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Rating:  -
At the start of her career downturn at Warner Bros. until she was saved by Joseph Mankiewicz casting her at the last minute for her definitive role of Margo Channing in All About Eve, Bette Davis played one of her most morally puerile characters as Christine Radcliffe, a classical pianist who is unexpectedly reunited with the love of her life, cellist Karel Novak, whom she took for dead, while carrying on as the "protégé" of renowned composer Alexander Hollenius. Note the fancy, spacious apartment she can supposedly afford on a piano teacher's paltry wages. Had Christine shown any common sense, she would have told Karel within the first five minutes of their passionate embrace, gotten slapped for her supposed infidelity and then she would have been forgiven with violins swooning in the background. However, that would have made this 1946 Baroque-level soaper about seven minutes long. Instead, as directed by Irving Rapper in overly emphatic style, we get to watch Davis wrench her hands and get all tight-lipped as she tries to convince the tirelessly jealous Karel that she and Alex are merely good friends. Ha!
When Alex is not spending his time seething in a jealous rage, he is busy manipulating the nerves of poor Karel, whom Alex has suspiciously chosen to play the spotlight cello solo in his new concerto. The movie's most amusing scene is when the three go out for a pre-performance dinner as Alex plays the world's most pretentious diner in front of the increasingly exasperated lovers. The tension of Charlotte's deception leads to a melodramatic finish that recalls earlier Davis' vehicles, but this time for the weakest of reasons. Reunited with a mostly subdued Davis and Rapper from their classic tearjerker, 1942's Now, Voyager, Paul Henreid and Claude Rains play Karel and Alex, respectively. While Henried grapples with Karel's anger management issues, Rains easily steals the picture as the erudite composer. Some of the dialogue courtesy of John Collier and Joseph Than actually has some snap and wit but not nearly enough to make this the wallow it should be. Film historian Foster Hirsch provides a thoughtful commentary track on the 2008 DVD.
Rating:  -
Here is Bette Davis playing Christine Radcliff doing what she does best: Weaving a complicated web, trying to love a man while keeping a business realtionship with another, being a martyr and looking flawless every moment. No wonder she had temper fits, anyone with half the load would faint too, and often.
Bette is in love with a musician. She actually is one herself and has an energetic moment at the piano of such riveting misplaced energy that it alone suffices for a reason to see and appreciate the film. This musician, Paul Henreid, who plays Karel Novak , has been trying to get to America to escape the war for a long time and in that long interlude while living in NY City, Bette was compelled to find a 'protector' who could pay for her five mink coats, her stunning penthouse apartment and the delightful trinkets in it, which include a Picasso that would be more than 30 million today, a Tang horse, a very expensive piano and every shape and size of silver candelabra that can illuminate the huge space. Obviously we suspect something is wrong when she tells him she has been able to get all of this with music lessons and the 'gifts' that her rich, untalented students lavish on her patient tutoring. Anyone even with no knowledge of NY real estate would have been floored by the kind of money it takes to get an appartment like hers, but somehow he is in denial and does not see it right away, though he later on gets insanely jealous enough to make up for it. Claude Rains, who played the martyr husband with her in "Mr. Skeffington" here is an eccentric composer aptly named Alexander Hollenius and her benefactor. We are supposed to think that she had a 'past' with him until the very moment the musician,arrives finally into her life, but this is a misunderstanding. The reality, as I see it, is that Christine has been playing the role of mistress to cover up in high society, the fact that Hollenius is gay. This movie is therefore much better understood as a battle between two temperamental, musically talented, and emotionally challenged Queens. As a matter of fact it is only from this perspective that a lot of its nuance and brilliance can be appreciated.
This would explain, for example, her exquisite clothes and decor. No regular Joe could have come up with that unique mix of Chinese and Modern that is still a standard of excellence in decorating interiors of traditional wealthy apartments in this city. Hollenius looks and acts always as if on the verge of snapping. He speaks with the impetuosity and mannerisms of a retired decorator who still has anguished nightmares about getting the right color for the living room or a great couturier who suffered endlessly over the placement of glitter in the collection's evening gowns. He tries to upstage Christine by showing up unannounced and late at her wedding, and wearing a gorgeous evening cape. He also cracks a glass and leaves in a huff, all very consistent with drag queen-competitive posturing. If we had any serious doubts about this reality and its interpretation, the scene in the restaurant is devastating proof: Hollenius is totally heinous in delaying the dinner, knowing fully well it is making the musician nervous about being late for the concert, and by torturing the French chefs into reciting the specials, offering gratituous commentary on alterations on the sauces and the choice of wines that would match each dish, each more impossible and extravagant than the last. His erudition and refinement of choice is fastidious to the point of hysteria. He enjoys the process because he is infatuated with the musician and wants to outshine and humilate Christine. The fact that he has written the concerto for the cello, the instrument that he plays, also points in that direction. It will all drive Christine to despair eventually, and presently to seething rage.
This is a Must-See for Bette Davis fans and for those interested in classical music performance, and early gay identity in Hollywood films.
