The Little Foxes

Rating:
Summary: LOUSY TRANSFER OF A BETTE DAVIS CLASSIC
Review: "The Little Foxes" is based on the play by Lillian Hellman. It stars Bette Davis as Regina, a ruthless matriarch in a Southern family steeped in deceit, fraud and betrayal. Regina wants to be rich again and to this end she is willing to destroy her two brothers, sell her only daughter in marriage to her first cousin and kill her first husband to court a new love. This is one tough and classy dame! Teresa Wright is ideally cast as Regina's daughter.
TRANSFER: YUCK! YUCK! YUCK! Although the print shows little signs of age related artifacts, nothing can excuse the edge enhancement, shimmering of fine details and aliasing that is inherent in nearly every scene. It really is distracting, especially as a lot of the key scenes are played out on a winding banister with ornate spindles that shake and shimmy all over the screen - enough to give one a small headache. The audio is mono and very nicely balanced.
EXTRAS: A Theatrical trailer that looks as though it was fed through a meat grinder.
BOTTOM LINE: This isn't one to spend your money on!

Rating:
Summary: LOUSY TRANSFER OF A BETTE DAVIS CLASSIC
Review: "The Little Foxes" is based on the play by Lillian Hellman. It stars Bette Davis as Regina, a ruthless matriarch in a Southern family steeped in deceit, fraud and betrayal. Regina wants to be rich again and to this end she is willing to destroy her two brothers, sell her only daughter in marriage to her first cousin and kill her first husband to court a new love. This is one tough and classy dame! Teresa Wright is ideally cast as Regina's daughter.
TRANSFER: YUCK! YUCK! YUCK! Although the print shows little signs of age related artifacts, nothing can excuse the edge enhancement, shimmering of fine details and aliasing that is inherent in nearly every scene. It really is distracting, especially as a lot of the key scenes are played out on a winding banister with ornate spindles that shake and shimmy all over the screen - enough to give one a small headache. The audio is mono and very nicely balanced.
EXTRAS: A Theatrical trailer that looks as though it was fed through a meat grinder.
BOTTOM LINE: This isn't one to spend your money on!

Rating:
Summary: What was Horace doing on the stairs?
Review: "The Little Foxes," one of the NY Times' "1000 best films of all time," is a stunning film set in New Orleans in 1900. It centers on two brothers and a sister, along with their respective families, who have become wealthy largely by cheating the masses out of a fair wage. Bette Davis, again a formidable dame, provides the star power, and Lillian Helman provides a brilliant script based on her own stage play, her words giving the characters depth and breadth that sometimes grows noticeably with a single word, and all of the principal players do the same with sometimes a facial expression, a movement, or even by being silent at a moment when words would seem to be called for. Extraordinary and classic, this artistry that sometimes seems to be lost in today's Hollywood.

The film is about greed, yes, but more. It's a murder mystery told in reverse, where there is no mystery but all the elements are there. It's the backstory for a young lady on the verge of womanhood, who is sure to atone for her family's sins, and for her romance that gently leads her into maturity as regards her opinion of her family and of the world around her. It's about a Deep South at the turn of the last century that had seen slavery abolished for it, but that retained it in everything but its legal technicalities, a world where the only real career choices available to practially any African-American were as servant or field worker.

"The Little Foxes" is many, many things. Above all, it is a true classic of American cinema, one that's been unjustly neglected with the passage of time. Well worth repeated viewing.

Rating:
Summary: Family Study
Review: "The Little Foxes" is one of those rare dramas from the glorious studio days where the insightful dialogue and nastiness of character haven't been modified or censored. Intelligent and expertly acted, Lilliam Helman's play lays bare the greed and underhandedness that can infect the upper ranks of an unjust society.

Bette Davis is in her glory here, scheming and coming up with her vile ideas before the camera. We watch as she sinks from self interest to treachery in an ultimately repellent manner. The short-lived indecision in which she engages, in the harrowing final scene with her husband, gives depth to her work. Her posture, mannerisms, speech, and expressions create a total portrait of a viper. Her siblings are cut from the same cloth, albeit with varying degrees of her self interest.

Well acted and literate, the film does contain dated racial stereotypes that do not serve the purposes of the story. Teresa Wright as the daughter seems out of her element amongst all the powerhouse thespians; her acting too is somewhat caricatured. These are minor quibbles with an otherwise superlative film. For an incisive look at a truly dysfunctional family and rotten segment of U.S. society, "The Little Foxes" fits the bill.

