Rent Jezebel (1938)

Louisiana Soap (spoiler). - Jezebel review by Steve

Delirious southern soaper set in New Orleans in 1852. Bette Davis is a headstrong, vain aristocrat of the slave owning class who loses her industrious, progressive fiancé (Henry Fonda) when she wears a scarlet dress to a ball when the convention was for maidens to wear white. After her capriciousness leads to the death of Fonda's brother in a duel, she seeks redemption during an epidemic of yellow fever.

The deep south setting allows an exotic, febrile melodrama even before the disease arrives. It's all top hats, billowing petticoats, neoclassical architecture and southern hospitality. Davis' blue blooded belle isn't likeable, but she gives star performance, creating a profound personality. The male characters are just context, even Fonda. She deservedly won the Oscar.

The portrayal of the slaves is uncomfortably careless. The North leaning Fonda is obviously a more liberal thinker, but the scene when the black characters express their excitement to be back on the plantation is hard to forgive. There is some mitigation. William Wyler portrays the haughty, rich southerners as misguided, even stupid, and about to be swallowed up by history.

The end when Davis accompanies the dying Fonda to the plague island is plainly preposterous but it gets by because of the exalted climax to Max Steiner's score. There's a handsome production generally. The ballroom scene is classic Hollywood. Jezebel is the work of a talented director at a great studio but the iniquities of slavery are less a concern to Warner Brothers than Bette's costumes.