Jezebel (1938) User Reviews (132)

Golden Gem From Hollywood's Golden Past!

[jpdoherty · 8/10 · 2 December 2010]

JEZEBEL (1938) is one of the great and enduring Warner Bros. Bette Davis classics, and alongside "The Old Maid" - made the following year - is my own favourite Davis movie. From a flopped play by Owen Davis Snr. It was produced for the studio by Henry Blanke and beautifully written for the screen by Clements Ripley, Abem Finkel and - feeling his way along in the business - a young John Huston. Genius cinematographer Ernest Haller was behind the camera bringing the vivid Art Direction of Robert Hass to life and the masterful direction was in the safe hands of William Wyler.

A splendid sense of time and place is immediately established at the very beginning with the 1852 setting in antebellum Louisanna. Bette Davis is Julie Marsden the high spirited southern socialite who toys playfully with the feelings of her male suitors especially her young banker fiancé Preston Dillard (Henry Fonda). But he tires of her controlling personality and her irritating misdeeds such as storming into his bank demanding to see him on a trivial matter as he attends an important board meeting and then her insistence on wearing a RED dress to the Olympus Ball much to the chagrin of those who adhere to the strict tradition to only wear white ("You can't wear red to the Olympus Ball"! asserts an astonished Pres)). But wear it she does in defiance! However the Ball is a sensational sequence as Julie and Pres become a spectacle when all in attendance stand around and stare in disbelief as they waltz alone in the middle of the floor. Later during their uneven relationship Pres has to go North on business. He returns after about a year but he is not alone. He is now accompanied by a new woman in his life....... his wife. Counting the days for Pres's return Julie is in utter shock when he introduces Amy (Margret Lindsay) to her as his wife.("You're funnin'!" A horrified Julie exclaims - "Hardly!" responds a sheepish Pres). The picture climaxes with the dreaded Yellow Jack fever breaking out across the South and Pres being struck down with the deadly disease. In a brilliant confrontation with Amy Julie manages to convince her that it must be her, and not his wife, who should accompany Pres to the fever death camp. The picture ends in an extraordinary and harrowing final scene as Julie comforts the dying Pres on one of the many wagons in the caravan heading out of the city to the fever camp.

The acting throughout is superb from all concerned topped with a blistering Acadamy Award winning performance from Davis (she was assigned the role so as to allay any disappointment she might harbour with Warners for not loaning her out to play Scarlet O'Hara - a part she dearly wanted to play). Excellent too is the young Henry Fonda, Fay Bainter in her best supporting Award winning role as the gentle and anxious Aunt Belle and George Brent is impressive (as always) as the ill-fated rival Buck Cantrell. The movie's atmosphere is quite stunning with the stark black & white cinematography, the vibrant looking sets and the supreme nominated score by Max Steiner. The composer's main theme is beautifully arranged as a beguiling waltz for the infamous ballroom scene. And in the final sequence his prowess as film's great dramatist is powerfully demonstrated in the chilling dirge-like march he wrote (complete with spirited female chorus) for the fever wagons, with their cargo of dead and dying, as they struggle through the streets of New Orleans on their way to their grisly destination. JEZEBEL was one of 18 scores the great composer wrote for Bette Davis' films which included "The Old Maid"(1939), "Dark Victory" (1939), "The Letter"(1940) and most memorably "Now Voyager" (1942) which brought the composer the second of his three Acadamy Awards. The great actress once remarked of the composer "At Warner Bros. Max knew more about drama than any of us".

Max Steiner's music, William Wyler's adroit direction, Ernest Haller's stunning cinematography and of course Bette Davis's riveting performance all jell to make JEZEBEL one of Hollywood's outstanding and unforgettable motion pictures of all time.

Bette at her Oscar-winning best

[MOscarbradley · 8/10 · 24 June 2017]

They said that nobody was better than Bette than when she was bad and in "Jezebel" she is pretty rank, hardly batting an eye as she encourages her suitors to fight duels over her. This is the one in which she wears a red dress to the ball when it was the custom for unmarried young ladies to wear white. Naturally she not only scandalizes the town but loses her uptight fiancée (Henry Fonda, excellent) as well. Of course she redeems herself in the end but it takes a dose of Yellow Fever for her to do it.

It was said she got the part as compensation for losing out on the role of Scarlett O'Hara and to make up for the slight she also got a (richly deserved) second Oscar. She's quite wonderful in the part as is Fay Bainter as her Aunt Belle, (Bainter also won an Oscar), and, as God is my witness, even George Brent is good this time round but then that great actor's director William Wyler was at the helm. It was, of course, a prestige production and John Huston was one of the three credited script writers and if the material was something of a sow's ear Wyler did manage to make a silk purse out of it.

Excellent Davis

[nnnn45089191 · 8/10 · 21 November 2006]

Bette Davis dominates the whole movie with a mesmerizing performance,which earned her a second Oscar. As the love of her life we find a young and handsome Henry Fonda.Davis,who sometimes overacted gloriously, is kept more subdued by master director William Wyler. Her performance is the better for it.George Brent,playing the other male lead, has rarely been better.As the southerner unable to change his obsolete ways,he's a marvel.The musical score by Max Steiner is one of his best and adds to the brilliant depiction of a bygone era. Depiction of African-Americans in movies from this era are often very racist, but I found some scenes were they were portrayed more sympathetic than in other movies of the thirties. Jezebel is one of the best movies I have seen with Bette Davis.

A fine film

[zetes · 9/10 · 31 January 2004]

Very good film from director Wyler, although it is its star, Bette Davis, upon whom its high quality mostly rests. This is perhaps Davis' best performance that I've seen. She plays a spoiled Southern belle whose fiancé (Henry Fonda) leaves her after a socially embarrassing event. As he leaves her, she swears that he will return, as he has in the past. And he does, one year later, with his new Northern wife in tow. The film does wonders with its historical setting, New Orleans a short while before the Civil War. A year before Gone with the Wind cooed over the fancy lives and manners of the Ante Bellum South, Jezebel was exploring them in more detail, and with a more intelligent eye. Also lurking about is the threat of Yellow Fever, which devastated New Orleans in the 1830s and is starting to grow rampant again. Another thing I really liked about Jezebel was its ending. Perhaps when it was released in 1938 there would be a feeling that Davis' character has turned a corner and has become more selfless, but to me her motives seemed awfully suspicious. That ambiguity is fascinating. Along with the leads, Donald Crisp and George Brent give fine supporting performances, and Max Steiner's score is one of the best of its era. 9/10.

