Director: William Wyler
Distributor: RKO Radio Pictures
Top Billed Actors: Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, Teresa Wright
Won 0 Oscars
Nominated for 9 more:
Outstanding Motion Picture - Samuel Goldwyn Productions
Best Director - William Wyler
Best Actress - Bette Davis
Best Supporting Actress - Patricia Collinge
Best Supporting Actress - Teresa Wright
Best Screenplay - Lillian Hellman
Best Scoring of a Dramatic Picture - Meredith Willson
Best Art Direction - Interior Decoration, Black-and-White - Art Direction: Stephen Goosson; Interior Decoration: Howard Bristol
Best Film Editing - Daniel Mandell
Plot: A conniving group of siblings try to figure out a way to swindle seed money and have first cousins marry at the turn of the century in the Deep South.
Distributor: RKO Radio Pictures
Top Billed Actors: Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, Teresa Wright
Won 0 Oscars
Nominated for 9 more:
Outstanding Motion Picture - Samuel Goldwyn Productions
Best Director - William Wyler
Best Actress - Bette Davis
Best Supporting Actress - Patricia Collinge
Best Supporting Actress - Teresa Wright
Best Screenplay - Lillian Hellman
Best Scoring of a Dramatic Picture - Meredith Willson
Best Art Direction - Interior Decoration, Black-and-White - Art Direction: Stephen Goosson; Interior Decoration: Howard Bristol
Best Film Editing - Daniel Mandell
Plot: A conniving group of siblings try to figure out a way to swindle seed money and have first cousins marry at the turn of the century in the Deep South.
For the second consecutive year, a William Wyler-directed film starring Bette Davis gets nominated for Best Picture. The Little Foxes (1941) follows in the footsteps of The Letter (1940) by achieving Oscar nominations for Best Director and Best Actress as well. But like the latter film, this came home empty handed. In fact, this set the record for the most nominations without a win with nine losing accomplishments. If we go back another couple of years, we would see another Wyler/Davis collaboration with Davis' second Best Actress win in Jezebel (1938). That started her streak of five straight years nominated in that category as well as her working relationship with Wyler. Sadly, this film would be their last as they argued quite a bit on set (which was filmed during a historically hot summer). Davis would share being an Oscar hopeful with a young Teresa Wright, her first film role. She went on a flurry at the start of her career as she would be nominated for two more Oscars in the following year (winning one). Wright's co-nominee in the Supporting category is Patricia Collinge, one of four actors that reprise their role from the original Broadway play by Lillian Hellman.
That original play is a source of folklore as it relates to Davis' performance. The story goes that Wyler highly encouraged Davis to watch the play starring Tallulah Bankhead. Whether the decision was Davis or Wyler or Hellman, the characterization of Davis' Regina simply had to deviate from Bankhead's portrayal. Instead of a struggling and sympathetic woman, Davis became one of the screen's most cold and calculating villains of all time. Her Oscar nomination is well deserved here as she looks the part with the pasty-white and distancing makeup as well as acts the part with her matter-of-fact tone and conniving body language. In a time period that didn't allow women to build wealth independently, Regina has to find her own way to wealth but the dastardly ways Davis concocts in her performance add another layer of depth the stage play wouldn't have had absent this malice. It fuels the cynical tone of the story, but that cynical tone is one I can agree with. I adore this film for not giving us too happy of an ending. Another aspect that went unmentioned during my Oscar ramble (as well as unrecognized by the Academy) is the cinematography. Gregg Toland, off the heels of collaborating with Orson Welles for Citizen Kane (1941), gets to showcase his talents in another Best Picture nominee. Like Kane, the framing of the characters contribute to the narrative as well make this unconventionally pleasant looking. The scene in which the aunt (Collinge) is drinking too much and confessing her dislike of her son, the camera swivels back and forth with Wright and Hebert Marshall as observing anchors while other characters talk. Toland never seems to settle for boring shot-reverse-shot sequences and his films are really starting to stand out as I get into the early 1940s. The final sequence on the stairs is masterful as well.
