Mark A
Not her best, but worth seeing Bette Davis.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/03/23
Full Review
william d
Decent enough melodrama with an unusual ending. Davis definitely earned her Oscar for this one.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
Audience Member
In 1935, the year after being bypassed for the Academy Award for, "Of Human Bondage," Hollywood, acting in a forgiving manner, gave her the award as Best Actress. By Ms. Davis' own admission, Katherine Hepburn should have won for "Alice Adams".
We are not saying she wasn't worth it, on the contrary, Ms. Davis always gave her best in all her films. Sometimes, contributors to IMDb, upon sending their comments, have a way of predicting that the film they are reviewing, or one of its actors will receive the nomination, or the award come Oscar time. In fact, as it seems to be in most cases, bypassed actors on a particular year get awards for work, later on, for inferior work they did that year and were overlooked by the fickle voting members of that body before.
"Dangerous" was directed by Alfred Green and based on a story by Laird Doyle. The story of an actress who has fallen victim to alcoholism makes good melodrama. As such, Joyce Heath, Ms. Davis' character, is seen at the beginning of the film as a woman who wants to forget it all, in order to do some serious drinking.
Donald Bellows is a man that was deeply impressed by the actress, who he saw as Juliet in the New York stage, and became obsessed by her artistry. When he meets her at the dive where she is drinking cheap liquor, he believes he can save this woman who is wasting her talent. Joyce, eventually, falls in love with Don, but she is reluctant to marry him, which is a puzzle to us. Little do we know about the secret Joyce Heath is hiding from Don, which comes to haunt her at the end of the film.
Bette Davis transforms herself from the opening scenes where she looks disheveled into the glamorous actress of the theater she really is. Her performance is good, but we have seen much better performances by this glorious actress, before this film, and after. Franchot Tone makes an appealing Donald Bellows, the man who tries to save his idol from her addiction to the bottle. Margaret Lindsay plays Gail, who is engaged to be married to Donald.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/08/23
Full Review
steve d
Only Davis saves it.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
03/30/23
Full Review
Audience Member
This film is a pale imitation of Of Human Bondage (1934) which shot Bette Davis towards superstardom and caused so much controversy when she was not officially nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. In 1935 she received what was clearly a consolation prize for playing a very similar role in Dangerous which is a markedly inferior film. I was not familiar with the film's director Alfred E. Green before seeing this film but I will try to watch Disraeli (1929) in the future because I understand it is acclaimed. I don't think this is one of those essential classic films from the 1930s, it's hardly Gone With the Wind (1939) or It Happened One Night (1934), so it probably isn't worth watching unless you adore this era of films or Bette Davis as an actress.
Faded actress Joyce Heath, Bette Davis, is considered dangerous to the men around her because she caused her husband Gordon, John Eldredge, to lose all of his savings while they were married. Smitten architect Don Bellows, Franchot Tone, is unaware of this while he tries to help her and he invests all of his savings into a play she will star in against the recommendations of his wealthy fiancé Gail Armitage, Margaret Lindsay. She ends up in a car accident which leaves Don ruined but allows him to finally shake his fixation on her and lets them both return to the people they really should be with.
Despite Davis' performance not being quite as great as her work in All About Eve (1950), Dark Victory (1939) and The Little Foxes (1941) she is still pretty fantastic for the time period and the film does try to show off her abilities. In early scenes we get the sense of a young Margo Channing, a woman who feels beaten down by the world despite once having been great, and it's wonderful watching her bat off the advances of an eager, admiring young man. She holds herself with a world weariness that befits the character and defines what a lot of the quintessential Davis characters would be in the future. I have to say that I would not have given her the Academy Award for this role because I think she does better work in other films and Miriam Hopkins gives a far more memorable performance in Becky Sharp (1935) which is a fun romp if a little over the top.
The rest of the film sort of falls apart as it recycles plot elements from other, better films but doesn't commit to the tragedy enough to be truly enjoyable. What made the 1934 film so great was just how nasty and manipulative Mildred Rogers was but in this film Joyce is not a villain but a victim of bad luck. That makes the film rather dull because we don't get one of those delicious moments when we realize that our male protagonist is completely trapped and is on the road to all sorts of horrors if he doesn't cut this woman out of his life. Here we know that something bad is going to happen, obviously, but there is nobody to root against and we can't really cheer at the end because there was no real tension, no real villainy or heroism in the first place. Go watch one of those old Bette Davis or Joan Crawford, who I have to admit I prefer, films like This Woman Is Dangerous (1952) which are ridiculously entertaining despite the plot holes and campy performances, they still bring me pleasure even sixty or seventy years after they were made.
Watching a film like this reminds me why most 1930s cinema isn't exactly popular today because while it's extremely short at just 79 minutes I felt the time slowly wearing on. This film brought me none of the sorrow of Make Way for Tomorrow (1937) and not even a fraction of the soapy joy that something like Cavalcade (1933) elicits in it's final moments. For all of those reasons I would warn you to stay away from this overrated pile of nothingness and watch one of Davis' better films or a Joan Crawford vehicle or one of the countless classics to come out of the 1930s.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/01/23
Full Review
david l
Although the third act features a twist that is somewhat difficult to grasp, Dangerous is still a very strong, emotionally rewarding melodrama with very good characterization, excellent dialogue, a couple of terrific, memorable sequences and two superb performances from Franchot Tone and Bette Davis in her Oscar-winning role.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
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