Herbert Marshall and Bette Davis are at their best in this brilliant adaptation of a classic Lillian Hellman play about an upper class clan in turn of the century Alabama who hides behind the sugar coating of financial security melded to a respectable place in local society to become slowly overwhelmed by malice, avarice and greed in pursuit of something which will not keep them on a straight and narrow path hence spell their doom. Herbert Marshall has I think the strongest central core and Bette Davis the strongest stage presence when filled with emotion she is bursting to let out at possibly inopportune moments. Birdie and Alexandra are the principal victims caught in the web not likely to come out winners. Other than some of the black and white editing not top drawer a brilliant cinematic effort in every way holding your attention and offering plenty of possibility for personal thought.

ms. davis says this is her worst performance on screen. don't you just love great actors. you all probably know the story being told. bette wants more and gets it. the direction by Wyler is really superb. it's interesting to see what he had to do to stop ms. davis from flinging her arms around, which she often did with abandon. she has doilies sewn to her cuffs and her hands are almost always wrapped around each other when she has to react to the other actors. Wyler must have said "the arms ms. davis....the arms." most of the cast came from Broadway, including patricia collinge as bertie. I have wondered what they were thinking on the train from nyc to warner brothers. they really don't make movies like this anymore. that's too bad.

I know this film backwards and, like 'The Heiress,' it's testimony to the greatness sometimes achieved in yesterday's Hollywood. The screenplay is faithful to Hellman, and the opening-up scenes have no forced feeling. However - and as melodramatically wonderful as the story is - it's mostly about Davis. Her Regina is exquisitely perfect, with a lifetime of bitterness as subtext always. The climax in which she sits as her husband dies is breathtaking, time after time; she becomes a fixated, horrified and horrifying, porcelain doll. But do NOT fail to appreciate the beauty of Patricia Collinge's Birdie. In fact, keep your eye on her as the vile Hubbards scheme and she occupies a background corner. I honestly can't think of a supporting performance as brilliant, with the possible exception of Hopkins in 'Heiress.'

The only thing that I really liked about this film was Bette Davis. Her acting was amazing which is not really surprising. She was very good at playing an evil woman. Other than that though I just did not like this movie. The majority of the time I was very bored. In part I think the bored came from the confusion because I had absolutely no idea what was going on. The entire plot of the film was just overly complicated. There was way too much going on between all the characters, and none of them were even likable. I felt no connection to any of the characters. I didn't want to root for any of them and I did not feel bad for any of them. I'm not sure if the acting was to blame or if the writing was to blame but either way I still didn't like it.