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Dark Victory (1939)

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Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 1
Fresh: 1 | Rotten: 0

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Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 4,836

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Movie Info

Bette Davis earned an Oscar nomination for her role in this classic four-hanky tearjerker. Judith Traherne (Bette Davis) is a very wealthy Long Island heiress whose life is a constant whirl of cocktails, parties, and wild living. Despite her hedonistic lifestyle, Judith derives little pleasure from life except for her horses, cared for by stable master Michael O'Leary (Humphrey Bogart). When Judith begins suffering from headaches and dizzy spells, Dr. Frederick Steele (George Brent) gives her

Sep 23, 1997

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

All Critics (23) | Top Critics (2) | Fresh (18) | Rotten (3) | DVD (8)

Guilty pleasure: One of Warner's best acted melodramas and Bette Davis's all-time favorite, in which she lives hard but dies in dignity as an heiress gone blind. Also Davis revenge as Tallulah Bankhead failed to bring the role to life in the 1934 play.

April 30, 2007 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Bette Davis loses her sight, and we gain a classic.

December 22, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

Bette Davis's frisky sprint sets the pace

September 6, 2009 Full Review Source: CinePassion | Comment
CinePassion

Naught but a torrid melodrama, but oh! what a humdinger of a melodrama it is! It's films like this that give trash a good name.

April 27, 2009 Full Review Source: Antagony & Ecstasy | Comment
Antagony & Ecstasy

A classic women's pic that strings together a collection of syrupy clichés that can make a real man double up in pain.

April 9, 2008 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | Comment
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

It's horribly dated, playing today like some weird, contrived burlesque of common sense.

February 21, 2006 Full Review Source: Film Freak Central | Comment
Film Freak Central

One of Bette Davis' best acted, most enjoyable melodrama, in which she gloriously plays a dying blind woman.

July 7, 2005 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | Comment

Dark Victory DVD: Prognosis Positive.

June 28, 2005 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | Comment
Slant Magazine

Even by the standards of a typical Bette Davis melodrama Dark Victory is an embarrassment of riches.

June 28, 2005 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | Comment
Slant Magazine

What happens when a three-hankie picture just isn't that sad? You get Dark Victory.

June 1, 2005 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | Comment
Filmcritic.com

Of interest to both Goulding and Davis fans...Dark Victory catches both of them operating at their best while also learning new tricks from each other.

August 12, 2004 Full Review Source: Nick's Flick Picks | Comment
Nick's Flick Picks

A classic women's weeper with Bette Davis at her peak.

November 14, 2002 Comment
Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN)
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Dark Victory

This is a good movie, with good actors, and a good story. It's a dramatic and exciting thriller. I saw it a while ago, but I remember it was good.

September 5, 2010
ajv2688

Super Reviewer

"I think I'll have a large order of PROGNOSIS NEGATIVE."Bette Davis has a brain tumor and about 10 months to live. A classic that's replete with melodrama and old fashioned sentimentality.

January 20, 2009
flixsterman
Randy Tippy

Super Reviewer

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Foreign Titles

  • Dark Victory (1939) (DE)
  • Dark Victory (1939) (UK)
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