll get his inheritance instead of Alexandra and be able to pursue the ‘mill project’ she always wanted.After Horace dies, she blackmails Oscar and Ben into giving her 75% of their annual profits. Alexandra overhears the conversation and finally sees her mother for the heartless golddigger she is. She cannot stand her mother’s amorality so she leaves at once with her childhood sweetheart David Hewitt to get married and live happily ever after. Regina finally gets what she want—a large portion of her brothers profit— because she left her husband to die—and she lives with that for the rest of her life.Bette Davis as Regina delivers her lines with crisp speed and wit and does a good job masking her villainy under a façade of southern gentility which slowly melts away but the supporting cast really makes the magic of the film.The two brothers Oscar and Ben are as opposite as black and white. Even though they are both evil, Oscar is stupid and boorish while Ben is clever and witty and ‘tells it like it is’ when his sister tries to keep up appearances.Richard Carlson is handsome, warm, sweet, gentle and endearing as the good hearted journalist David Hewitt—the sort of young man any girl would want for a husband. Dan Duryea is a perfect foil as Alexandra’s other suitor Leo—that horrible voice alone, made me hate the man. Herbert Marshall plays Regina’s hen pecked husband Horace who quietly endures her antics with the patience of a martyr. Jessica Grayson is noble and giant-hearted as the housekeeper Addie. The only weak member of the cast I can think of is Teresa Wright as the daughter Alexandra as she has a tendency towards the namby pamby but even she is good just not as good as the others around her.Best of all is Patricia Collinge as the eccentric but good-hearted abused housewife Birdie. Her scene where she talks about how her mother helped her get over the hiccups, how her husband used to love her and now treats her like dirt, drinks to forget her misery and warns Alexandra to be careful who she marries so she won’t fall into the same trap as she has is one of the most tear inducing scenes I’ve ever seen. You suddenly realize she is not the doddering old fool she seems. My favorite of her moments are:1. When Regina, Oscar and Ben shut her out of their conversation and she sinks down in a chair in the corner looking dejected—it’s an unforgettable expression.2. When she whispers to Alexandra how she looks on her as her own daughter and makes her promise not to marry her wicked son Leo even if her mother and uncles try to force her.3. The scene right after their private conversation where she discovers her husband hiding behind the curtain. She knows he has overheard her speaking ill about their son and she’s going to get it but she doesn’t care. She stares him straight in the face with such firmness and determination; she’s not sorry at all for what she said. He slaps her in the face. Alexandra hears her cry. She runs out of her room and asks what happened. “Nothing.” Her aunt lies. “I just twisted my ankle.” But Birdie doesn’t care. She’s glad she alerted her naïve niece—that was worth one blow.The only quibbles I have with this movie are:1. The overall, claustrophobic, canned feel. There are not a lot of outside scenes and sometimes it feels more like a stage play than a movie.2. The ending with Alexandra’s elopement with her true love felt a little rushed like Wyler wanted to just hurry and wrap it up. How did David know EXACTLY when to come and pick her up? There should have been a scene between David and Alexandra discussing a plan of escape from her greedy relatives so his standing at the front door so conveniently at the film’s end would make more sense.Make no mistake. I liked this film and if I didn’t like it I wouldn’t have taken so much time to criticize and analyze it! It gets four March Boy nominations from me but even though there are no wins, none of them could be said to be undeserved. If The Little Foxes hadn’t been released in such a strong, fiercely competitive year as Citizen Kane, How Green was my Valley and Sergeant York, I feel pretty sure it would have scooped up some trophies.I recommend this film. Good for discussions.

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.

One of The great movies!

This adaptation of the play by Lilian Hellman was a star vehicle for Bette Davis, a third time collaboration with director William Wyler with whom she subsequently fell out. Davis and her two brothers represent the scheming, grasping Hubbard clan. Davis' character, Regina, has been forced to play the 'little woman' while her brothers purely by virtue of their sex have all the family money and run the family business. This is unfortunate as Regina is easily the coolest, cleverest and most unscrupulous of the three but she has plans and she intends to make everybody pay. Its a great and natural role for Davis who looks superb and acts the bitch to the manor born. I believe that she decided to cut out the more sympathetic side of Regina's character in order to contrast with Tallulah Bankhead's portrayal in the Broadway play but there are still hints at a softer side to Regina even in Davis' portrayal and one can see what has driven her to her chosen path. Her two brothers and nephew are painted in broader strokes and are less interesting as a result. Herbert Marshall is good as Regina's sickly, principled (and slightly irritating) husband, Horace. As their daughter Alexandra, Teresa Wright had her screen debut. I have liked Wright very much in other movies but here she plays a fairly standard sweet but dumb girl. I did like Richard Carlson as her love interest, David but the best performance (other than Davis) for me was Patricia Collinge as the sympathetic Birdie, abused wife of Regina's younger brother. She was perfect as this sweet woman used from the start by her husband and then despised and abandoned by both him and her own son - heart wrenching!I enjoyed 'The Little Foxes' although its probably not my favourite of Davis' early films. That might be 'Now Voyager'!

This is the film that Bette Davis was born to star in. Here she is - conniving, brutal, vain, imperious and grasping. Just the sort of character we should all love to hate, but yet love.The story concerns a money-spinning deal, and unfortunately the only possible investor for the deal is not interested in doing so. I won't ruin the plot, but shall only say that the goings-on that follow will have you gasping and on the edge of your seat. Quite brilliant performances all round, astute dialogue and beautifully crafted cinematography. This is the film that Bette Davis ought to have won an Oscar for (instead it went to Joan Fontaine in "Suspicion"), and this is the film that Hollywood should continue to aspire to.

This is a Bette Davis film that I have always wanted on DVD. For a long time it was only available as region one - which is no good to me. She is a utterly ruthless and cold woman here. The role was made for her. The scene where she watches her husband die chills the blood. Years ago these films were often shown on tv, BBC2 used to do seasons of Bette Davis films. When I had a video recorder I had a field day! They are never shown now, and until recently many of them were not obtainable in region 2 format. This is a Korean import, it plays in English. I also have the Korean import of Jezebel, another cracking Bette Davis film. This is well worth having; Bette Davis in viperish form.

I have always loved this film,the acting is great.the one thing is that it is not PC as it is a different time and era.

I had this film on VHS for years and have been waiting for it to become available on DVD. The plot is excellent and the acting too. The actual quality of the film is really good considering when it was originally made - well worth buying. If you like Bette Davis you will like this. I have nearly all her films and am a great fan so I'm very pleased to own it.