A triumphant performance by Bette Davis

[FlickJunkie-2 · 10/10 · 13 May 2001]

After winning the Oscar for best actress in 1936 for `Dangerous', Bette Davis began to complain that Warner Brothers was not giving her scripts that were worthy of her talent. In 1936, Warner suspended her without pay for turning down a role. She then went to England, in violation of her contract, with the intention of starring in a movie without Warner Brothers' approval. The studio stopped her, telling her that if she didn't work for them she wouldn't work anywhere. In defiance, she sued to break her contract. Although she lost the lawsuit, Warner Brothers began to take her more seriously and even paid her legal expenses. The part in `Jezebel' was thought to be an olive leaf offered by the studio to mollify her.

About that time, Davis made it known that she wanted the lead in David O. Selznick's upcoming production of `Gone With the Wind'. She was actually considered for the role, but Warner told Selznick that they wouldn't agree to loan her out unless he also took Errol Flynn for the part of Rhett Butler. Davis refused to work with Flynn and angrily turned down the part, although Selznick did not intend to agree to Flynn regardless. Many believed that Warner Brothers purposely created an impossible deal to punish Davis for the lawsuit while making it appear they were trying to help her. It isn't clear whether `Jezebel' was offered to her before or after the negotiations for GWTW. Clearly, it didn't matter, because Bette Davis went out and gave one of the best performances of her career and won her second Oscar for best actress.

This film is GWTW without Yankees. Instead, the enemy is yellow fever. The story takes place in New Orleans in the 1850's. Although there are references to the abolitionists and the prospect of war, the entire story takes place prewar. This story focuses on the southern lifestyle of the period, and in this way it is very similar to its more famous counterpart. It also follows the life and times of one very spirited woman named Julie Marsden (Bette Davis), who could have been Scarlet O'Hara's soul mate.

Julie shocks New Orleans society when she insolently comes to a ball wearing a red dress when it is the custom for all proper southern girls to wear white. (A production note of interest: The famous `red' dress was actually black satin, which was used because red didn't produce enough contrast in the black and white film, causing it not to stand out enough.) As a result, her beau Preston Dillard (a youthful Henry Fonda) is mortified and he breaks off their engagement. Included in the story are a couple of duels over points of honor, a stark depiction of the yellow fever epidemic, and the noble resurrection of a contrite Julie Marsden upon Preston's return.

As always, director William Wyler (with whom Bette Davis was romantically linked) does a fantastic job at direction, giving the film a genuine southern flavor and period feel. The black and white cinematography in this film is tremendous and procured the film one of its five Oscar nominations.

The acting is superb all around. This is certainly one of Bette Davis' best and most memorable performances and it helped secure her place in movie history as one of Hollywood's greatest stars. Though she never won another Oscar, she went on to be nominated eight more times with five straight nominations between 1939 and 1943. Ironically, in 1940 she lost to Vivien Leigh, who won in the role Davis turned down.

Fay Bainter is marvelous as Aunt Belle Bogardus garnering a best supporting actress Oscar. Henry Fonda shows a hint of his future greatness in a fabulous portrayal of Julie's no-nonsense beau. George Brent (with whom Davis also was rumored to have had an affair) also turns in a strong performance as Buck, the honorable gentleman who duels his best friend to defend Julie's honor.

This is a wonderful film with great acting and directing. Though not the epic that GWTW became, it contains certain elements that Selznick undoubtedly incorporated at Tara, since the similarities between the films are striking at times. I rated this film a 10/10. For anyone interested in seeing why Bette Davis is considered one of the great actresses of the Studio era, this film is a must.

"Girls don't have to simp around in white"

[Steffi_P · 7/10 · 17 July 2011]

There are lots of cases in classic-era Hollywood where a hit movie has been followed by a lesser copycat from a rival studio. However, the gargantuan and protracted production of David O. Selznick's Gone with the Wind was of such public interest that Warner Brothers could actually pre-emptively get on board the antebellum melodrama bandwagon before it really got going. And thus Jezebel became Warner's 1938 vehicle for its top female star, Bette Davis.

Davis had already won considerable critical and popular acclaim, establishing her type as the archetypal woman scorned. Despite having already won an Oscar for Dangerous in 1935, this is her first really magnificent performance. Her earliest work, while certainly very powerful, was often a little exaggerated and lacking control. In Jezebel however she manages to cram in all that fiery personality, even into tiny details like the way her head bobs as she walks, but with so much more finesse and restraint. The result is very realistic but still utterly engaging. Her lead man Henry Fonda could not match her for experience but he has a decent manly presence that makes him well-cast here. Fine support is given by Fay Bainter, acting like the movie's conscience, numerous reactions playing out on her face. There's also Donald Crisp, struggling with a southern drawl even though he was normally a master at accents, but giving a commanding turn all the same. And finally, watch out for a young(ish) Eddie "Rochester" Anderson.

It's no wonder there is so much top class acting in Jezebel when the director is William Wyler. Wyler, known for his repeated takes and painstaking perfectionism, no doubt had a hand in shaping Davis's sublime performance. But what Wyler also does is actually draw our focus upon the right person and the right facet of their performance for any given moment. Look at the social gathering scene where we first meet Davis and Bainter's characters. Wyler is continually rearranging the players and the camera to frame one face or another. The following scene at the bank's boardroom begins with a fairly standard establishing sweep across the table. Now, remember that Henry Fonda wasn't an especially big star at the time and audiences wouldn't necessarily have picked him out. And yet Wyler makes us realise that he is the one to watch by the way he is staring thoughtfully ahead, the only one whose face we really see full on, the one who stands out even though other characters are talking and nodding their heads. And that's in this innocuous camera move, without any obtrusive close-up or dolly in on Fonda. This is the beauty of Wyler's direction – he makes you notice things without noticing you've noticed them.

