Bette Davis in The Little Foxes -- Evil Personified

"Take us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines.  For our vines have tender grapes."  "Song of Solomon"

In her prime, Bette Davis played many different types of strong women, some willing to commit acts of violence from desperation, some with less than moral scruples.  However, she played true evil as Regina Giddens in Lillian Hellman's play The Little Foxes.  First performed on Broadway by Tallulah Bankhead, Regina's character was given the Davis touch and delivered to movie audiences of 1941 a woman with no redeeming qualities at all.  It is impossible to see any other actress in the role after seeing Davis.  The Goldwyn Company was able to borrow Davis from Jack Warner because he owed a gambling debt of $300,000 to Goldwyn.  When Davis found out about this, she demanded more money for her work, and got it.  That was only the beginning of difficulties for Goldwyn in making the film.  Davis and director William Wyler clashed on several points of the portrayal of Regina -- Wyler wanted Davis to play her as Bankhead did, a desperate, aging southern belle under the thumb of her evil brothers.  Davis saw the part in a different way, and eventually got her way, even to the physical appearance of Regina, which Wyler hated.  Wyler was wrong.  Davis' interpretation was brilliant, and created one of the most memorable roles of her career.  After The Little Foxes, Davis and Wyler never worked together again, so vitriolic was their relationship during filming.

Set in the early 1900's, The Little Foxes is a story of greed and moral decomposition as Regina and her brothers, Ben Hubbard (Charles Dingle) and Oscar (Carl Benton Reid) hatch a business scheme that will make them rich while bleeding their town dry and leaving the people at poverty-level.  The three siblings don't even love each other, much less their fellow men.  Regina is married to Horace (Herbert Marshall), a decent and caring man whom she despises, but her only source of the the money she needs to get into the deal. Horace is a very sick man with a heart condition from which he is not expected to recover.  When Horace refuses to finance the slimy business deal for Regina, she has no qualms about telling him she is waiting for him to die so she can get what she wants.  The story takes many dips and turns, and must be seen to appreciate, so you won't find any spoilers here!

Caught in the middle of this ugly family situation is Horace and Regina's daughter Alexandra (Teresa Wright in her movie debut).  Alexandra is young, naive and unable to quite understand what is going on.  Her mother's behavior confuses and angers her, and she is distraught at the thought of losing her beloved father.  Her friend David Hewitt (Richard Carlson) is a savvy young newspaper reporter who knows exactly what is going on, and tries to help Alexandra grow up and accept reality.  (The part of David was not in the original play -- he was inserted into the film in order to have a sympathetic male character besides the ailing Horace.)

The other younger member of the family is Leo, brother Oscar's son (Dan Duryea), and a wormier, nastier character you will never see.  Leo is juvenile and stupid, yet just as unscrupulous as his father.  Oscar and Regina would like to see the two cousins marry to keep the money in the family, a good example of their absolute lack of love for even their own children.

In my opinion, one of the strongest performances comes from Patricia Collinge as Birdie, Oscar's pitiable wife.  Collinge brings the bullied Birdie to distressing life, a sweet woman whose life with the cold, calculating husband has been pure hell.  She is loved by everyone except her husband and son Leo, but she is too damaged to overcome the tragedy of her life.  Collinge was mainly a well known stage actress, but did a few movies, including Shadow of a Doubt and The Nun's Story.

Although Davis dominates the film, as she does most of her films, The Little Foxes is a striking piece of ensemble acting.  Along with Collinge and Herbert Marshall, the supporting players are perfectly cast.  Carl Benton Reid as the cold, humorless Oscar appeared in such films as In A Lonely Place and The Pied Piper of Hamlin, a wonderful 1957 television version with Claude Rains.  Charles Dingle as Ben is chilling as a supposedly affable, smiling villain, and he made only a few films, such as Call Me Madam and Duel in the Sun.  It is hard to believe he was in so few films; perhaps I remember him so well because of The Little Foxes, and deservedly so.  Richard Carlson was quite good as David, and did lend a more hopeful atmosphere to this bleak story, although his inclusion was more of a Hollywood desire to tone down Lillian Hellman's disturbing play.  Dan Duryea, who specialized in snivelling villains, is perfection as Leo.  Two of my favorite supporting players are Jessica Grayson and John Marriott.  Grayson as the housekeeper Addie gives a superb performance with her love for Alexandra and her horror at the development of the schemes of Regina and her brothers.  One of her lines was "There are people who eat the world" and Addie's wisdom is played well.  John Marriott plays one of the house servants as well, devoted to Horace, lending a little sweet humor to the story.

There are movie-goers who confuse a role with the real person of the actor, such as was Gene Tierney's experience after she played the wicked Ellen in Leave Her to Heaven.  Tierney was accosted by some people who told her she should be ashamed of herself.  This type of reaction is quite a compliment to an actor's performance.  I do not know if this ever happened to Bette Davis after The Little Foxes, but she is so realistic and chilling, it would not be a surprise if it had.  Davis, one of the strongest and most determined actresses in Hollywood history, plays a part that highlights her incredible talent as Regina in The Little Foxes.  She is so good that she is easy to hate, but Bette, we still love you!