Jezebel (1938) | |
| Director(s) | William Wyler |
| Producer(s) | William Wyler, Henry Blanke (associate uncredited), Hal B. Wallis (executive uncredited) |
| Top Genres | Drama, Romance |
| Top Topics | Based on Play, Book-Based, Old South |
Featured Cast:
Jezebel Overview:
Jezebel (1938) was a Drama - Romance Film directed by William Wyler and produced by William Wyler, Hal B. Wallis and Henry Blanke.
SYNOPSIS
The role perhaps most closely associated with Davis is an utter triumph. As a coquettish belle in the Civil War South, Davis taunts and teases the men who desire her (Fonda and Brent) until her options vanish and she's faced with life alone. She realizes her shallowness and the depth of her potential loss when Fonda becomes ill. Wyler and Davis were famous combatants, but the director was able to elicit her best work (here and in The Little Foxes, 1941). He was noted for endless takes and for allowing scenes to develop in one shot rather than by intercutting close-ups and reaction shots. This required discipline and concentration from actors. The results, as in this, were worth the effort.
(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).
.Jezebel was inducted into the National Film Registry in 2009.
Academy Awards 1938 --- Ceremony Number 11 (source: AMPAS)
| Award | Recipient | Result |
| Best Actress | Bette Davis | Won |
| Best Supporting Actress | Fay Bainter | Won |
| Best Cinematography | Ernest Haller | Nominated |
| Best Music - Scoring | Max Steiner | Nominated |
| Best Picture | Warner Bros. | Nominated |
BlogHub Articles:
The Colors of Contagion in JEZEBEL (1938)
By Jennifer Garlen on Jan 30, 2024 From Virtual ViragoBette Davis won her second Academy Award for Best Actress for the Civil War melodrama, Jezebel (1938), which took advantage of the cultural mania over Gone with the Wind by using many of the same plot elements and beating the 1939 blockbuster to theaters. Like Gone with the Wind, Jezebel tells the s... Read full article
Jezebel (1938): A Bette Davis Southern Belle
By 4 Star Film Fan on Aug 22, 2019 From 4 Star FilmsThe oldest movie?theater near where I grew up was built in 1938 and by some?peculiar coincidence, Bette Davis is said to have driven by the establishment time and time again. Being the iron-willed personality that she was, the rising star demanded they open with her latest movie. (I?assume very few ... Read full article
TCM Classic Film Festival Day 1: 7 Seconds of Bette Davis in JEZEBEL (1938)
By Lara on Apr 6, 2017 From BacklotsThis afternoon, classic film fans from around the country and the world descended upon the stretch of Hollywood Boulevard that runs from the Roosevelt Hotel?to the Egyptian Theater for the opening of the TCM Classic Film Festival. For much of the day, the street was completely blocked off for the re... Read full article
Jezebel (1938) (3)
By Beatrice on Nov 23, 2013 From Flickers in TimeJezebel Directed by William Wyler Written by Clements Ripley, Abem Finkel and John Huston from the play by Owen Davis 1938/USA Warner Bros Repeat viewing #120 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die Julie Marsden: Can’t I? I’m goin’ to. This is 1852, dumplin’. 1852, not ... Read full article
Jezebel (1938) (2)
By Brandy Dean on Nov 21, 2013 From Pretty Clever FilmsWhen the novel Gone with the Wind became a runaway best-seller, the office of independent producer and films rights holder David O. Selznick was flooded with fan suggestions for casting. They wanted Clark Gable as Butler (natch) but they also really, really wanted Bette Davis as Scarlett O’Har... Read full article
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Quotes from
Amy Bradford Dillard: I'll make him live or die with him.
Julie: Amy, Amy, do you know the Creole word for fever powder, for food and water? How to talk to a sullen, overworked black boy and make him fear you and help you? Pres's life and yours will hang on things just like that, and you'll both surely die.
Amy Bradford Dillard: Then it will have to be that way.
Julie: It's not a question of provin' your love by layin' down your life for Pres. Nothin' so easy. Have you the knowledge and the human strength to fight for his life and for your own as one will have to fight? Amy, it's no longer you or me.
Amy Bradford Dillard: What do you mean?
Julie: I'll make him live, I will. Whatever you might do, I can do more, 'cause I know how to fight better than you. Amy, if you knew the horror of that place. It isn't a hospital. It's a desolate island haunted by death. They'll put Pres in an open shed with a hundred others. You must be there with him day and night, watchin' every breath he draws. You must bathe him, keep him clean, give him drugs, fight for his food and water. You must keep the livin' from him and the dead. Be there by him with your body between him and Death.
General Bogardus: [warning Cantrell about dueling] Cantrell, you're a fool! De Lautuc's an old hand. Been out a dozen times.
Buck Cantrell: 13's liable to be unlucky for De Lautruc. You know, these French. They shoot for the head and, like as not, miss. I'm gonna shoot for the body and bust his tripes.
Julie: [before Preston walks away] Oh Pres, you forgot your stick.
Preston Dillard: So I did.
[glares at Julie]
Preston Dillard: And I fogot to use it too
Julie: [replies smartly] So ya did
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Facts about
In order to minimize the impact of potentially going over budget (as this film did), director William Wyler shot all of the most expensive scenes first.
At the time of filming director William Wyler and lead actor Henry Fonda were both ex-husbands of actress Margaret Sullavan.
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