TOP 25 CAMP FILMS OF ALL TIME - 8

IN THIS OUR LIFE

One reviewer called this a "Silly, Southern Fried Melodrama" which sums it up almost as much as publicity tagline from Warner Bros which reads "Nobody's as good as Bette Davis when she's bad"

And Bette is as bad as it gets in this movie. Renowned for playing a bitch in movies, this is probably her nastiest role - excpet possibly Regina Giddens in the fabulous "The Little Foxes"

In This Our Life was really Bette at the pinnacle of her career, she had played a slew of different characters in great successes at Warner Bros. This time, she took on the role of Stanley Timberlake. Stanley had a sister called Roy played by sometime Davis costar and friend, Olivia DeHavilland. Now the bizarre male names for female characters is one thing but the plot is almost as bizarre. Involving murder, suicide, affairs, incest and even more death. All this in 90 minutes of a riotous romp.

Stanley is a bad girl, she is first seen on screen with her lover Peter or as she calls him Petah. Petah is married to Roy but that's not stopping Stanley who has a beau of her own, George Brent. Very quickly, we see Stanley as the fulcrum point of the Timberlake family and everything she does causes havoc for them. She is the apple of her Uncle William's eye and flirts openly with him to get her own way. So selfish Stanley with her weird hair do and Cupid's bow style of lipstick disappear with Petah leaving poor Roy and Craig (George Brent) to pick up the pieces. She quickly marries Petah - but is never happy and somehow offscreen manages to nag Petah to suicide.

Devastated, well kind of - Stanley returns to the family and sets her sights back on getting Craig. Saintly Roy loves her sister and seems to take a back seat, Stanley arranges to meet Craig but ends up running over a mother and child whilst she's speeding along in her car. Then, and here's the good bit - she blames it on a young black boy who's mother works for the family. My favourite scene is when Roy realising that her sister is as wicked as all get out, she walks in on her dancing a bizarre honky tonk jazz number drinking straight vodka. Stanley at first looks shocked but still tries to pull the wool over Roy's eyes. Realising that she's busted and that the black boy didn't commit the crime, she heads to Uncle William's who is dying but still wants a piece of Stanley and tries to kiss her. Stanley for a very brief moment seems to consider that incest is best before hightailing it and her own driving eventually costs her more than she could have imagined.

The ending is inevitable but it's a joyous romp to see Bette in fine form. The difference between her and DeHavilland's style is apparent as Bette is all bulging eyes whereas Olivia is rather doe-eyed throughout and very calm, even when her husband says he's leaving. Little did Petah know that he'd be better off with boring Roy rather than Stanley.

Charles Coburn is excellent as Uncle William who lusts after Stanley - I expected her to jump on his fat lap at one point but instead, she just nuzzles into his ample bosom. I must say it's a tad disconcerting that I'm talking about Roy and Stanley in the female form and Uncle William's bosom but those are the facts when dealing with this crazy movie.

Also in the supporting cast are Hattie McDaniel - if ever there was a cook or maid needed in the 30s and 40s on screen, Hattie was it - or Butterfly McQueen. And she plays it so well.

Billie Burke - Glinda the Good Witch from The Wizard Of Oz plays against type as Roy and Stanley's ill mother - she doesn't bring much to the party although I did want her to appear by bubble whenever she came onscreen.

Bette has a field day although apparently when watching rushes she realised that director John Huston who was having an affair with Olivia DeHavilland had given her very flattering closeups - Bette went mental and demanded more for herself. This was never one of Bette Davis' favourite movies but I must say, I don't think I've ever seen Bette be this bad - there's no reason given in the film as to why Bette's such a bitch except that it's because she can be! And to top it off, it was one of the biggest grossing movies of 1942.

There are no real zingers thrown in this movie as every scene is like a bitchy line. You don't know where to look or what's going to happen next or what revelation is going to pop up or what Bette does to get her own way. It's total camp and total soap and therefore makes it easily into my top 10.