Dangerous

Dangerous (1935)

An alcoholic actress considered a dangerous jinx is rehabilitated but shows she's as dangerous as ever.

Don Bellows finds former stage star Joyce Heath a penniless drunk and takes her to his Connecticut home for rehabilitation. He asks his fiancée Gail to free him and offers to sponsor Joyce in a play.

Date of release
1935-12-25
TMDB
6.6 / 10 (59)
Runtime
1h 19m
Genres
Drama, Romance
Director
Alfred E. Green

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Awards: 1 · Nominations: 1. Including: Academy Award for Best Actress

Dangerous is a 1935 American drama film starring Bette Davis in her first Oscar-winning role. It was directed by Alfred E. Green to a screenplay by Laird Doyle based on his story Hard Luck Dame.

Production

Bette Davis initially turned down the script, but Warner Bros. studio production chief Hal B. Wallis convinced her she could make something special out of the character, who had been inspired by one of Davis' idols, actress Jeanne Eagels. In fact, one of the characters in the film mentions how Eagels and Davis character Joyce are the only two actresses who can play the lead in the play "But to Die".

Based on Laird Doyle's short story Hard Luck Dame, the $194,000 film had six working titles before producer Hal B. Wallis decided on Dangerous. The other titles were Hard Luck Dame, Evil Star (which Davis favored), The Jinx Woman, Forever Ends at Dawn, Tomorrow Ends and But to Die.

Franchot Tone, who recently had completed Mutiny on the Bounty, was borrowed from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to bolster Davis' marquee value.

Three songs by Harry Warren - "Forty-Second Street," "The Little Things You Used to Do," and "Sweet and Slow" - are heard on the soundtrack. The other song was "Bridal Chorus" by Richard Wagner.

In 1941, the film was remade as Singapore Woman as a second feature with Brenda Marshall in the lead role. It coincidentally used some of the sets from The Letter, the 1940 film starring Davis.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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