All This, and Heaven Too

Well done drama. The running time is long, but it doesn't really feel it. Excellent performance by Bette Davis, as well as the supporting cast.

Overlong yet watchable, but not actually, you know, good--Warner's reduced an historical incident to romance-novel-level fodder. The sumptuous sets look fantastic...as for the cast, Charles Boyer fares the best of anyone--even though he, by all accounts, didn't understand his character. As the duchess, Barbara O'Neil's jealous histrionics are amusing rather than affecting. Bette Davis is called upon to be meek most of the time *yawn!*. Max Steiner's overripe score is remarkably appropriate.

What makes Bette Davis so moving in this film has to do with this theory I have about the way we feel about movie stars. To me, Bette Davis' roles are her past lives, each one displaying a different facet of her personality. In this way the long-suffering governess she plays in All This... gains added power because of its relation to her other roles. Mlle. Deluze-Deportes explains the manipulativeness of Margo Channing, or the crushed hopes of Charlotte Vale.

While there are sparks each time Davis and Boyer share a scene, I never quite felt like this could have been a two-way relationship. I also did like O'Neil's characterization (except at the end). But it was a bit too long and a bit too dramatic (especially the soaring score) to be a favorite.

Em honra de Ann E. Todd (1931 - 2020). Gostei do final que parece fazer um paralelo entre a protagonista e os EUA estar de braços abertos para os refugiados europeus do nazismo (como aconteceu com o próprio diretor Anatole Litvak), mas de modo geral o filme é muito longo, Bette Davis tem um papel muito apagado e bonzinho e como se trata de uma romantização de um momento histórico, meio que se exagerou nas tintas que todo mundo sabe que não aconteceu. WEBRip no MakingOff.

Warner Bros' answer to Gone with the Wind (1939). A elegant film based on a intriguing real life story. Where it fails is that it tries to be too classic. Bette Davis is not allowed to add her flavour to the mix and the dialogue pulls it's punches. Actually he dialogue is corny in many cases. The one that comes out best of Anatole Litvak's directorial trap is Charles Boyer. He spoke much of his frustration through his facial expressions and those where spot on!