London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival 2008 – Saturday, April 5
To celebrate Bette Davis‘ centenary, Dr. Martin Shingler will give "an illustrated lecture on Bette’s movies and why gay men and lesbians love her so." (Talk about a sweeping generalization…)
Many consider Irving Rapper’s Now, Voyager (1942) the best Bette Davis vehicle of her Warner Bros. years. I’m not one of those many. I find it overlong and overwrought, featuring one of Davis’ most unconvincing acting jobs of that period.
Robert Aldrich’s What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) is my favorite of the Grand Guignol movies of the 1960s. Though tighter editing and a screenplay less reliant on absurd coincidences would have helped, Baby Jane? is great entertainment chiefly because it features three top-notch performances — by Bette Davis, [...]
