'Dark Victory' & Bette Davis's star image

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"Dark Victory" & Bette Davis's star image
The women`s film genre can be traced back all the way to 1930s during which many of women`s movies were referred to as melodramatics and were mainly based on female narratives having female protagonists, catering mainly to the female audiences and the concerns that women face during their everyday lives. Amongst some of the most popular women`s movies of all time, the film "Dark Victory" remains as one of the most tragic, maudlin and melodramatic American film produced during the year 1939 revolving around the true strength of a woman who sought romance in her life but not at the cost of her own independence and how her iron willed spirit helped her deal with the harsh reality of her impending death (Bordwell). This sensational film was initially written as a play by George Emerson Brewer Jr and then later turned into a screenplay by Casey Robinson starring Bette Davis, Geraldine Fitzgerald, George Brent, Ronald Reagan and Humphrey Bogart. Moreover, under the watchful direction of Edmund Goulding, the film molded itself into one of Hollywood`s most intense woman pictures produced in San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. According to the Warner Bros. studios, the film itself was a huge risk as the story encompassed and circled around an intensive yet demanding theme about a terminally-ill patient with a negative prognosis (Bordwell 7).
The focus of the movie "The Dark Victory" constantly revolves around the role of women in the society today and how they are subjected to harsh cutthroat outlook merely on the basis of the life style that they choose. For instance, when the film, "The Dark Victory" begins, Bette Davis is portrayed as a bold, audacious, independent woman who chooses to live her life on her term and as she pleases but is still looked upon as an individual wasting her life. The story also covers another angle where Bette Davis comes face to face with one of the most brutal truths about her life; her fatal disease where once again women independence is clearly reflected by how she choose to not give up hope and her strong will leads to live whatever time that she has left, making the best out of it (Bordwell 8). Nonetheless, the film has also successfully been able to capture the inner turmoil and confusion that runs through the mind of a woman (in this case Bette Davis) when trying to strike a balance between romance and her own independence.
Bette Davis`s movie "The Dark Victory" is indeed more of a character study rather than beat-by-beat story revolves around the life of a young, carefree heiress and a socialite named Judith Traherne (played by Bette Davis) who believes in living her life on her own terms and has fervor for horses, fast cars, dressing up in manly clothing, partying, drinking and excessive smoking. (Bordwell 9)
She successfully portrays the character of a woman in denial who indulged ...