And now a few brief words on the Max Steiner musical score. Steiner represented a growing trend in Hollywood of lavish, blaring scores that underlined every single emotion in the picture. His work in particular is rather blunt and even distracting at times. This however is among his more restrained scores, and also happens to be nice and low in the mix. As it's not blasting out over every scene you can actually appreciate just how much complexity and timing there is at work here. Different characters and ideas have their own little leitmotifs. When Davis hears that Pres is returning, their love theme cuts seamlessly into the score on the very instant his name is mentioned. There is even a little peal of bells when she mentions the possibility of marriage. It's still not necessarily the best way of adding music to a motion picture, but one must at least admire the skill and precision that has gone into the score's construction.

Despite the similarities in setting and spitfire heroine, Jezebel is of course very different from its competitor Gone with the Wind in terms of scale. The latter movie, for all its melodramatic roots is a tour de force in lavish historical sweep and epic storytelling. Jezebel by contrast is a firmly small-canvas picture with a rather trite storyline, and the only thing to really keep the viewer hooked throughout is Bette Davis's arresting acting performance. Still, it is far from being some cheap knock-off, and can be considered a light piece of chamber music to Gone with the Wind's orchestral symphony.

Bette Davis-Legend

[hughman55 · 10/10 · 11 February 2010]

Bette Davis is a legend. I'd always heard that growing up, but felt some disconnect from it . When I became aware of her it was late in her career after she had developed into a boozy, smoke belching, caricature of her on screen persona's. So, if the "Bette Davis/Legend" concept rings a little hollow with you as it did me, watch this film. I just saw "Jezebel" for the first time on DVD. Wow! I haven't seen a lot of movies from the 1930's but I'm pretty sure that no one else was doing then what Bette Davis was doing. It is an acting style, and skill level, that isn't seen often, in any decade.

She is brilliant throughout but one scene in particular made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. It happens in the scene where Henry Fonda escorts Jezebel home after the ball and breaks off their engagement. When he tells her, "goodbye" and not "goodnight", a look of puzzlement and humiliation comes over her face. She starts to turn away to leave, but decides instead to extend her hand in Southern feminine cordiality to wish him well. As she does this something inside her wells up. Her expression changes, and as they say, if looks could kill... With the speed of a cobra, and unable to restrain herself, she slaps him in the face. Unlike a cobra however, which recoils after it strikes, she lurches slightly closer and you think she might just rip his throat out. William Wyler lets the camera linger on her and it's a powerful, and slightly disturbing, moment. I don't think anyone else could have pulled it off like Davis did.

The film is great although the depictions of slavery as a genteel Southern quirk are more than a little cringe worthy. To see this movie though is to understand how Bette Davis became a legend. And to see this movie is to see one of the most powerful screen performances ever. Who knew... After all, 1938 was a long time ago and I've been busy with other stuff.

Gone with the Jezebel

[FilmOtaku · 7/10 · 7 January 2005]

It is 1850's New Orleans, and Julie Marsten (Davis), a head-strong young woman who doesn't find it the least improper to be late for her own engagement party because she feels like riding her horse instead, is getting married to Preston Dillard (Fonda). Unfortunately, Preston isn't at the party because he is hammering out business at his family's bank; when they are married, he and Julie will be moving north, an almost sacrilegious action during this time. Buck Cantrell (George Brent) is Julie's former beau, who remains a family friend and still defends Julie's honor. One day, when Preston doesn't drop everything to attend a dress fitting for Julie that he had originally promised to attend, she defiantly insists that she purchase a red dress, breaking the white dress only tradition for the ball they were attending. Despite the protestations of everyone she knows, including Preston, she wears the dress to the ball, causing her to be ostracized and the official break up of her engagement to Preston when he realizes that he cannot deal with her headstrong attitude. He leaves for the north without her, and comes back a year later with a surprise, and sees that Yellow Fever has gripped New Orleans, a peril that threatens everyone.

"Jezebel" is a tale of defiance, love and redemption. Davis plays her role so well that it is hard to determine whether you want to support her or marginalize her as a spoiled brat. I think that even when the film was made, (1938) the lines were still blurred as to how many freedoms and how much free-thinking should be afforded to women. It is easy for me to say that Julie's red dress was much ado about nothing, but then again, this is the millennium, when nothing is overtly shocking anymore. The mere fact that I thought so much about a classic film (which generally has throwaway plots) is a true testament to Davis' performance and the writing, under William Wyler's direction. "Jezebel" is essentially "Gone with the Wind" without the budget or the color, and was made the year before that film was released. Most of the characters are fairly throwaway, but the subject is Julie, and her development is amazing and very believable, despite the melodramatic genre. This is a film that most classic film lovers have seen, I'm sure (I am apparently a late bloomer in regard to this film) but if you are one and you haven't seen it, or are a Bette Davis fan, see this movie. Most of her late 30's to 1950 films are so spectacular just because of her performance (if the rest is good, it's gravy), and this is one of her best known performances. 7/10 --Shelly

"1852, we're in 1852 darling, not the dark ages"

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 19 February 2007]

Jezebel was Bette Davis's consolation prize for losing the Scarlett O'Hara sweepstakes. Considering the sacrifice that the title character makes in this film, it is fitting and proper that Davis got this role because she could have had Scarlett, but she wouldn't make Gone With the Wind if it included Errol Flynn as Rhett Butler.

Julie Marsden is as willful and and spiteful a southern belle as Scarlett O'Hara ever could be. But Scarlett would never deliberately violate the code the way Julie does and wear that red dress to a cotillion. Just simply not done in the best families.

Bette Davis is Julie and while she's going to be married to the very proper Henry Fonda, she likes the idea that she can still turn the head of every young blade in New Orleans. Especially George Brent's head as the dashing Buck Cantrell.

When Fonda doesn't jump at her beck and call he prefers doing business to catering to her whims she decides on a daring move. This is a woman who cannot stand not being the center of attention. She wears a red dress to a cotillion when polite society dictates that all the unmarried young ladies wear white. When she does, New Orleans society shuns her as effectively as the Amish can and Davis retreats to her plantation upriver.

Fonda goes north and returns after a while to New Orleans with Margaret Lindsay who he is now married to. An insult our southern belle won't put up with. Davis sets in motion a string of events that results in a lot of tragedy.