Rating:
Summary: "Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines."
Review: A biblical passage about greed tells of hungry foxes prowling vineyards to eat grapes, while the little foxes, too small to reach the grapes, chew on the bases of the vines and destroy them. Greed is the main theme of this magnificent 1941 adaptation of Lillian Hellman's stage play of the same name, the little foxes being the grasping Regina Hubbard Giddons (Bette Davis), who married upright Horace Giddons (Herbert Marshall) for his money, and her equally grasping Hubbard brothers (Carl Benton Reid and Charles Dingle) and nephew (Dan Duryea).

While Horace, the president of Planters Trust, a bank in the deep South, has been recuperating from a serious illness, away from home, his Hubbard brothers-in-law and nephew have been running the bank--and fleecing the poor and the black. Eventually, the Hubbards steal money from the absent Horace in order to become partners in a new cotton mill, but the sickly Horace returns home and discovers the theft, along with the treachery of his wife (Davis). Only his nubile daughter Alexandra (Theresa Wright) is true to his heritage of honesty and generosity of spirit.

As Regina, Davis is a cold-hearted villainess, imperious and demanding, without an ounce of generosity. The very young Teresa Wright, as daughter Alexandra, is her naïve antithesis. Author Hellman, who wrote the screenplay for the film, apparently recognized the need to offer some hope for the younger generation and an upbeat note, creating a new character for the film, David Hewitt (Richard Carlson), a journalist, who is in love with Alexandra. In new scenes in which the two converse, and in scenes at the bank, a rounder picture of human values evolves.

Set around the turn of the century, this powerful set piece, directed by William Wyler, depicts the change from a traditional landed aristocracy to newly rich entrepreneurs, like Regina's brothers, who lack positive values. The cast, many of whom created their roles in the stage play, is letter perfect in conveying attitudes through gestures and expressions. Many of the scenes, beautifully filmed interiors, with the staircase and its balcony playing a key role, allow Davis to look down on those below her. The exterior shots give a wider view of the society and provide some relief from the dark intensity of the drama surrounding the ill Horace. Nominated for nine Academy Awards, including acting, directing, supporting actor, score, and interior decoration, the film seamlessly integrates its many facets in a directorial triumph for Wyler. Mary Whipple


Rating:
Summary: MONEY MONEY MONEY...
Review: At least one scene of LITTLE FOXES is part of movie history : The final scene between Bette Davis and Herbert Marshall. You have to see it to understand why Bette Davis was so admired in the 1930-1950 period. Evil in all its splendor ; without make-up, special effects and oppressive musical score.

LITTLE FOXES is what one can call a "classic" movie directed by William Wyler, a director whose films collect an impressive amount of Oscars during 25 years.

Classic does not always mean boring. You will certainly appreciate a movie with clever dialogs, convincing actors and a story mixing particuliar family problems with general economic questions.

I would have liked a little more madness in the treatment of the subject but you can't always have all you desire, can you ?

A DVD for Bette Davis fan or future fan.

Rating:
Summary: A Gloriously Atmospheric Moral Fable
Review: Ben and Oscar Hubbard (Charles Dingle and Carl Benton Reid), their sister Regina Giddens (Bette Davis) and Oscar's son Leo (Dan Duryea) are not nice people. They are a family of profiteering entrepreneurs who have grown to prominence in a small southern town, grabbing the assets of its oldest aristocratic family through Oscar's cynical marriage to Birdie (Patricia Collinge) who has since been driven to alcoholism by his abusive lovelessness. Ben and Oscar's latest plot is to do a big deal with a business bigshot from Chicago who is keen to set up a new cotton mill with them on the understanding that the wages will be extremely low. Ben and Oscar are keen. Regina is keen. But Regina can't come into the deal in her own right: she must persuade her husband to do so. And her husband Horace (Herbert Marshall) is a very different kind of man from her brothers. To complicate matters further he is dying. Meanwhile her daughter Alexandra (Teresa Wright) is getting close to idealistic young journalist David Hewitt (Richard Carlson) and, not, as her scheming relatives intend, to the useless and corrupt young Leo.

This 1941 movie is adapted from a Lillian Hellman's classic 1939 play of the same year. The dates make it closer enough where we are - an era when the overwhelming political issue in the USA was whether to join a European war against Hitler. It's not hard to see from this where Hellman's sympathies lie. The movie's theme is the division of humanity three ways: the bad people, the good people who fight the bad people and the good people who just sit by and watch the bad people as they destroy the world; and the clearly articulated thought is that, for good people, sitting by and watching, is not, ultimately, an option.

The movie is a classic and richly deserves to be. The performances are remarkable: notably Davis at her most magnificently malign, Dingle splendidly hateful as her cynical and brutal brother, Duryea as the good-for-nothing Leo, Marshall as the profoundly decent but physically desperately weak Horace and Collinge as the pathetically wrecked Birdie who adumbrates horrifically what, if they are not resisted, her unspeakable relatives might eventually contrive to turn the charming young Alexandra into. Wyler directs brilliantly and the camerawork by Gregg Toland is astonishing in its use of shadowy, long, deep-focus shots. The oppressive atmosphere of hostile emotions running far too high in the southern heat is captured to perfection.

