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Dangerous [VHS]

Dangerous [VHS]Director: Alfred E. Green
Actors: Bette Davis, Franchot Tone, Margaret Lindsay, Alison Skipworth, John Eldredge
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Category: Video

List Price: $19.98
Buy Used: $8.99
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Seller: mrjcs64
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars 25 reviews
Sales Rank: 3454

Format: Black & White, HiFi Sound, NTSC
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: VHS Tape
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 79 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.2 x 1.1

ISBN: 6301967496
UPC: 027616180032
EAN: 9786301967495
ASIN: 6301967496

Theatrical Release Date: December 25, 1935
Release Date: December 21, 1994
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 25
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4 out of 5 stars Sometimes we are our own worst enemy...   May 10, 2010
Andrew Ellington (I'm kind of everywhere)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

As a huge fan of Bette Davis (I strongly consider her the best actress to ever grace the big screen), I was overwhelmed with joy to encounter `Dangerous' on TCM a while back. `Dangerous' was Davis's first taste of Oscar glory, and while she boldly claimed that she didn't deserve the win, I was still very, very excited to see it for the first time.

While I tend to agree with Davis (she believed that Katharine Hepburn deserved the Oscar for `Alice Adams') I do believe that she highly underestimated herself here. While the film itself is not completely up to snuff, the performances within it are very, very good; especially that of Davis who embodies Joyce Heath with a vulnerability that makes her real and endearing despite her apparent flaws.

The film follows a torrid affair between a washed up stage actress named Joyce Heath and an architect named Don Bellows. Don is engaged to be married, but he calls off that engagement to start a relationship with Joyce. Joyce firmly believes that she is jinxed and that anyone foolish enough to seek out a relationship with her is signing their own death slip, but Don dives right in. Soon things are looking better than ever for Joyce, and for Don, but that jinx catches up with them soon enough when a secret is revealed that threatens to destroy their relationship.

For me, this film almost has it. I liked the concept and the basic plot, but I feel that the construction at times is a tad lazy. The ending is also morally important, but it needed more time to truly establish itself as poignant. A sign of the times (very rarely were films longwinded and heavily detailed in the 30's) but this film needed to be a tad longer. It clocks in at under an hour and a half, and that barely gives us enough time to really flesh out these characters. Proof of the need for more time is the ending, when the secret is revealed, our impression of Joyce is supposed to change drastically, but they haven't really built enough layers to her in order to make that change appropriate.

That said; Davis nearly nails to part. She is outstanding here, never overselling anything but completely playing to her strengths and establishing a woman who feels real and relatable. Franchot Tone, who plays her love interest, is also very well used here. I was least impressed with Margaret Lindsay, but that may have more to do with the script (I understand subtlety, but the way she reacted to the broken engagement was ridiculously unrealistic).

In the end I highly recommend this one. If you are a fan of Miss Davis then you need to see her Oscar winning portrayal of the boozy actress who only wanted to be happy. You won't be sorry!


3 out of 5 stars No Doubt: Bette is "Dangerous"   March 1, 2009
Martin Asiner (Jersey City, NJ)
By the time that DANGEROUS was released in 1935, Bette Davis was a rising star but not yet one of the first magnitude. A year earlier, she had given a bravura performance as the slutty Mildred Rogers in OF HUMAN BONDAGE, for which she had been denied an Oscar. Even though her performance as Joyce Heath in DANGEROUS was as a morally questionable actress who would stop at nothing to succeed, Hollywood gave her a belated trophy as Best Actress. As the drunkard Heath, Miss Davis gives an over the top performance that is so one dimensional that the audience can be forgiven for overlooking her otherwise mesmerizing journey from the height of success to its nadir.