I have to say that just a description of the plot seems a bit ridiculous at times, but Bette Davis does make this whole thing quite believable. She won her second Oscar for Best Actress in this film and as her aunt who occasionally gives her a reality check every now and then Fay Bainter was named Best Supporting Actress of 1938.

Fonda and Brent are fine in their parts, but they are in support of Bette Davis in a Bette Davis film. Another performance I liked is that of Donald Crisp as the doctor who fights a lot of prejudice and ignorance in New Orleans in trying to deal with yellow fever.

Looming over all of the film is the knowledge we have that this society will come crashing down in another eight years or so in events so well told in Gone With the Wind. This film should be seen back to back with Gone With the Wind as a view of southern society.

This was Bette Davis's first film with director William Wyler who she admired above all other directors. Davis was not generous with praise for colleagues so any kind words towards one are really something. Apparently Wyler did have the magic touch in handling Bette.

Jezebel is one of Bette Davis's finest films, maybe not the finest, but definitely right up there. Unlike Davis's first Oscar for Dangerous which she said was a consolation for not winning for Of Human Bondage, this one she was proud of. And we're proud of it too.

One Of Bette Davis's Most Memorable Performances - & Fonda Is Pretty Good Too

[Snow Leopard · 3 March 2005]

Bette Davis gives one of her most memorable performances in this atmospheric melodrama, and Henry Fonda, her co-star, is pretty good as well. They and the rest of the cast make good use of the opportunities in the story, which centers around Davis's turbulent character. William Wyler pieces it all together effectively with good story-telling.

The character of the headstrong Julie (Davis) could easily become a cliché, but Davis gives her depth and presence, while also effectively portraying her spirited nature. She's unpredictable, yet her nature remains consistent. She leaves you guessing as to exactly what she is up to and what her motivations are, especially towards the climactic scenes.

Henry Fonda should not be overlooked. He does not get as many chances for dramatics, but his role is important in providing a complement for Davis. The supporting cast, which includes George Brent, Spring Byington, and Donald Crisp, also helps out.

The atmosphere in the Deep South also works well, and it used effectively in the story. The climactic sequence ties the setting and characters together well, and it leaves a memorable impression when it is over.

A ponderous title...

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 1 July 2021]

... because in the Bible Jezebel was a worshipper of Baal who encouraged brutality against all who opposed her. Bette Davis as 1852 southern belle Jule Marsden, just seems at first intent on subverting the will of her fiance Preston Dillard (Henry Fonda) to her own. Their battle of wills escalates until she wears a red dress to a ball when all single women are supposed to dress in white. An unexplainable southern custom with probably silly roots, just like everybody calling a slave "Uncle Kato" when he is NOT your relative, he is forced labor. But I digress. Preston and Julie break up over the issue of the red dress, and Preston leaves New Orleans and goes to New York to take a job in a sister bank to try and forget. Who knew that banks had branches in the 1850s?

Preston is gone for a year. Julie finds her pride is cold comfort, and when Preston returns she intends to beg his forgiveness. Unfortunately, life is what happens when you are making plans and Preston returns from New York with a wife - Amy (Margaret Sullivan). Julie is devastated because marriage in 1850 is pretty much permanent, and yet she plans to break up this marriage which she considers illegitimate at least partially because Amy is a Yankee. This is where the plot goes a bit haywire. Julie does lots of disruptive things, but she is just plain terrible at executing her so-called cunning plan.

Did Preston marry Amy on the rebound and just intended to stick with it because he is a southern gentleman? Is Julie perhaps obsessed at this point rather than in love - like Scarlet O'Hara was with Ashley Wilkes - but just figured that out sooner? I don't know. The actors never tip their hand. Maybe because of astute direction, maybe because of a lack of direction so they don't know themselves.

I'd say this film is reverse synergy - the parts are greater than the whole. Bette Davis' acting was surely worthy of her Oscar, because her acting transcends the meandering plot. The dress looks red in the ballroom scene in spite of the black and white photography. All of the small individual scenes are so well done, and you have great supporting performances in the persons of Fay Bainter, George Brent, and Donald Crisp. I'd give the plot just a 5/10. All of the other things I mentioned raises my appraisal to a 7/10. An unpopular opinion I know.

That red dress..

[jotix100 · 10/10 · 14 March 2004]

I recently saw this magnificent film after not having seen it in quite a number of years. William Wyler's extraordinary direction makes this movie a classic that will live forever.

Mr. Wyler had at his disposal the best of what his studio could give him. In this film, based on the play by Owen Davis, he was at the top of his form. With the help of the great cinematographer, Ernest Haller and that fabulous costume designer, Orry-Kelly, he gives us a movie that will stand as one of the best of that period melodramas. The great Walter Huston was an assistant director under Wyler.

There are some people who have written comments about Jezebel expressing how much better it could have been, had it been done in color. Personally, I don't think so. Just look at the closing scenes of the picture to witness the master camera work of Mr. Haller showing a close up of Ms Davis. The effect of light and shadow is almost comparable to a painting. Bette Davis reacts to the camera with an economy of gestures, and yet, she speaks volumes of what is going on inside her soul.

Technicolor would have been the ruin of this film. At the beginning of its invention, this new process was too harsh. The film wouldn't have kept the glorious look it still possesses, had it been shot in color. As far as the red dress being more visible, in sharp contrast with the white costumes of the other young women at the ball, the black and white effect is more dramatic.

William Wyler was very lucky with the amazing cast he assembled for the film. Bette Davis and Henry Fonda were at their prime when they appeared in Jezebel. Bette Davis is what holds the film together with her magnetism and star performance. It's almost impossible to think of another actress of that period giving as good a performance, as Ms. Davis'.

There are also people that have compared Jezebel with Gone with the Wind. The only thing they had in common is the fact that both take place in the period before the War between the States, but that's as far as the similarities end. This was a stage play, which by the way, was not very successful when Miriam Hopkins and Tallulah Bankhead appeared in it.

This is a film to be treasured thanks to William Wyler.

How many times can she do her man wrong?

