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Summary: First Rate Hollywood Melodrama
Review: Lillian Hellman's plays, like the lady's other works, have been in and out of fashion over the last 50 years. "The Little Fox" her dark melodrama about a greedy, avaricious Southern family has perhaps held up better than some of her other works. Certainly, this film version, expertly directed by William Wyler, continues to hold its own. Bette Davis offers one of her best, most carefully worked-out characterizations as the frigid Regina Giddens, a woman grown monstrous through thwarted ambition and frustrated love. Hellman modeled the characters after her mother's wealthy, loathsome family and perhaps that personal emotion fueled the sting that the material still holds. An excellent supporting cast, mostly borrowed from the original Broadway production, lends Bette first class support. ( In fact, most of them went on to long and productive Hollywood careers in character roles.) The often unfairly lampooned producer Samuel Goldwyn contributed the overall supervision that makes this movie one of the best Hollywood productions of its era. The only shadow today, 50+ years after its release, is some questionable ethnic humor. Mercifully, it is confined to very minor characters, allowing the major African American roles to be portrayed with intelligence, compassion and dignity, a pointed contrast to the vicious, back-stabbing white characters so enthralled by greed and lust for power. Expertly expanded from the stage play, this film is dramatic and harrowing, its last frames will haunt you long after.
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Summary: How to Be Greedy and Mean by Bette Davis
Review: Nobody played coldhearted, caustic and ruthless better than Bette Davis. She sweated acid. One can only imagine what her childhood must've been like. Fascinating on the screen but I wouldn't want to have known her in real life. The movie is just about perfect. Power and money corrupt absolutely. She gains the whole world but loses her soul in the process. A brilliant character study.
Rating:
Summary: A great film!
Review: Teresa Wright plays a southern girl who's around 20. Bette Davis plays a superb role as a greedy mother with greedy brothers. William Wyler is at his best as he directs this great film. Herbert Marshall, at his best, maybe his best movie plays the nice, loving father. Gregg Toland does the cinematography perfectly. Anyone would enjoy this film.
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Summary: One of Bette's Best Bad-Girls
Review: Thank heaven Warners was giving Bette such a hard time during the early 40's, or else she might never have left and made this gem with her ex-lover William Wyler. Reportedly the two were at one another's throats quite a lot during the making of this film, but as is the case more often than not, adversity yields a terrific product, and this film is no exception. The film centers on two families, the Giddens and the Hubbards, and the attempt by the Hubbard brothers to involve their strong willed sister Regina her husband in a scheme that will make them rich at the expense of the town. Regina, played by Bette, is all for it, but unfortunately her ailing husband, Horace (played by Herbert Marshall), whom Regina brings home from the hospital only to gouge for money , wants no part of their plan. Bette shows her talent and range by portraying a bad girl and yet still being able to keep her top-star status in Hollywood (that same year, the studios balked at the idea of Cary Grant playing a bad guy in "Suspicion"). Teresa Wright is outstanding as Regina's daughter Alexandra, who sees what is going on and, as the movie progresses, gathers the courage to stand up and fight for what is right. Patricia Collinge plays the wife of Oscar Hubbard, Birdie (the role she originated on Broadway), a tragic character too afraid to fight against the evil she sees, yet also afraid to be a part of it (which is why she drowns her sorrows in wine). Another point about the movie . .it has additional dialogue added by none other than the champion of one-liners, Dorothy Parker. All this and a terrific message to boot (it seems to advocate political activism - the ones who sit idly by and do nothing while ruthless characters "eat the world," as the film says, are more guilty than the actual miscreants). Highly recommended.
