THE BULLETIN • JULY 29 - AUGUST 4, 2021
TV • PAGE 25
What’s Available NOW On
“Movie: School Daze”
Students navigate life at a historically
Black college in this 1988 musical
comedy, one of Spike Lee’s early efforts.
The subject matter is often serious
— such as the positions of light-
skinned versus darker-skinned African-
Americans in the social order — but
the clever writing and frequent musical
numbers keep the film from becoming
too preachy. Laurence Fishburne —
going by Larry then — heads the cast.
BY JAY BOBBIN
“Dangerous”
“Jezebel”
“The Letter”
“Movie: Only Lovers Left Alive”
From director and co-writer Jim
Jarmusch (“The Dead Don’t Die,”
“Mystery Train”) comes this enjoyable
2013 comedy drama about two
centuries-old vampire lovers (Tom
Hiddleston, Tilda Swinton) with
highbrow attitudes and tastes, who are
forced to consider their place in a 21st
century world full of philistines. Anton
Yelchin, Mia Wasikowska, John Hurt
and Jeffrey Wright are also in the fine
cast.
“Movie: On the Waterfront”
Marlon Brando became a contender
in his own right as a longshoreman
battling a ruthless racketeer in Elia
Kazan’s searing 1954 melodrama of
political corruption and personal
heroism. Filmed in Hoboken, N.J.,
this landmark film won eight Academy
Awards, including best picture and best
supporting actress (Eva Marie Saint), as
well as Oscars for Brando and Kazan.
Karl Malden and Rod Steiger co-star.
“Movie: Val”
Fans of Val Kilmer will get an up-close-
and-personal look at the mercurial
“The Doors” and “Batman Forever”
actor in this documentary from first-
time directors Leo Scott and Ting Poo,
which uses home movies, on-set clips
and footage shot by Kilmer himself to
chronicle a life lived to extremes and
reveal what it means to be an artist and
a complex man. (ORIGINAL)
BEST BETTE DAVIS MOVIES
“Of Human Bondage” (1934) Davis plays
cruel waitress Mildred, who coldly toys with an
earnest admirer’s (Leslie Howard) emotions, in
this adaptation of the W. Somerset Maugham
classic.
“Dangerous” (1935) Davis earned her first
Academy Award as an actress whose drinking
problem leads to trouble for her and others.
“The Petrified Forest” (1936) Working again
with Leslie Howard, with Humphrey Bogart added,
Davis stars in the Robert E. Sherwood play about
crossed paths at a diner.
“Jezebel” (1938) Sort of a pre-“Gone With the
Wind,” this Davis staple saw her score her second
Oscar as a willful Southern belle trying to win back
her ex-fiance (Henry Fonda). The film is included in
the day of Davis films that launches Turner Classic
Movies annual “Summer Under the Stars” event
Sunday, Aug. 1.
“Dark Victory” (1939) In one of Davis’ most
popular movies, she stars as a socialite who develops
a brain tumor, then falls in love with the doctor
(George Brent) who operates on her.
“The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex”
(1939) Davis and Errol Flynn have the title roles in
the tempestuous royal love story.
“The Letter” (1940) Another W. Somerset
Maugham work was the source of Davis’ turn as a
murder suspect whose claim of self-defense might
unravel because of a certain letter.
“The Little Foxes” (1941) Lillian Hellman’s play
centers on a wealthy Southern family – with Davis
playing one member – beset by problems while also
causing them for others.
“Now, Voyager” (1942) A spinster, portrayed
by Davis, undergoes a radical transformation after
spending time in a sanitarium.
“The Corn Is Green” (1945) A schoolteacher
(Davis) becomes the patron of a promising student
(John Dall) in the screen version of Emlyn Williams’
play.
“A Stolen Life” (1946) Davis plays twin sisters,
one of whom “steals” the other’s identity – and
husband (Glenn Ford) – after a drowning.
“All About Eve” (1950) “It’s going to be a
bumpy night,” indeed. The classic backstage drama
stars Davis as a veteran stage star targeted by an
ambitious admirer (Anne Baxter).
“What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?”
(1962) Davis’ later career got a big jolt from this
legendary chiller, pairing her with Joan Crawford
as former-actress siblings engaged in psychological
terror.
“Hush ... Hush, Sweet Charlotte” (1964)
The same team behind “What Ever Happened to
Baby Jane?” furnished Davis with another tale of
family strife turned horrifying.
“The Nanny” (1965) Davis is terrifically chilling
as said minder of children, who matches wits with a
savvy and suspicious youngster (William Dix).
“Death on the Nile” (1978) Agatha Christie’s
puzzler places Davis among the suspects during a
cruise on which Hercule Poirot (Peter Ustinov) probes
an heiress’ murder.
“The Whales of August” (1987) Davis was
near the end of her career when she worked with
such other screen veterans as Lillian Gish and Vincent
Price in the story of widowed sisters (Davis, Gish) and
what may be their last Maine summer.