[michaelRokeefe · 7/10 · 25 October 2002]

William Wyler directs this first rate costume drama and Ms. Bette Davis picks up her second Academy Award playing an Antebellum Dixie vixen that goes a little too far to make her fiance(Henry Fonda)jealous. Fonda returns to New Orleans from New York with a lovely wife(Margret Lindsay)only to put Davis in a jealous rage and desperate for revenge. A superb cast that also features Donald Crisp, George Brent and Fay Bainter. Ms. Davis is vibrant in one of her best roles.

Has nothing on GWTW

[lauraeileen894 · 3/10 · 25 May 2005]

"Jezebel" is constantly said to be the great Bette Davis's so-called consolation prize for not getting the role of Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone With the Wind". This is actually one of Hollywood's biggest myths, considering "Jezebel" was released a year before "GWTW", and even before it began shooting. But even it were true, I'd hardly call "Jezebel" a consolation prize, with its slow pace, unlikeable characters, and unimpressive story. The movie's chain of events is started by a ludicrous plot device: a red dress.

I think it's criminal that Ms. Davis won only two Oscars in her career, and for movies that were beneath her talent: the outdated melodrama "Dangerous" and this clunker. If life were fair, Ms. Davis would have won the Osacar for "Now, Voyager", and, of course, "All About Eve". She wouldn't have made that great Scarlett O'Hara anyway; Vivien Leigh had a naturally haughty, blue-blooded air about her that was crucial for the character. But I digress.

"Jezebel" takes place in 1852 New Orleans, and Julie Marsden (Davis) is engaged to the effete banker Preston Dullard...er, Dillard (Henry Fonda, horrendously miscast). When he chooses to go to a meeting instead of accompanying her to a dress fitting for the Olympus Ball, Julie decides to get even by wearing a "saucy" red dress instead of the required white for unmarried ladies. Her plan works too well: Pres leaves her and heads North. After a whole year of moping and pining for Pres, Julie is thrilled to hear that he's coming back, but is shocked when she finds out that he's up and married a New Yorker named Amy (Margaret Lindsay, in a thankless part that did nothing to help her career). Julie, vindictive brat that she is, provokes her former beau Buck Cantrell (George Brent) to have a duel with Pres's brother, and Buck is killed as a result, his blood on Julie's conscience. When Pres is suddenly infected with the deadly Yellow Fever, he's sentenced to a leper colony... well, to die, I guess. Amy wants to go with him, but Julie convinces her that she can make Pres live. So poor dumb Amy lets Julie go in her place, so Julie can redeem herself to the man she loves. Never mind the fact that he's barely conscious and wasting away, and that Julie doesn't have the necessary skills to help him, and that she will probably outlive the man who no longer loves her and she'll be surrounded by sick and dying lepers for who knows how long. Makes perfect sense to me.

What bothers me most is how plot summaries wax poetic on how "strong-willed" Julie is. Give me a break! She has nothing on Scarlett O'Hara. After her grand entrance in her red dress at the ball, Julie suddenly chickens out and has to be forced by Pres to dance. Scarlett, on the other hand, danced with renowned scoundrel Rhett Butler at a charity bazaar in her widow's weeds without giving a damn what other people thought. And even though Scarlett pined foolishly for Ashley Wilkes, she was at least able to live her life and be a functional human being, whereas Julie wastes a year of her life waiting for a man who broke their engagement, not even considering he might have married someone else. I was also put off at "Jezebel"'s negative portrayal of women. According to the movie, they're either spoiled, selfish, immature harpies (Julie), or uninteresting housewives (Amy). The only female character I liked and rooted for was Julie's Aunt Belle (Fay Bainter). She loves Julie, but refuses to tolerate Julie's behavior (she's the one who calls Julie a "Jezebel"), and she's the only one who's truly nice and hospitable towards Amy, who is ridiculed by others for being a "Yankee". "Jezebel" may be significantly shorter than "GWTW", but four hours of "GWTW" is definitely more worth your time than an hour and forty five minutes of this pale imitation.

Southern Discomfort

[Lechuguilla · 19 November 2005]

The American South has always had an aura of sadness around it. I don't know why exactly. This film tends to reinforce that perception. Characters start off with high hopes for the future, only to succumb to some unfortunate fate, as a direct result of their Southern roots.

In pre-Civil War New Orleans, Julie Marsden (Bette Davis) is a wealthy young woman, engaged to respected banker Preston Dillard (Henry Fonda). But Julie is strong-willed, independent, and impetuous, traits considered unwomanly by that era's Southern aristocracy. Against Preston's wishes, Julie wears a red dress, instead of the customary white, to a gala ball. This event sets up the rest of the story.

While the support cast in "Jezebel" is fine, especially Fay Bainter, the film would not be the same without Bette Davis. I just can't see anyone else in the role of Julie. Davis' performance and the film's setting are what make this film so memorable. The costumes, the production design, the cinematography, and the music combine to convey a genuine sense of the antebellum South, with its stately manners that conceal narrow-mindedness and barbaric "chivalry".

Normally, I don't care for films whose subject matter is long ago history. But "Jezebel" is an exception, because it is so well made. I guess it is the tone of the film that really got my attention. The stately beauty of that time and place masks an underlying sadness, as a prelude to tragedy. Some might call it melodrama. But to me, that's just good drama.

Willing to Give It All Up to Be Right

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 11 February 2017]

Much has been written about Bette Davis's performance in this film. Apparently, she thought she would get the role of Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone with the Wind." It didn't work out so she was tossed the role of Julie in "Jezebel." She made due to the hilt. She plays an ambitious woman who feels she can dominate any situation and get what she wants from any man. She is engaged to Henry Fonda who forces her to show her true colors (in the form of a red dress that embarrasses her publicly). Fonda's character cuts her loose and she goes about trying to win him back. She can be compared easily to Scarlett because she seemed to be sort of a Teflon character herself. The ending is quite good as redemption is at stake in the worst of situations. Davis's performance really stands atop the mountain.

Very good Wyler drama with an excellent Davis

[jem132 · 8/10 · 1 June 2008]

Bette Davis gives an excellent performance in this entertaining character study set in the Old South in the 1850's. She plays flighty, flirty, selfish Southern belle Julie Marsden who delights in shocking both her fiancée Preston Dillard (Henry Fonda) and New Orleans society by wearing a scandalous red dress to a ball. Fonda leaves her, and comes back a year later with a Northerner wife (Margaret Lindsay). An outbreak of the dreaded yellow fever hits the city, and Davis, finally realising the damage she has caused after she has lost her lover and caused the death of old friend Buck Cantrell (George Brent), has a chance to atone and try to save the life of a stricken Fonda.

