In This Our Life (1942)

Interesting facts

In This Our Life is a 1942 American drama film starring Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland as sisters and rivals in romance and life. This was the third of six films in which de Havilland and Davis starred together. The film was directed mostly by John Huston, in his second film, but when Huston was called to a war assignment, an uncredited Raoul Walsh completed the film. The screenplay was written by Howard Koch based on the 1941 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same title by Ellen Glasgow.

Production

The Ellen Glasgow novel, for which Warner Bros. Pictures paid $40,000 for screen rights, portrayed William Fitzroy's incestuous desire for his niece Stanley Timberlake Kingsmill as well as racist attitudes in Richmond society. Screenwriter Howard Koch, who was recommended by the film's director John Huston, deemphasized the book's controversial themes in his script in order to satisfy the current Motion Picture Production Code.

Another significant departure from the novel is the film's happy ending created for Roy Timberlake (Olivia de Havilland) and Craig Fleming (George Brent). In his review of the completed film, the critic Bosley Crowther said that it was "moderately faithful" to the novel and praised its portrayal of racial discrimination.

Bette Davis had wished to play the "good sister" Roy but was eventually cast as Stanley, a role for which she felt she was too old. Davis was unhappy with the script, later recalling: "The book by Miss Glasgow was brilliant. I never felt the script lived up to the book." Davis also claimed that Glasgow disliked the screenplay, saying: "She minced no words about the film. She was disgusted with the outcome. I couldn't have agreed with her more.

Davis was also unhappy about events during production. While in the midst of costume and wig fittings, Davis learned that her husband Arthur Farnsworth had been admitted to a Minneapolis hospital with severe pneumonia. Her friend Howard Hughes arranged a private plane, but her flight took two days, grounded by fog and storms. Almost immediately, studio head Jack L. Warner cabled Davis to demand her return to the film.

Davis argued with the film's producers about nearly every aspect of her character. She directed her hairstyle and makeup and insisted that Orry-Kelly redesign her costumes; the result was what some considered an unflattering wardrobe. However, she aided the project by finding Ernest Anderson, a black waiter at the studio commissary, to play Parry Clay.

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