Joyce Heath is an actress who has achieved reknown only to wind up as a drunken sot when she encounters Don Bellows (Franchot Tone), who promptly and inexplicably takes her under his wing, feeds and cares for her, then falls in love with her. Heath tells him that she is "jinxed." He refuses to believe her. She fails to tell him that she has a husband (John Eldridge)whom she has abandoned for much the same reason. The plot quickly degenerates into soap and nonsense, but at the same time, Davis had the gift of making even disreputable characters like Joyce Heath watchable. The audience wonders what Franchot Tone sees in her to want to marry or what John Eldridge sees to want to reconcile with her. What emerges from DANGEROUS is the clear exposition of the dangers involved in becoming so enamored of success in one's professional life that one forfeits it in one's personal life. Eldridge, by contrast, comes off as impossibly forgiving as a saint who can forgive anything--even attempted murder--merely to cling to a vain hope of Heath's rediscovering her feelings for him. Tone, at least, learns that love has its limits. The bottom line on DANGEROUS is that it is little more than a descent into the depths of desperation, even if Bette Davis grabs our interest as she rides her self-imposed roller coaster of twisted emotions.


5 out of 5 stars Raising a decayed spirit   March 7, 2008
Hiram Gomez Pardo (Valencia, Venezuela)
Saccharine melodrama in which an actress in frank process of decadence is aided by a young architect who gets she resurges fro the ashes of the forgetfulness.

But is Bette Davis who once more, established the difference to earn herself the Academy Award in 1935 as Best actress.



5 out of 5 stars ..waiting patiently for the DVD release, whenever that may be.   February 29, 2008
G. Bradley Currie (Houston, TX)
I adore Bette Davis' films and this was one of my personal favorites. I'm honestly a little disappointed that there is about to be a third entry in the Bette Davis Collection from Warner Brothers and Dangerous is NOT included! It should have been released on DVD long ago but for whatever reason Warner (or somebody) is dragging their feet with restoring this one.


5 out of 5 stars fine early Bette Davis vehicle   September 9, 2007
Matthew G. Sherwin (last seen screaming at Amazon customer service)
Bette Davis and Franchot Tone star in this early vehicle for Bette Davis entitled Dangerous. The plot moves along rather well even if it's a tad slow at times; and the convincing acting held my attention very well.

The action begins with Donald 'Don' Bellows (Franchot Tone) and his fiancée Gail Armitage (Margaret Lindsay) are out on the town and by chance Don notices the has-been actress Joyce Heath (Bette Davis). Joyce has fallen from fame because of a "jinx" that has somehow become associated with anyone whose life crosses with hers. Don takes pity on Joyce because she was such a great talent in the theater and now he finds her alcoholic and practically penniless. Don sends Gail home so that he can secretly move Joyce to his country home; Don wants to help Joyce recuperate and regain her strength there. Don sincerely wants to help Joyce.

However, things begin to change. Don and Joyce fall in love; and the plot really thickens when Don breaks his engagement to Gail to marry Joyce. Don has also put up a great deal of money to get Joyce a plum role in a major play so that Joyce can regain her lost stardom and fame.

Actually, there's still much more to the plot even though you may think I've told it all. Will any of this affect Don's business plans? How will Gail react to Don's breakup with her? Will Joyce be strong enough to be a success in the play Don finances for her? Will Joyce "jinx" the play? And why does Joyce always steer Don away from the topic of marriage? Don wants to marry Joyce because he loves her; and Joyce by all accounts seems to love Don in return. Why is Joyce stalling on marriage? The answer to that question alone may surprise you.

The cinematography reflects good judgment and the choreography works well for the scene in which Don and Joyce go running in the rain back to Don's country estate.

Overall, Dangerous gave Bette Davis a fine vehicle to display her immense talent. Davis acts uncommonly well as she communicates even the most subtle of emotions with just a look from her eyes and a very slight turn of her head. Very few actresses could ever act that well. Franchot Tone portrays Don very convincingly as well; but the movie still belongs to Bette Davis.

I highly recommend this film for Bette Davis fans; and people who appreciate 1930s drama on film will like Dangerous, too.

Enjoy!


Showing reviews 1-5 of 25
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