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Summary: One of the True Greats of Cinema
Review: The first thing you notice at the end of 'The Little Foxes' is that, for a change, Ms. Davis' performance hasn't overshadowed all those around her. Although touted as the main character, Davis' portrayal of Regina is a cleverly understated performance, lacking almost all of the trademark Davis moves (the constant cigarette, the acidic voice) that we've come to know and love. She plays it down, to huge success, and gives what is one of her best ever performances in this 1941 production of Lilian Hellman's smart, insightful play.The titular 'Little Foxes' are Regina and her greedy, scheming brothers, Ben (Charles Dingle) and Oscar (Carl Benton Reid). The Hubbard Boys are from a once-wealthy family, fallen on hard times in a Southern community where wealth and family prestige are interchangable. They each need a share of $75,000 dollars to bring a lucrative Yankee cotton mill to their town, and will stop at nothing to get it. Regina, who has married money, and possessing an intelligence and drive that both of her brothers lack, fails to legitimately get her share of the capital from her ailing husband Horace (Herbert Marshall). Under increasing pressure from their Yankee investor, the Hubbards beg, borrow and steal for the money, at the risk and ultimate destruction of all those around them. Bette Davis is, in 'The Little Foxes', simply one of several excellent performances given by a highly-talented ensemble cast. Charles Dingle and Carl Benton Reid are superb as the Hubbard Boys, both being highly individual characters while retaining familial similarities. Ben Hubbard is non-confrontational and winning, whereas Oscar is quick to anger and wades in with all guns blazing. They're both as greedy as all get-out, though, and we see this in their private exchanges with each other, Regina, and Leo Hubbard (played as comedy-without-sentimentality by an excellent, young Dan Duryea), the dullest nephew since time began.
Herbert Marshall as Regina's long-suffering husband Horace gives a performance with sympathy and pathos. He is a beacon of unselfishness and decency in a fog of money-grabbing. His final scenes with Regina are simultaneously touching and tense, thanks to Marshall's superior talents.
Bette as Regina Hubbard is something of a revelation. Like I mentioned, she's abandoned almost all of the usual Davis idiosyncrasies to give a performance as impressive as it is hard-edged. As the flinty, cold, manipulative Regina, she excels through her considerable talents as a versatile actress. The contrast between her scenes with Horace and their daughter Alexandra is strong, and an excellent illustration of an over-ambitious woman's mind. The remainder of the supporting cast is strong, with a notable mention going to Patricia Collinge as Oscar's abused, alcoholic wife Birdie - an excellent performance in what could so easily have been a role played for sentimentality. Direction is top-notch; William Wyler's last collaboration with Bette Davis is arguably the best, with some sweeping vistas of the Giddens mansion interior, and beautiful lighting to complement the gothic, amoral tone of the film. What is essentially a one-room stage play is kept moving at a fast pace in Wyler's capable hands, never slowing or boring the viewer with cliches. The transfer to DVD isn't the best, but certainly above average for a 63 year-old movie. It doesn't impede on the movie in any way, and what we have in 'The Little Foxes' is a chilling masterpiece that every film fan should own. Excellent.
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Summary: Bravo, bravo!
Review: The incomparable artistry of Bette Davis, William Wyler's vibrant direction, and Gregg Toland's crisp black and white photography make this movie a must-see. Add a searing and brilliant screenplay by Lillian Hellman (who adapted her own play to film) and you have a true classic. This movie's subject matter is quite contemporary. People similar to the materialistic and corrupt Regina and her brothers are sometimes found in today's society although maybe not to the extreme of this family. There are many virtues in this film, but it is Davis who makes this movie unforgettable. I agree with the earlier reviewer that Davis is intoxicating. She is that and more. Bette manages to give the scheming and ruthless Regina sympathetic qualities such as strength, intelligence, and an imperious will to survive. Her Regina will never be a perpetual victim such as her sister-in-law Birdie is. A woman with Regina's ambition and smarts had few options back in 1900 when this story took place. She could not channel her overpowering survival instincts into running a business or becoming a politician for instance. In those days, women were basically seen but not heard. And Bette's Regina never pretends to be something she is not. She is blatant about her greedy motives. In the end, Regina is a somewhat tragic figure who doesn't know how to control her own ambition and she ends up.... Sounds like a scenario that does happen in today's society where the acquisition of material wealth seems paramount to decency.
Rating: 
Summary: Good portrait of a greedy Southern family...
