{"id":32682,"date":"2013-11-06T10:36:52","date_gmt":"2013-11-06T17:36:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=32682"},"modified":"2020-11-29T11:50:24","modified_gmt":"2020-11-29T18:50:24","slug":"mr-skeffington-1944","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=32682","title":{"rendered":"Mr. Skeffington (1944)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;I married the woman everyone else wanted to.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Mr-Skeffington-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Mr-Skeffington-Poster-197x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-32683\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Mr-Skeffington-Poster-197x300.jpg 197w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Mr-Skeffington-Poster-84x128.jpg 84w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Mr-Skeffington-Poster.jpg 580w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA narcissistic socialite (Bette Davis) marries a wealthy Jewish businessman (Claude Rains) to ensure that she and her shiftless brother (Richard Waring) are financially secure &#8212; but her marriage to Job Skeffington (Rains) remains loveless, and she continues to entertain a bevy of suitors until her looks finally begin to fade.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bette Davis Films<\/li>\n<li>Claude Rains Films<\/li>\n<li>Historical Drama<\/li>\n<li>Marital Problems<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nVincent Sherman faced notoriously challenging circumstances during his filming of <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Elizabeth_von_Arnim\">Elizabeth von Armin<\/a>&#8216;s historical novel  &#8212; primarily the death of Davis&#8217;s husband one week into shooting, which led to Davis making life miserable for just about everyone on the set (including Sherman himself, her on-and-off-again lover). The resulting film is a sluggish, tonally inconsistent &#8220;women&#8217;s drama&#8221; which never really finds its footing and feels too long by half. Davis, though enthusiastic, is simply miscast as a flirtatiously irresistible beauty:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Mr-Skeffington-Davis-Beauty.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Mr-Skeffington-Davis-Beauty.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-55664\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Mr-Skeffington-Davis-Beauty.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Mr-Skeffington-Davis-Beauty-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Mr-Skeffington-Davis-Beauty-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Mr-Skeffington-Davis-Beauty-360x270.png 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8230; who&#8217;s never at a loss for suitors (who in turn come across more like a comedic Greek chorus than realistic supporting characters). Rains is as invested as always in the title role &#8212; but he&#8217;s really secondary to the proceedings; this tale should have been called <em>Fanny Skeffington<\/em> instead, given that it&#8217;s primarily concerned with tracking Davis&#8217;s predictably disastrous fall-from-grace, hastened by a convenient bout of appearance-wracking diphtheria. To that end, the final portion of the film &#8212; in which the hideously transformed Fanny finally gets her comeuppance &#8212; provides the most entertainment value, in a gruesomely baroque manner; one can&#8217;t help thinking of Davis&#8217;s later <a href=\"http:\/\/www.answers.com\/topic\/grand-guignol\">Grand Guignol<\/a> performances when viewing her mask-like visage (see still below). <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A grotesquely baroque tale of feminine narcissism turned sour<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Mr-Skeffington-Face.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Mr-Skeffington-Face.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-32685\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Mr-Skeffington-Face.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Mr-Skeffington-Face-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Mr-Skeffington-Face-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Mr-Skeffington-Curls.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Mr-Skeffington-Curls.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-32684\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Mr-Skeffington-Curls.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Mr-Skeffington-Curls-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Mr-Skeffington-Curls-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Mr-Skeffington-Mirror.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Mr-Skeffington-Mirror.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-32686\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Mr-Skeffington-Mirror.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Mr-Skeffington-Mirror-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Mr-Skeffington-Mirror-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, though it&#8217;s worth a look simply for its curiosity value. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0037094\/\">IMDb entry<\/a>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/2372\/mr-skeffington#articles-reviews?articleId=87863\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s1639davi.html\">DVD Savant Review (scroll down)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.allmovie.com\/movie\/mr-skeffington-v33696\/review\">All Movie Guide Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.timeout.com\/london\/film\/mr-skeffington\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;I married the woman everyone else wanted to.&#8221; Synopsis: A narcissistic socialite (Bette Davis) marries a wealthy Jewish businessman (Claude Rains) to ensure that she and her shiftless brother (Richard Waring) are financially secure &#8212; but her marriage to Job Skeffington (Rains) remains loveless, and she continues to entertain a bevy of suitors until her looks finally begin to fade. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Bette Davis Films Claude Rains Films Historical Drama Marital Problems Review: Vincent Sherman faced notoriously&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=32682\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32682"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55665,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32682\/revisions\/55665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}