That Certain Woman (1937)

Attempting to live down her past as the teenage bride of a notorious gangster, a young woman (Bette Davis) falls in love with the weak willed son (Henry Fonda) of a millionaire (Donald Crisp) who refuses to accept the girl as his son's wife. Instead of standing up to his father, he caves in like a house of cards. Written and directed by Edmund Goulding (GRAND HOTEL), this is a remake of the 1929 film THE TRESPASSER which Goulding also directed and earned its leading lady Gloria Swanson an Oscar nomination. Not having seen THE TRESPASSER I can't comment on it but this version positively creaks! Its saving grace is Davis who gives a wonderful performance showing once again how a great actor can rise above inferior material. But boy does the movie make her suffer and suffer till it allows her a happy ending. I'm not partial to movies where women wait around and pine for men who don't deserve them so in that respect, this film irritated me to no end. Fonda is perfectly cast as the wimpy papa's boy and why Davis's character wants him in the first place is a mystery. Both Davis and Fonda would do much better the following year in the superior JEZEBEL. Davis and Goulding would go on to do three more films together. With Anita Louise, Ian Hunter, Sidney Toler and Mary Phillips.