Review: The Little Foxes is by no means an uplifting and heartwarming film, but it is certainly entertaining and offers some interesting insights on how far some greedy people are willing to go to obtain what they want. Additionally, The Little Foxes features an excellent performance from Bette Davis (as well as the rest of the cast), and some fabulous black-and-white cinematography which shows the Southern home in all its elegance. Basically The Little Foxes is about the ultimate Machiavellian woman, Regina Gibbons (Bette Davis) who will stop at nothing to gain control of the family business - including sacrificing the health of her sick husband and alienating her naive younger daughter (Teresa Wright). In fact, much of the drama in the film stems from the fact that the daughter slowly begins to realize what is going on in her home and moves from a meekly submissive girl to a more assertive and aware young woman. Anyhow, this film is by far the best adaptation of the original play and is very interesting. Although the topic has somewhat mellowed with age, the acting, meticulous direction (by William Wyler, who collaborated with Davis twice and drew remarkable performances from her each time), and cinematography make The Little Foxes continue to shine even after all these years.
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Summary: "Cynicism's an unpleasant way of telling the truth."
Review: The main reason I watch and love classic films such as "The Little Foxes" is that they are primarily concerned with sharp script-writing and solid character acting. Modern films are more concerned with the latest CGI visual effects or "new" ways of blowing things up. So when I found out that this film was also directed by the legendary William Wyler ("Ben-Hur," "Mrs. Miniver," "The Best Years of Our Lives," "The Big Country," and the list goes on and on) I simply had to watch it. At the time I have to admit that I wasn't a big fan of Bette Davis, but this film coupled with her turn in "All About Eve" changed my opinion forever. Some roles just seem tailor-made for her now infamous persona. Her performance in "The Little Foxes" is fantastic and extremely memorable, with significant depth that appears only in her character's more vulnerable moments. The rest of the time she is cast in iron yet deceptively manipulative. Remarkable. The rest of the cast is superb, each turning in exceptional moments when required. There are a couple negatives with the film. This story occurs in the "Deep South" in the year 1900 and contains some stero-typical racial tendencies, mostly in lieu of having all the black men and women employed and/or bossed around by rich white folk. However, to William Wyler's credit these roles are all fleshed out and oftentimes they seem more caring than the central characters who are asked to carry the film. The other negative has to do with the type-casting of Teresa Wright, who it just so happens plays similar characters in two other William Wyler films. She also plays the same young, frail, sweetly naive daughter in the Alfred Hitchcock film "Shadow of a Doubt." Most of the time in this film, however, it becomes nearly unbelievable that a character like Bette Davis portrays (Teresa Wright's mother in the film), who has such high aspirations for the future of her daughter, would allow her daughter to remain fragile and nearly altogether ignorant of the world and all its trappings. Bette Davis' character is far too controlling to let her daughter roam the countryside gathering flowers (in a manner of speaking). The photography is superb, with Gregg Toland ("Citizen Kane") behind the camera; and the adapted screenplay, for all its dated aspects, still remains "classic" in every positive sense of the word. Just check out the quote I used for the title of my review for a sample of the writing. I will watch this film again. Why? It has great writing and excellent acting. Two fine reasons to watch any film.
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Summary: Bette Davis At Her Dramatic Best In Decadent Southern Tale
Review: The role of scheming and manipulative Southern Matriarch Regina Gibbens in Lillian Hellman's acclaimed play "The Little Foxes", has over time provided an acting tour de force to such diverse actresses as Tallulah Bankhead and Elizabeth Taylor on Broadway and Hollywood legend Bette Davis in the lavish 1941 film version of the play. Made during the period when Davis was at the height of her "reign", as the undisputed Queen of Warner Bros. Studios, this talented actress gave one of her best and most well modulated performances in Lillian Hellman's seering depiction of human greed and family corruption in the Deep South. Borrowed by Samuel Goldwyn expressly for "The Little Foxes", Davis had another great success playing Regina which added yet another classic dramatic performance to her already large gallery of strong and determined women. Under the direction of the legendary William Wyler Davis gives one of her most interesting performances here of a woman who is definately a schemer but who has a strong native intelligence about what she wants from life and how best to get it by manipulating those around her.
