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.
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.