Rating:  -
It would be a unforgiveable deception to tell you that this Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains vehicle is anything but top rate glossy soap bubble popping high drama. A rainy day is the perfect time to watch this film, late afternoon when the light seems like it will last forever giving you that trapped in time feeling. This film evokes that effect through out. Wonderful light, and so much of it takes place in twilight, or in rain, and in the deepest inky night.
It may not be considered a film noir in the classic sense but it certainly, as shot by the incredible Ernest Haller; it looks like one and one of the most gorgeous of the style. It is more like a Woman's Noir with its story of a basically good woman driven by her deceptions to do bad things, very bad things.
Without a shadow of a doubt this is one of Claude Rains most entertaining, sharp, insightfully and wicked performances. He is pure joy to watch as he manipulates each person he comes in contact with in the story. He is the rotten, jealous petrified hard center of this poison soufflé. Bette Davis is wonderful of course and is dressed to the nines but what is remarkable to see is the fun she is having as she hands the film over to Mr.. Rains. They made so many wonderful films together and he is obviously someone she admired and loved to work with. She is strong and exciting in the role but she gets out of the way and lets him have his day.
And yet beyond all of this there are two reasons I love this film. It has a remarkable classic Hollywood score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold and features his now famous "Hollenius' Cello Concerto" as well as music by Beethoven, Wagner and Schubert. The music is as much a star of the film as anyone else. And in the commentary you will learn how the magic of Hollywood was employed to make the non-musical Henreid play that violin and not look like he is trying to saw it in half, and that Bette Davis could indeed play the piano just as she does in the film.
Then there is the incredible and even inspiring set design. The loft that Davis lives in is forty years ahead of it time. It is an incredible set and must have inspired interior designers in some subliminal way over the years, for now in cities across America that look is so in vogue. The industrial concrete walls and the slanted floor to ceiling glass wall overlooking the city juxtaposed with a mix of modern furniture and antiques. It is timeless decorating, visually magnificent, barren, cold and full of dark corners where secrets can be hidden. In short a perfect design for this film.
If you are a Steve Martin fan see if you can spot the scene he borrowed from "Deception" so that he could act with Bette Davis in his very wonderful "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid." Whether working with Claude Rains or Steve Martin, Bette Davis lets both men shine as she casts her mega-watt star power over them.
Rating: -
DECEPTION is probably as good as a melodrama can be and still remain one. Bette Davis, Paul Heinreid, and Claude Raines reunite from NOW VOYAGER with Davis and Heinreid as unlikely lovers in a failed relation and Raines playing against type as an over the top megalomaniac whose hamminess stole each scene from Miss Davis, who usually did the stealing but in this case had to surrender to Raines' tsunamis of biting witticisms. Miss Davis has a good life in post World War II New York as a music teacher who need not struggle with financial woes as she is the mistress of a very obnoxious but wealthy egotist. Out of the clear blue sky her former lover (Heinreid) appears in a concert as a cellist. She had thought that he was killed during the war but there he is. As they hug each other in happiness, Heinreid quickly figures out that Davis' opulent living style could not come from her meager earnings as a piano tutor. Enter Raines as the jealous sugar daddy who is determined to crush their renewed vows as faithful lovers. But it is the means of this crushing that elevate DECEPTION as a very high order of melodrama. Raines is loud, sarcastic, pushy, yet apologetic each time quite insincerely for all that. A funny scene occurs in a fancy restaurant where Raines treats Davis and Heinreid to an expensive dinner. He first orders one meal, then changes his mind, orders another, changes his mind yet again, before deciding on HIS choice, knowing all the while that his delaying tactics are irritating them to no end. We can hardly understand why Davis was attracted to Heinreid in the first place. He is moody, volatile, even given to outbursts of abuse as he nearly chokes Davis in a fit of rage. The warm low key mutual attraction that they shared in NOW VOYAGER is nowhere here apparent. By contrast, we can easily understand her attraction to Raines. His very qualities of aggressive mind tinkering have their peculiar lure to women who have known only lumpen clods like Heinreid. She even visits Raines one day after her marriage to Heinreid supposedly to demand that he cease to exhibit the very qualities of pushiness that she finds so alluring. If Raines is the magnet and Davis the iron filings, then Heinreid is sticks of splinters that no one else seems to want. The plot is insane, of course. Only Hollywood writers could come up with such a melodrama, but we watch DECEPTION not for that but for the torrent of words and hand wringing that accompanies them. The ending which I shall not here reveal is total illogic, but by then, who cares about such mundane things like obvious evidence to a crime that the script writers leave hanging in the air. DECEPTION is a fine roller coaster of a film that proves yet again that a dearth of logic can easily be supplanted by a plethora of acting talent. In this case, it was Claude Raines that is that plethora.
Rating: -
A must see if your a Bette Davis fan, The only disappoint I have is that many of her films have not been released in dvd for us to enjoy. I suggest you watch this film and just enjoy Miss Davis at her best.
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