A very good film that still holds up well today. Wyler contributes some particularly well-directed scenes, with Davis' entry to the ball most memorable. The terror of the yellow fever is also excellently conveyed, and the images of countless bodies being carted away is still very powerful. Davis is wonderful as Julie, giving one of her best early performances, although I can't see what she sees in Fonda's Pres Dillard! Davis had far better chemistry with George Brent, and Fonda is just boring. Fay Bainter gives a great supporting performance. I found the ending good, but maybe a little unsatisfying. I like ambiguity, and I don't need thing spelled out to me, but is Davis heading towards certain death with her true love or is she going to nurse him, then give him up to Lindsay? Perhaps that is the film's enduring mystery.

a poor man's version of GONE WITH THE WIND

[lasttimeisaw · 7/10 · 8 August 2017]

Often referred as a black-and-white version of GONE WITH THE WIND, or in a more dismissive but not entirely incorrect comparison, a poor man's version of it, William Wyler's JEZEBEL is not in the same league in terms of the latter's epic scale, chromatic splendor, involute sex politics or an indomitable male player to match its barnstorming female star, but honestly, as a Ms. Bette Davis' star vehicle, it gives her a helluva three-act stage to incarnate a southern belle's petulant, reckless and vindictive perversities with their concomitant ramifications in an antebellum New Orleans, to a point even her final redemption doesn't feel fully justified.

Davis plays Miss Julie Marsden, a pesky and conceited patrician ingénue, who never live up to our expectation of espousal and compassion, in the first act she has no one but herself to answer for the breakup of her engagement with the young banker Preston Dillard (played by a four-square Henry Fonda but nothing more), whom she deeply loves and when she wants him back, one year later, her blithe scheme to stoke Preston's jealousy through cozying up to her long-time admirer Buck Cantrell (Brent) goes awry with disastrous outcome, not that Buck deserves our extolment, who is a foolish man blinded by his irrational hubris and abject subservience. And Preston doesn't fall into her manipulation, he doesn't want her back, because he is now happily married with a Yankee wife Amy (Lindsay), that's the second act, yet we don't see her even shed a tear for the tragedy she is partially responsible for.

A yellow fever epidemic overshadows everything else in the third act, where her repentance and integrity finally well up to the fore and undergirded by a show-stopping Davis, she even transfigures her ultimate self-sacrifice into a self-pleasing triumph in that harrowing final shot, which certifies Ms. Davis' own iconic screen image, she doesn't need or want to be pitied by audience, her character must sustain her pride however vestigial it is and no matter what happens, it is a bold message sending to a sexist world and she should and would be deservingly worshiped for this conducive deed that transforms the presentation of women on the screen, who refuses to be lachrymose and takes all the gnarly consequences in her stride. Although in my book, it recoils upon the wholesome impact of the film per se, there is a fine line between being free-spirited and being thoughtlessly whimsical, Julie has no tact and no grounds to put on a winner's stance (even ostensibly for her heroism) albeit the film shrewdly brings down the curtain there without further exposition since either survival or dead would only gild the lily, after all it is a moral story to exhort young ladies to behave themselves and hits out back-handedly to the manipulative nature of a woman who is privileged with beauty and wealth. Another bad taste comes from the patronizing paragraph of treating black people like uncouth chanting animal, quite an eyesore for viewers in this day and age, that is something even Wyler's scrupulous direction and Max Steiner's sonorous score cannot temper with.

Ms. Davis won her second Oscar for this intrepid work at the age of 31, and in hindsight, an honor which has come premature among her 11 nominations in toto, and probably denies her another trophy for her absolute apotheosis in ALL ABOUT EVE, although 1950 is a such a wonderfully competitive year for actresses. Fay Bainter also takes home a golden statuette for her cracking supporting turn as Aunt Belle Massey, who always stays in close range to counterpoint Julie's disaster-prone caprices with decorum graced with solicitous concern and subtle tenderness, it is also worth mentioning that Ms. Bainter is the first actress being nominated in both leading (for Edmund Goulding's WHITE BANNERS) and supporting categories in the same year, which means she has to compete with two Jezebel co-stars, loses to Davis, but wins over Spring Byington, who is nominated in Frank Capra's YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU (1938).

Wonderfully directed, superbly acted by Davis and Bainter

[preppy-3 · 8/10 · 19 July 2001]

Bette Davis is at her best in this 1800s Southern melodrama in which her attempts to snag a married ex-love (Henry Fonda) end in tragedy. Storywise this is nothing new, and there are way too many scenes were people talk endlessly about Southern manners. Also seeing all the black slaves so happy and singing is a bit hard to take. But the direction by William Wyler is excellent. He directs in a way that makes you part of the action (especially in the ball sequence and a duel at the end). Best of all is Davis. Her performance is superb--when she's on screen you can't take your eyes off her. She won a well-deserved Best Actress Oscar for this. Also Fay Bainter is excellent as her long-suffering aunt--she won Best Supporting Actress. All the acting is good except for Henry Fonda--he's so stiff and dull--what does Davis want with him? One last complaint--it's not in color. I know there are two reasons for this: 1) the expense and 2) they did tests and Davis looked horrible in color (think about it--how many color movies did she make?). Still, the non-stop compliments about the red dress at the beginning are annoying--the dress looks black! Still, this is worth seeing for Davis, Bainter and the direction.

Bette Davis is the main (and only) reason to watch this one

[gbill-74877 · 7/10 · 4 April 2016]

Bette Davis made the most of this part that was given to her as a consolation after Vivien Leigh beat her out for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind. She's excellent in the role as the lithe and spirited southern belle who shocks her fiancé and the rest of society by (gasp) wearing a red dress when white is the rule for unmarried women. Her fiancé is played by Henry Fonda, who's sporting a lot more hair at age 33 than I ever remember him having, and who mercilessly keeps her at the ball even though it's now clear to her that she's made a mistake, and everyone is treating her as a pariah (including clearing off the dance floor as they twirl around). There are so many great scenes with Davis. She gives Fonda a great slap when he leaves her that night for good. She humiliates herself when he comes back a year later and she's on her knees in the dress she should have worn that night, only to be introduced to his wife.

