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Customer Reviews of That Certain Woman

Absolute Melodrama
Bette Davis stars in another melodrama dripping with mixed up love affairs, scandal, and death. She plays a gangster's moll who tries to live a normal life as a secretary after her husband's death. During this time, she meets a wealthy man who wants to marry her (Henry Fonda). They do wed against his father's wishes, a powerful man who anulls the marriage and leaves Davis with a child. Her boss (Ian Hunter) is sympathetic and does all he can to take care of her, all the time falling in love with her despite being married himself. Their association becomes another scandal in Davis' already complicated life. On top of that, her ex-husband Fonda comes back into the equation, married to another woman. <
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>This is certainly a chick flick by any standards and reads like a high class soap opera. However, despite how silly it might seem, it is a guilty pleasure to watch. All of the performances are wonderful. Of course Davis has a wide acting range and does not overdo her performance. Fonda is handsome and boyish but appropriately emotional.

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Davis on an emotional rollercoaster
Who but Bette Davis could handle a role requiring such a versatility of emotions as this so well? She begins the movie the young widow of a Chicago gangster. Hoping to better her life she becomes a secretary to Ian Hunter. When Henry Fonda enters the picture she elopes with him, only his father has the marriage annulled immediately. Davis goes along with it (Fonda has no backbone), only, of course, she's pregnant now and has a son. Hunter has always had a crush on her and she begs him not to tell Fonda about the boy. Fonda marries another, Hunter dies after leaving Davis a bundle of money (and his declaration of love), and she goes off to Europe and seclusion. After Fonda's wife dies, he visits Davis and their love is rekindled. The soap-opera effects are really poured on - some, such as Fonda's wife (Anita Louise) being crippled in a car accident on their honeymoon and Davis asking them to adopt her boy, are almost over-the-top in emotional force and seem to be there for no other reason. But Davis is a trooper and shoulders her tragedies valiantly. The pleasure here all comes from watching Davis go through her paces. Well done!

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"Nobody belongs to anyone."
Grab your hankies for "That Certain Woman"--an unashamedly exploitive tearjerker that follows the trials and tribulations of a woman who can't leave her past behind. When the film begins, Mary Donnell (Bette Davis) works for married lawyer Lloyd Rogers (Ian Hunter). Mary has a notorious past. She married a gangster at age 16, but he was killed a few years later. Although she changed her name, her past still crops up--usually in the form of annoying reporters who want to write a "where-is-she-now" piece. Mary's boss is in love with her, but he seems to accept that he's unhappily married to someone else and contents himself with keeping Mary as his efficient secretary. <
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>Jack Merrick (Henry Fonda)--the wastrel son of a domineering, wealthy father (Donald Crisp) returns from Paris, with the intention of marrying Mary. Mary and Jack sneak off to get married, but Jack's irate self-righteous father interrupts the newlyweds on their wedding night. Much to Mary's disgust, Jack doesn't stand up to his father's demand that they annul the marriage. Disheartened, Mary leaves. The marriage is annulled, Jack goes off to France, and Mary gives birth to a child. <
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>In many ways, this is an old familiar story of a decent woman who makes a mistake early in her life and isn't allowed to live it down. In "That Certain Woman", the plot dives into soap opera territory repeatedly, and exploits every possible cliched plot twist along the way. All the characters seem to strive for sainthood, and in some scenes, one can almost catch a whiff of burning martyr. The film doesn't offer Bette Davis much in the way of a role--she's primarily the victim throughout the whole film, and what she sees in the spineless Jack really isn't clear. In the beginning of the film, Bette Davis is cast as deliberately dowdy--although she spruces up a bit around the half way mark, and she's only allowed to show her claws in one scene when she wallops someone with her mink stole. <
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>From director Edmund Goulding, the film is well acted, but it's still a poor vehicle for Bette Davis's acting ability. Davis fans (me) will want to watch it as they won't be able to help themselves, but the film belongs in the forgettable stack--displacedhuman