{"id":4343,"date":"2007-09-21T10:34:29","date_gmt":"2007-09-21T17:34:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=4343"},"modified":"2020-12-03T09:53:17","modified_gmt":"2020-12-03T16:53:17","slug":"great-lie-the-1941","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=4343","title":{"rendered":"Great Lie, The (1941)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;If I didn&#8217;t think you meant so well, I&#8217;d feel like slapping your face.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/Great-Lie-Poster.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/Great-Lie-Poster-198x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"198\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-56108\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/Great-Lie-Poster-198x300.png 198w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/Great-Lie-Poster-675x1024.png 675w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/Great-Lie-Poster-84x128.png 84w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/Great-Lie-Poster-178x270.png 178w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/Great-Lie-Poster.png 730w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 198px) 100vw, 198px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nWhen pilot Pete Van Allen (George Brent) learns that his whirlwind marriage to temperamental pianist Sandra Kovak (Mary Astor) isn&#8217;t legal, he visits his former flame Maggie (Bette Davis) and realizes he wants to marry her instead. Pete&#8217;s plane is soon lost in the jungles of Brazil, and when Maggie learns that Sandra is pregnant with Pete&#8217;s child, she convinces Sandra to let Maggie raise the baby as a memento of her dead husband, in exchange for monetary renumeration. Things become more complicated, however, when it turns out Pete is still alive&#8230;\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>Edmund Goulding Films<\/li>\n<li>George Brent Films<\/li>\n<li>Love Triangle<\/li>\n<li>Mary Astor Films<\/li>\n<li>Pregnancy<\/li>\n<li>Rivalry<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nThis melodramatic &#8220;women&#8217;s flick&#8221; is primarily notable for the juicy interplay between its two strong female leads &#8212; Bette Davis (atypically cast in the more sympathetic role) and Mary Astor (who deservedly won an Oscar for her portrayal as a ruthlessly self-absorbed concert pianist). Davis and Astor rewrote much of the script themselves &#8212; improvising whenever possible &#8212; and their efforts yield positive results: while the overall narrative of the film still defies belief (see the synopsis above), individual scenes between the women remain enjoyably catty. In order to really appreciate <em>The Great Lie<\/em>, one must suspend disbelief again and again (would Davis <em>really<\/em> be that interested in raising her rival&#8217;s child as her own? would Astor <em>really<\/em> take 9 months off from her busy touring schedule in exchange for money she doesn&#8217;t seem to need?) &#8212; but, if you&#8217;re willing, chances are you&#8217;ll be waiting anxiously to see how this most unusual love triangle ultimately resolves.  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Mary Astor&#8217;s Oscar-winning performance as bitchy Sandra Kovak<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/astor.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/astor.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"625\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4342\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Bette Davis as Maggie<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/bettedavis.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/bettedavis.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"625\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4344\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Some zingy one-liners: &#8220;I&#8217;m not one of you anemic creatures who can get nourishment from a lettuce leaf &#8212; I&#8217;m a musician, I&#8217;m an artist!&#8221;<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/appetite.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/appetite.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"625\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4345\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Max Steiner&#8217;s score<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, simply for the lead female performances. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Noteworthy Performance(s)<\/li>\n<li>Oscar Winner or Nominees<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0033677\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1941\/04\/12\/archives\/bette-davis-wriggles-out-of-the-great-lie-at-the-strand-dead-end.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.classicfilmguide.com\/index.php?s=essential&#038;item=310\">Classic Film Guide Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.threemoviebuffs.com\/review.php?movieID=greatlie\">Three Movie Buffs Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/6u-ffX6kN1Q\">Tired Old Queen at the Movies Video Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;If I didn&#8217;t think you meant so well, I&#8217;d feel like slapping your face.&#8221; Synopsis: When pilot Pete Van Allen (George Brent) learns that his whirlwind marriage to temperamental pianist Sandra Kovak (Mary Astor) isn&#8217;t legal, he visits his former flame Maggie (Bette Davis) and realizes he wants to marry her instead. Pete&#8217;s plane is soon lost in the jungles of Brazil, and when Maggie learns that Sandra is pregnant with Pete&#8217;s child, she convinces Sandra to let Maggie raise&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=4343\"> 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-4343","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\/4343","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=4343"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56110,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4343\/revisions\/56110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}