However if Bette Davis had not been cast, this would be a pretty bad movie. Henry Fonda is wooden and awful. Black folks are content and happy to be slaves. Davis's character starts off by proclaiming this is 1852, she can dress as she wants, making us hopeful that she's independent and a pioneer, but she's soon cowed and contrite. She does deviously try to get Fonda back, and in an interesting, subtle parallel, he too becomes a pariah when he contacts yellow fever during an epidemic, but the ending is forced, melodramatic, and abrupt.

Davis was 30 years old when the film was made but had already been in 36 movies, won one Oscar and been nominated for one other, and yet she said this was the role that truly established her. You can see why, and if you can watch it just for her, you'll probably enjoy it.

Belle of the Ball

[BumpyRide · 10/10 · 14 June 2006]

Such a wonderful film, with Davis giving perhaps her best performance on screen. No chain smoking or chewing the scenery here. She plays her character of Julie, aka Jezebel with a quite reserve, showing that still waters do run deep. William Wyler makes the most of his cast with all delivering (except for Press' wife) believable, touching performances. Fay Bainter is exceptional here and rightfully took home the Oscar for her performance along with Davis. It's unfortunate that this was not filmed in Technicolor. I would loved to have seen this in rich, saturated color. In many ways, I find this much more enjoyable than GWTW. The old South and it's "strange ways" never once strikes an odd chord. The last scene is very strong and touching with Julie pleading to "Make me clean like you." The somber music returns and you hear the cannon fire and you see Julie cradling Press' head as they head toward the leper island, no fear in her eyes. You have no doubt she'll persevere.

Love Story Evolves.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 3 August 2011]

It's 1852 in New Orleans. Gentlemen are always in evening clothes and young ladies flounce up and down the grand staircase of the big house in hooped skirts. Dem darkies serve de meals and stand on de porch to serenade de white folk.

It's about a spirited and independent young Southern Belle (Davis) who insists on wearing a bright red dress to a formal ball at which all unmarried young virgins wear only white. She forces her beau (Fonda) to take her to the ball and the other guests shun them quietly. It costs her Fonda's love. He goes up North (!) and brings back a Yankee wife! Will the narcissistic Davis win back the love of her man? That's the sappy part of the movie. The more interesting part deals with the pre-war South as a culture of honor. A brief explanation.

New England was settled by strict Puritans who labored under the yoke of an unforgiving God. The South, on the other hand, was settled by rough-and-ready cavaliers who came from a different part of England and carried with them different values. (I'm entirely certain that all qualified historians will agree with these Olympian generalizations.) One of the imported values was the concept of personal honor among men and a tendency to respond to insults with ritualized violence. Here's an example from the movie.

Two rivals for Davis's hand meet at the formal ball. One of them (Fonda) is expecting the other (Brent) to say something derogatory about Davis's blood red dress.

Brent to Fonda: "Pleasant weather. A little cool." Fonda, without expression: "Do you find it cool in here? I don't find it cool." Brent: "Well --" Fonda, to Davis: "Do you find it cool in here?" Davis, trying to avoid a challenge between the men: "Its -- it's just right." This code duello was characteristic of the cavaliers. It remained in effect in the South long after it had disappeared elsewhere. It spread to the West and took the form of the Western gunfight. There were so many challenges pending in the Confederate Army that Jefferson Davis had to make certain all the adversaries were posted at a great distance from one another. And it persists today, regardless of race. Don't "diss" me, man.

It's fascinating to watch this engram play out on the screen. Most of us wouldn't last very long in such a culture, unless we were women. The women get to gossip and covertly throw insults at one another with innuendo and gossip. But their honor is stoutly defended. Also on the good side, a culture of honor promotes politeness and hospitality. That's because you had BETTER be polite to acquaintances -- or else. Aliens, of course, are another matter.

I wonder if that's a little off topic? If so, I apologize. You see, I am a cultural anthropologist and it's my nature, sir, to make these observations -- meaning no insult, of course, to you, to your culture, or your beautiful and gracious lady. Thank you so much.

My sometimes reliable TV guide gave this three and a half stars out of a possible four. I believe the person doing the ratings was being overly polite, perhaps not wanting to offend. I'd give it about a two.

The spell that Bette Davis casts over some people never really affected me much. I admired her spirit and her acting ability. She did a great job in the right part. But this movie turns her into a kind of Scarlett O'Hara, the principal character in a wildly successful movie that was to appear the following year.

The sensitivity of the men, the genteel quality of the women, the superstitions surrounding the epidemic of yellow fever (cured by Walter Reed many years later), the wardrobe and make up, the intimations of the Civil War that was nine years in the future -- all keep the viewer's interest alive throughout. The happy darkies are a little hard to swallow, but that was then and this is now.

Bette Davis Deserved the Oscar of Best Actress in a Leading Role

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 1 July 2009]

In 1852, in New Orleans, the southern Julie Marsden (Bette Davis) is an impulsive and spoiled young woman from the society of Louisiana. Her fiancée is the successful young banker Preston Dillard (Henry Fonda), who is climbing in his career with his dedication and work. When Preston stays in a meeting in the bank instead of with Julie, she wears a red dress against Preston will in a traditional ball where the upper class ladies white to get even, shocking the local society with her attitude. The mortified Preston calls their engagement off and moves to the branch of the bank in New York. When Preston returns to New Orleans one year later, Julie believes that he misses her and organizes a dinner party to welcome him and ask for his forgiveness. However, Preston is married with the New Yorker Amy (Margaret Lindsay) and the surprised Julie does not accept his marriage and decides to fight for him. The vindictive Julie uses the rivalry and hostility between North and South to make Amy uncomfortable and the situation provokes a fatal duel between her former boyfriend Buck Cantrell (George Brent) and his friend Ted (Richard Cromwell). Meanwhile Preston is contaminated in New Orleans by the Yellow Jack and Julie disputes with Amy the right to nurse him in an isolation island with lepers.

