It is strange how an unsuccessful play can sometimes be turned into a highly successful film. The best-known example is probably "Casablanca" which is generally regarded as one of the great classics of the American cinema, even though nobody would consider its original source, "Everybody Comes to Rick's", one of the great classics of the American theatre. (Indeed, the play has never been published and was first performed as recently as 1991).
Similarly, the original stage version of "Dark Victory" only ran for a few weeks on Broadway, but Hollywood always recognises a good tear-jerking story when it sees one, and quickly snapped up the film rights. The plot is essentially that of "La Traviata" or, for that matter, that of "Love Story", which is perhaps the most famous cinematic treatment of this theme in recent decades, although it is far from being the only one. Indeed, in recent years terminal illness has become a stock cliché, the starting-point of all those "disease of the month" TV movies. In the thirties, however, the theme was perhaps rather more original than it would be today.
The plot can be summarised as boy meets girl, boy marries girl, girl dies tragically but bravely of some fatal condition. The girl in this case is Judith Traherne, a spoilt, hedonistic socialite whose main interests in life are party-going and horse riding. The boy is Frederick Steele, the brilliant surgeon who operates on her when she is diagnosed with a brain tumour. The tumour, in fact, proves to be incurable, but Steele, who has fallen in love with his patient, pretends to her that the operation has been a success to allow them a short period of happiness together. A crisis, however, comes when Judith discovers that Steele has lied to her. The title is taken from a speech in which Judith declares that if she can face death with courage this will represent a "victory over the dark".
It is said that Bette Davis considered this her best performance, although I would respectfully disagree; I found her better in some of her other films from around this period, such as "Jezebel" or "The Letter". She is, however, by far the best thing about this film, and succeeds in lifting it above the level of the run-of-the-mill weepie it could so easily have been. She was not the most naturalistic of actors, but her very theatrical style of acting, characterised by heightened emotions, fitted in well with the "filmed theatre" style of film-making which prevailed at this time, and she must be regarded as one of the leading screen actresses of the thirties and forties. (Whether her style of acting would fit in with modern styles of film-making is another matter altogether). The character of Judith goes through considerable development in the course of the film, from the spoilt little rich girl of the opening scenes to the strong, courageous, dignified woman of the later ones, so Davis was required to call on a considerable range of emotions.
None of the other actors are as good as Davis. I was surprised to see a screen legend like Humphrey Bogart cast in the minor role of Michael, Judith's Irish groom who is secretly in love with her, especially as Bogart makes a hopeless attempt at an Irish accent. The role of Steele is a rather thankless one as he is less a character than an idealised archetype of the noble, idealistic doctor, and George Brent's performance is a rather stolid one. He does not bring much passion to the role, even though he and Davis were lovers in real life at the time they made this film. It might have been better if these two actors had switched roles; Brent, an Irishman by birth, would have had no problems with the accent, and Bogart might have made Dr Steele a more interesting figure.
I must confess that tear-jerkers are not always my favourite movie genre; my view of "Love Story" is similar to Oscar Wilde's view of Dickens' "Old Curiosity Shop"- a man must have a heart of stone to be able to watch it without laughing. "Dark Victory" is a rather better film than "Love Story", although it does have its weaknesses. Nevertheless, I am surprised that it was nominated for an Oscar in 1939, a year which is sometimes regarded as the best in Hollywood's history, when some much better films, such as "Dodge City", missed out. 6/10
