This was one of five movies Bette Davis made in 1936 and it won her her first Bast Actress Oscar. Only now, 80 years later, have i managed to catch up with it - and I speak as a long-time Davis admirer, with upwards of 20 titles on DVD - and what's more I've still to watch her second Oscar-winner, Jezebel, shot some three years later. I wasn't around in 1935 so I'd need to know who and/or what she was up against before deciding if this is an Oscar-worthy performance. That's not to say it's chopped liver given that Davis was always eminently watchable but the screenplay doesn't credit the viewer with too much intelligence. When first seen - by Franchot Tone - Davis is on the skids and living on the second floor of a gin bottle. Architect Tone had been moved by one of her stage performances, so much so that he goes out of his way - and him with a nice fiancée and all - to rehabilitate her, putting her up at his country estate where she kicks John Barleycorn in nothing flat. Not content with that Tone bankrolls a play which will mark her triumphant return to Mazda Lane and we're still barely an hour in. It's not over yet, of course but as melodramas go it could be worse.
Review of Dangerous