There is certainly a degree of simple-mindedness in the moral landscape of the film. The characters divide rather neatly into two sorts: very good, gentle, decent people and irredeemably evil people. There are no shades of grey, just jet black and lustrous white. And of course the world isn't that black and white. But perhaps insofar as the play is about the issues that World War II was fought over, that is an excusable fault; for those issues, if any ever have been, really were that black and white.

Rating:
Summary: A Gloriously Atmospheric Moral Fable
Review: Ben and Oscar Hubbard (Charles Dingle and Carl Benton Reid), their sister Regina Giddens (Bette Davis) and Oscar�s son Leo (Dan Duryea) are not nice people. They are a family of profiteering entrepreneurs who have grown to prominence in a small southern town, grabbing the assets of its oldest aristocratic family through Oscar�s cynical marriage to Birdie (Patricia Collinge) who has since been driven to alcoholism by his abusive lovelessness. Ben and Oscar�s latest plot is to do a big deal with a business bigshot from Chicago who is keen to set up a new cotton mill with them on the understanding that the wages will be extremely low. Ben and Oscar are keen. Regina is keen. But Regina can�t come into the deal in her own right: she must persuade her husband to do so. And her husband Horace (Herbert Marshall) is a very different kind of man from her brothers. To complicate matters further he is dying. Meanwhile her daughter Alexandra (Teresa Wright) is getting close to idealistic young journalist David Hewitt (Richard Carlson) and, not, as her scheming relatives intend, to the useless and corrupt young Leo.

This 1941 movie is adapted from a Lillian Hellman�s classic 1939 play of the same year. The dates make it closer enough where we are - an era when the overwhelming political issue in the USA was whether to join a European war against Hitler. It�s not hard to see from this where Hellman�s sympathies lie. The movie�s theme is the division of humanity three ways: the bad people, the good people who fight the bad people and the good people who just sit by and watch the bad people as they destroy the world; and the clearly articulated thought is that, for good people, sitting by and watching, is not, ultimately, an option.

The movie is a classic and richly deserves to be. The performances are remarkable: notably Davis at her most magnificently malign, Dingle splendidly hateful as her cynical and brutal brother, Duryea as the good-for-nothing Leo, Marshall as the profoundly decent but physically desperately weak Horace and Collinge as the pathetically wrecked Birdie who adumbrates horrifically what, if they are not resisted, her unspeakable relatives might eventually contrive to turn the charming young Alexandra into. Wyler directs brilliantly and the camerawork by Gregg Toland is astonishing in its use of shadowy, long, deep-focus shots. The oppressive atmosphere of hostile emotions running far too high in the southern heat is captured to perfection.

There is certainly a degree of simple-mindedness in the moral landscape of the film. The characters divide rather neatly into two sorts: very good, gentle, decent people and irredeemably evil people. There are no shades of grey, just jet black and lustrous white. And of course the world isn�t that black and white. But perhaps insofar as the play is about the issues that World War II was fought over, that is an excusable fault; for those issues, if any ever have been, really were that black and white.

Rating:
Summary: Intoxicating
Review: Bette Davis could kill anybody onscreen, step on anyone.When she appeared you couldn't turn your eyes away. And that's exactly what happens in "The Little foxes", her third and final collaboration with director William Wyler, the only director who knew how to direct properly Bette Davis. What's good about this film is the way the hatred of this woman is shown or characterized. She is not necessarily evil, she just needs to throw out her frustration towards her husband. She is a greedy woman, a selfish one and an unconscious one. That's what's interesting about this film to follow her process through her need to kill her husband. And when it happens it is one of the best directed scenes in movie history. Wait until you see....

Rating:
Summary: DAVIS TERRIFIC AS REGAL REGINA GIDDONS
Review: Bette Davis gave one of her better performances as the greedy Regina Giddons. A chilling story of greed and deception in the South circa 1900, THE LITTLE FOXES is a cold, cynical look at the dark side of human nature, but the acting makes this movie fascinating and well worth watching. Teresa Wright is spendid as Alexandra, and the great Irish stage actress Patricia Collinge is heartbreaking as the alcoholic Birdie (she admits doesn't like her own son, Leo). Herbert Marshall is gives a sympathetic portrayal of Horace (he's married to the witchy Regina) and Carl Benton Reid is top drawer as the brother who's in cahoots with Davis. The rest of the cast give uniformly excellent performances. Davis was loaned to Goldwyn by Warner Brothers to make this her third and final film directed by the legendary William Wyler. Highly Recommended.