Although I really like Davis' performance, I can't say I took to everybody. Marshall is endlessly endearing as the kindly Horace, but he doesn't even attempt a Southern accent. I'm also not as high as the Academy is on Wright; I couldn't quite pin down how old her character is. This might be partly due to the screenplay, which is overall very good. But a few dated portrayals of Black people during this time period sullies the script. There's a guy so happy to polish a sign by a bank and the servants of the house are also way too happy to be there as well. It's Gone with the Wind (1939) all over again. What I do like about the screenplay, however, is the thematic explorations and some chilling dialogue. This family of "little foxes" attempt to bring an industry to their area, specifically a cotton mill. However, we see their intentions from the jump, with "cheap labor" as a tenet of their proposal. From the outside in, creating jobs seems like a positive and noble thing to do. But when you see these sniveling siblings back-stabbing and hoping to turn $75,000 into millions, the real picture appears. The dialogue that sent shivers down my spine is when the eldest brother mentions that "people like them" will "run the country one day." Correct!
Overall, a cold and callous outlook from a family of soon-to-be rich finks are framed beautifully amidst another powerhouse performance by Bette Davis. Although not all of her co-stars are quite on her level, it's still rewarding to see her villainous ways both help and hinder her character.
My Score: 8/10
That original play is a source of folklore as it relates to Davis' performance. The story goes that Wyler highly encouraged Davis to watch the play starring Tallulah Bankhead. Whether the decision was Davis or Wyler or Hellman, the characterization of Davis' Regina simply had to deviate from Bankhead's portrayal. Instead of a struggling and sympathetic woman, Davis became one of the screen's most cold and calculating villains of all time. Her Oscar nomination is well deserved here as she looks the part with the pasty-white and distancing makeup as well as acts the part with her matter-of-fact tone and conniving body language. In a time period that didn't allow women to build wealth independently, Regina has to find her own way to wealth but the dastardly ways Davis concocts in her performance add another layer of depth the stage play wouldn't have had absent this malice. It fuels the cynical tone of the story, but that cynical tone is one I can agree with. I adore this film for not giving us too happy of an ending. Another aspect that went unmentioned during my Oscar ramble (as well as unrecognized by the Academy) is the cinematography. Gregg Toland, off the heels of collaborating with Orson Welles for Citizen Kane (1941), gets to showcase his talents in another Best Picture nominee. Like Kane, the framing of the characters contribute to the narrative as well make this unconventionally pleasant looking. The scene in which the aunt (Collinge) is drinking too much and confessing her dislike of her son, the camera swivels back and forth with Wright and Hebert Marshall as observing anchors while other characters talk. Toland never seems to settle for boring shot-reverse-shot sequences and his films are really starting to stand out as I get into the early 1940s. The final sequence on the stairs is masterful as well.
Although I really like Davis' performance, I can't say I took to everybody. Marshall is endlessly endearing as the kindly Horace, but he doesn't even attempt a Southern accent. I'm also not as high as the Academy is on Wright; I couldn't quite pin down how old her character is. This might be partly due to the screenplay, which is overall very good. But a few dated portrayals of Black people during this time period sullies the script. There's a guy so happy to polish a sign by a bank and the servants of the house are also way too happy to be there as well. It's Gone with the Wind (1939) all over again. What I do like about the screenplay, however, is the thematic explorations and some chilling dialogue. This family of "little foxes" attempt to bring an industry to their area, specifically a cotton mill. However, we see their intentions from the jump, with "cheap labor" as a tenet of their proposal. From the outside in, creating jobs seems like a positive and noble thing to do. But when you see these sniveling siblings back-stabbing and hoping to turn $75,000 into millions, the real picture appears. The dialogue that sent shivers down my spine is when the eldest brother mentions that "people like them" will "run the country one day." Correct!
Overall, a cold and callous outlook from a family of soon-to-be rich finks are framed beautifully amidst another powerhouse performance by Bette Davis. Although not all of her co-stars are quite on her level, it's still rewarding to see her villainous ways both help and hinder her character.
My Score: 8/10