Ever since I heard how awfully wonderful 1949 BEYOND
THE FOREST was I made my life mission to track it down. But alas the journey to there has been far
from easy since the DVD version of the film is MIA in North America; something to do with rights or
some legal crap. Anyway, to make a long
story shorter, after years of coming up short I finally got my hands on a
copy. How? I will never tell. ‘Cause if I do, I’d have
to kill you. And I would have none of
that. You guys mean too much to me. But let just say that the find was unexpected
and so worth it.
The film stars the great Bette Davis. In it she plays a restless aging small town doctor’s
wife who sports not only a Morticia Adams black wig but has an Alexis Carrington
bitchiness about her that makes you smile a lot. Chewing the scenery whenever she can, she struts
her tush aplenty, uttering kitschy
lines like the infamous “what a dump”
(regarding her modest house) to her amorous but impoverished hubby Joseph
Cotton who mostly ignores her antics. And
just like Alexis, she uses her charms and cunning ways to get what she wants, most
noticeably when hooking up with city-based business man Neil Latimer who promises
her the world. But when he doesn’t hold
his end of the bargain Davis is humiliated and forced to settle back to a life
she hates.
When she is expecting a child from her husband later
on and on the verge of accepting her fate as a small-town citizen, Latimer reappears
and announces that he wants her after all. Enthusiastic to say the least, Davis
plans an escape route that involves the murder of her hubby’s BFF who wants to
throw her under the bus; a quick trial; a self-imposed miscarriage by jumping over
an embankment; and a trudge toward an awaiting train that ends up being one of
the longest scenes in movie history. In
between you get an overall keen eye from director King Vidor, a wonderful score from famed composer Max Steiner (GONE WITH THE WIND), a definitive film noir
look from Hitchcock’s fave cinematographer Robert Burks, and plenty of over the
top moments from la Bette.
Rumor has it that Davis was contractedly forced to make BEYOND THE FOREST and that she was less than a happy trooper. Fights with the director and producers led to an unhappy set. Still despite her overblown performance she manages to be quite effective as a long in the tooth crazed vixen. The novel on which the film is based depicts the character to be much younger, but Davis makes it her own and gives the film an interesting twist. There are times when you can almost feel her desperation. Far from being perfect, BEYOND THE FOREST is certainly enjoyable. This portrait of a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown will leave no one unfazed—whether you like your films campy or not.
Until next post—Martin
