Joseph L. Mankiewicz directs Bette Davis, Anne Baxter and George Sanders in this witty drama where a seemingly timid but secretly ruthless ingénue insinuates herself into the life of an aging Broadway star.

Hollywood’s cattiest ever script and George Sanders is the tiger king of all the big pusses. Too brutal to be a “woman’s picture”, too funny to be a melodrama, too frank to be fluff. Davis is resplendent here. Revving her engine ready to burn rubber with every line and glower. The ending is one of classic Hollywood’s very best. Transports you into the back stabbing cruel world of the theatre like a shack in a twister. The glamour – Love it.

9

Perfect Double Bill: Stage Door (1937)

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