"Jezebel" is another great movie of Bette Davis and William Wyler based on the southern lifestyle a couple of years before the American Civil War. Bette Davis character is a controlling, independent and spoiled young woman and when she finds out that her former fiancé is married, she tells her aunt that she would fight for him despite being married and her aunt compares Julie with Jezebel. The Biblical name Jezebel is the synonym of a promiscuous, wicked and manipulative woman. The story also focuses the outbreak that happened in 1853 in New Orleans, Louisiana, where thousands of residents died. The comparison with "Gone with the Wind" is inevitable since Julie Marsden and Scarlett O'Hara characters have many characteristics in common. Bette Davis deserved the Oscar of Best Actress in a Leading Role. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Jezebel"

Note: On 28 August 2011, I saw this film again on DVD.

"Maybe I love her most when she's her meanest, because I know that's when she's loving most"

[Bored_Dragon · 7/10 · 17 June 2020]

New Orleans, 1852. A spoiled and stubborn southern girl overdrives with defiance and games until her fiancé leaves her and goes to New York. In solitude, she realizes what she has lost and decides to bring him back at the first opportunity. But when, a year later, the former fiancé returns to New Orleans in the middle of the Yellow Fever epidemic, she realizes that she has waited too long.

A story of love, growing up, self-sufficiency, and redemption, set in vivid images of the South in the middle of the nineteenth century, much resembling "Gone with the Wind". This movie doesn't even come close to its more famous peer, but it is elevated from mediocrity by the masterful performance of the legendary Bette Davis in one her strongest roles, for which she won an Oscar.

7/10

Should Have Been Set in the Old North, and Thank God Bette Didn't Play Scarlett!

[oldblackandwhite · 4/10 · 27 September 2010]

I realize I will be placing myself in a much-despised minority for saying so, but I think Jezebel is one of the most over-rated movies of all time, and Bette Davis' Accademy Award winning performance in the same class. Bette Davis expressed much public pique that she was not picked to play Scarlett in Gone With The Wind, which is perhaps one of the reasons Barbara Stanwick called her "an egotistical little bitch". Probably not the only reason. In any case she demonstrates in Jezebel what an awful Scarlett she would have been and would have therefore ruined that unassailable center piece of Hollywood's golden era. The most perfect movie of all time would have just become another Bette Davis vehicle, and probably not one of her better ones. Don't get me wrong. I love Bette and most of her movies from this period. She had a wonderful range as an actress -- from hard-bitten floozy to noble, self-sacrificing old maid school teacher to Queen of England. But Jezebel showed that Southern belle was a number that wasn't in her scope. Her Southern accent was a total flop with her brittle New England accent frequently breaking through. Except for the occasional eye flutter, she never mastered the demure facial expressions or ethereal body language that the honeysuckle dames use to cover up their razor-edged ruthlessness. The scene of her sitting on the porch steps after the ball with a goofy, dreamy, self-indulgent expression while her black slaves gathered to sing and dance jigs for her was high embarrassment. Accademy Award? She should have gotten a booby prize!

Henry Fonda was even worse. Both his flat speech and his brusque manners displayed his Midwestern origins, his only concession to a Southern accent saying "Suh!" at the end of every address to a male character. I'm not so sure there wasn't some instance in which he slipped up and said "Suh!" to one of the females. Irish George Brent's interpretation of a Southern blade was to punctuate every sentence with wide-eyed eyebrow lifts and walk with ridiculous bounce in his step. The only actors with major parts who believably captured the Southern persona were Fay Bainter, a real-life southerner, and the ever-reliable Donald Crisp. Even the slaves didn't seem like real southern afro-Americans. They came off more like bored Kansas City factory workers. And what about French accents -- southern fried French, that is. This movie was supposed to be set in Lousiana. The speech of some of the characters, both white and black ones, should have showed a Gallic taint.

The script that they and usually inspired director William Wyler were handed probably did not help. Everything about it was unbelievable. There was no sensible reason any woman, even a spoiled southern belle would behave as Bette's character did in the red dress incident. The duels and the continuous challenges to same were quite inauthentic. Dueling was common in the South then all right, but challenges and actual bloodshed not nearly so much so as portrayed in Jezebel. Before the principals would ever meet on the "field of honor", there was a long process of exchanging letters and messages carried by the seconds in an attempt to reach a "satisfactory explanation" that would avoid the confrontation. Exchanges of fire with shakily held smooth-bore pistols were infrequently deadly. Often after one nonlethal exchange, the seconds could talk the principals into saying that each's honor had been satisfied. Had the Southern gentlemen had been as touchy and have dueled as frequently and as lethally as portrayed in this movie, they would have all killed each other off in short time. Then there would have been no ready-made officer corps to lead the Confederate Army, and it wouldn't have taken you Yankees with every advantage in numbers and material so long to subdue us in "the late war".

The script was bad from beginning to end, but worst of all was the end. Now watch out! this is the "spoiler". I felt humiliated putting the necessary "spoiler alert" at the beginning of this review, because the end of this movie spoils itself. That's right. It is "The Lady or the Tiger" ending. In other words there is no ending. The viewer is just left hanging as to the fate of the leading characters! Hardly any publisher will publish a story or novel which ends this way. Most readers upon finishing a novel with such an ending will never read another by that author. I'm glad I had previously seen some of Wyler's fine work like The Best Years of Our Lives and The Westerner. Otherwise I would have never wanted to watch another movie directed by him after seeing Jezebel. It is little wonder the play Jezebel was based upon flopped in only a few weeks. The wonder is that Warner Brothers would have wanted to waste talent and money turning it into a major motion picture.

To sum up Jezebel's main problem: neither the script writers, nor the director, and few in the cast had any idea how to portray Southern culture, manners, and characters, which is what the show was supposed to be about. They would have been much better off to have relocated the time and setting to New York in the early 1800's. New York then still had slavery, still had frequent dueling, had frequent yellow fever epidemics, and had a snooty, aristocratic upper class who dominated everything. Little about the story would have had to have been changed. Then all of the Yankee actors and actresses involved in this over-cooked turkey wouldn't have had to embarrass themselves and the rest of us with their phony Southerner imitations.