Set in the Deep South in 1900 "The Little Foxes", revolves around the schemes and machinations of the steely Regina Giddens(Davis), who in cohorts with her two unscrupulous brothers Ben and Oscar (Charles Dingle and Carl Benton Reid), hatches a plan to set up a sweat shop labour driven Cotton Mill in the area which they need Regina's honest and wary husband Horace (Herbert Marshall), to invest one third in for it to be a going concern. Horace is absolutely opposed to the venture and unwilling to become further involved with a wife he knows only married him for money and two brothers in law who he doesn't trust. Determined to get out of her ordinary existence Regina after seeing that Horace wont budge on giving her the money decides to get it by any means if necessary. As Horace is very ill from heart disease Regina deliberately withholds his medicine knowing that when he dies she will inherit his money anyway. Horace does die and Regina now plays her trump card to position her crafty but not so bright brothers just where she needs them when she reveals that she is aware of who was responsible for "removing", some of Horace's bonds that had mysteriously disappeared from his strong box just when the deal was set up and that if she went public with the information the brothers would be jailed. Defeating her brothers and taking more than her share of the Cotton Mill Regina however is left with little else when Daughter Alexandra walks out of her life disgusted with the way her mother has cold heartedly removed her beloved father for the sake of money.
The stage play as performed by Tallulah Bankhead was transferred beautifully to the screen here where all the essential dramatic elements have been kept intact but with the story at times opened out for film. This never detracts for one moment from what is a series of very powerful character studies performed by a superb ensemble cast headed by the perfectly cast Miss. Davis. Like in her two previous collaborations with William Wyler Davis fought long and hard to see realised her interpretation of the character of Regina, and with the elaborate hairstyles and powdery white makeup she fleshes out Regina as a woman to be reckoned with. Wyler however was also able to tone down many of the famous Davis mannerisms which makes make this performance of hers such a pleasing one. The famous scene where Regina withholds Horace's medication is played just at the right level and credit must go to Wyler for never once allowing it to dissolve into falseness or fake dramatics. It is without a doubt one of Bette Davis' finest moments in the film and everywhere she is assisted by actors delivering some first class work. Herbert Marshall has rarely been in finer form than as Horace, the sick and disillusioned husband of Regina. He is the island of calm and common sense in a sea of corrupt and decaying family members. The Broadway cast of Patricia Collinge, (especially brilliant as the tragic Birdie Hubbard), Charles Dingle, Carl Benton Reid, Dan Duryea and John Marriott are all equally vivid repeating their stage roles and Teresa Wright in her film debut as Regina's innocent daughter Alexandra shows that wonderful natural talent that would serve her so well in coming years in unforgettable classics like 'Mrs. Miniver", and "The Best Years of Our Lives". Samuel Goldwyn spent a small fortune to produce this motion picture and the recreation of the Southern Town and the Giddens mansion has a no expense spared "MGM", feel and look to it with the gaudy and overstuffed furnishings providing a suitably suffocating backdrop to the relentlessly decadent characters that inhabit the story. As befitting such a fine collective effort by actors, director and technical crew "The Little Foxes", rightly collected an amazing 9 Academy Award Nominations including Best Picture for 1941.
If anyone wants to see just what made up the legend of Bette Davis they only have to view "The Little Foxes", to see an actress at the peak of her craft and sheer star power. This is classic Hollywood at its very best and is one of the great roles during the 1940's that Bette Davis is deservedly remembered for. Such a tale of greed, corruption and selfish characters could be made at any time and still be relevant but what we have here is the story in its raw original form blessed with a legendary actress who knew how to paint the character with just the right elements of femininity and deception. Treat yourself to a viewing of Lillian Hellman's classic "The Little Foxes", soon, it is a true cinema treasure.
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Summary: Power Hungry Southern Family
Review: This is in the deep south, right after the turn of the century. There are a brother and sister Hubbard, who want money and lots of it. They don't care about their wives,husbands or children, all they want is money and power. Regina is the most calculating, this is Bette Davis's character. They want to get a cotton mill and Regina will sacrafice her husbands health and her daughter's happiness to get her hands on money so she can gain control of the main share of the mill. Blood is not thicker than greed. This film is chilling in that it shows how corruption and greed survived then as it survives now. Lisa Nary
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