Mr Indemnity gave me this on DVD awhile ago for reasons I don't remember. Somehow he had a spare or something. No idea. I'm old. So, anyway, I had never seen it before and was happy to take it to peruse at my leisure.
Well, over the last few weeks I've seen most of it, though not in chronological order. You know how I am about watching movies in bed. Let's just talk about first impressions. God, does this movie bring the snark. I think it's instructive to watch old films, just so you don't start thinking sarcasm was invented somewhere around 1975 or that hipsters were the original discoverers of cynicism. Bette Davis looks older than the 40 years old she was supposed to be in the movie and the 42 she actually was. Anne Baxter seems dowdy to me even when she's no longer meant to be and I don't know if that's because those early 50s clothes and hairdos are just inherently dowdy or because I just don't think she's so pretty for whatever reason. Marilyn! I didn't even know she was in this, so imagine my delight when she popped up at the party. Is there a young actress these days who could play "vacuous sexpot bimbo" and hold the audience's attention with charisma, not just boobs?
I will report back at some point, I suppose, when I've watched the film in its entirety and in order, with more cogent criticism. But right now I'll just say that "seemingly innocent person who turns out to be evil as shit" is one of my favorite tropes, so I'm enjoying this!
xoxo
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