The Little Foxes (1941)

In 1900, in the Southern town of Linnet, the notorious Hubbard family is hated by the residents since they explore the poor and the black people in their business. Regina Giddens (Bette Davis), née Hubbard, is married with Horace Giddens (Herbert Marshall), who is a good man that is interned in a hospital in Baltimore due to a heart condition. They are estranged and they have a daughter, the naive Alexandra Giddens (Teresa Wright) that has a crush on the local David Hewitt (Richard Carlson) but she is controlled by her merciless mother.

Regina's brothers are the exploitative Ben Hubbard (Charles Dingle), who is single, and Oscar Hubbard (Carl Benton Reid), who is married with the wounded Birdie (Patricia Collinge), and they have a son, the scum Leo (Dan Duryea) that works in a bank. Oscar and Regina have made arrangements to marry Leo with Alexandra. When Ben and Oscar invite the wealthy businessman William Marshall (Russell Hicks) to come to Linnet to build a mill to improve their business and pay low wages to the locals, they need US$ 75,000.00 from Regina. She manipulates Alexandra to bring Horace back home to convince him to lend the money. However, Horace does not accept the business and Leo steals his railroad bonds from the safe in the bank to invest in the business with Marshall, expecting to return the money without Horace noticing. Bur Horace goes to the bank and finds the embezzlement. What will Horace and Alexandra do?

"The Little Foxes" is a movie directed by William Wyler and based on a play that shows a Southern family of snakes in the turn of the Twentieth Century. The unpleasant story is supported by magnificent performances and had nine nominations to the Oscar. Bette Davis and William Wyler had relationship problems along the production and they never worked together again. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Pérfida" ("Perfidy")

Fmovies: This was a surprisingly good movie - for me, not people who like Bette Davis and melodramas. They got what they hoped for, another solid film with her starring in it. I don't particularly care for Davis or "soaps," but I liked this film and see it more of a straight drama, anyway, especially because of the crisp dialog.

It's a story about money and how to use it or how to acquire more of it through deceit and greed. Davis, as "Regina Gidden," is the most greedy of the Gidden clan, vying for more money with her brothers who aren't exactly trustworthy people themselves. Among the three, there wasn't anyone to root for since the family shared in their lust for money. Davis does her normal excellent acting job but I enjoyed Charles Dingle as "(Uncle) Ben Hubbard" best. I liked his lines more than anyone's and the way he delivered them. Carl Benton Reid played the other greedy Hubbard brother, "Oscar" and Dan Duryea was interesting as Oscar's dumb son, 'Leo."

Herbert Marshall was good, too, as Regina's husband "Horace." He was an honest, principled man and thus, the black sheep in that household. Unfortunately, he was dying and his death played a big part in this story.

The sub-plot in this tale is the coming-of-age of Hubbard daughter "Alexandra" played by Teresa Wright. Her "coming of age" translates to finally standing up to her domineering mother. Richard Carlson plays her reluctant boyfriend "David Hewitt" who, in the end, is won over when "Alexandra" grows up.

So, this excellent cast, complemented by an outstanding director in William Wyler and world-class cinematographer Gregg Toland all adds up to a solid, memorable film.

Superb playwright, Lillian Hellman (1905-84) wrote this screenplay for "The Little Foxes," saying that she "wrote her 'angry comedy' based on her own family's biannual dinner at which people drew lots for a diamond that had been left in her great-grandmother's estate." Hellman's first play for Samuel Goldwyn was "The Children's Hour." She was in lover with & influenced by author & screenplay writer, Dashiel Hammett. This later became a hit book, script & film based upon a 19th century case of two girls' school mistresses whose reputations were ruined when one of their pupils accused them of lesbianism. Hellman was not afraid to be controversial or write about the unspeakable truths of the day.

After a poor showing of Hellman's "Days to Come" in 1936, about labor struggles in an Ohio town, Hellman said she "was so scared {that she} wrote "Little Foxes, 1939, nine times." This is the script that made her reputation as a playwright famous. (Jane Fonda plays Lillian Hellman in the movie "Julia" a true story about her best friend, played by Vanessa Redgrave; Jason Robards plays Dashiel).

"The Little Foxes" is a vivid portrayal of sibling rivalry, Southern plantation slavery & most of all, greed in the Hubbard family of Alabama. The story takes place at the turn of the 19th-20th century, in the deep South of Alabama where the Hubbard siblings are involved in their own brand of a power-hungry uncivil war. Who better to play the reigning schemer Regina than Bette Davis, the Hubbard sibling who commands ownership of a cotton mill that exploits slaves while yielding millions of dollars on their bent backs? Davis gives another Oscar worthy performance, leading a near perfect cast through a major screen achievement that is a page in US history.

The DVD is almost 2 hours long & in black and white, with English, French & Spanish subtitles. The story is a bone chilling indictment of Alabaman slave plantation white corruption & greed.

No one should ever say that Lillian Hellman wasn't a controversial & highly political playwright! The film is not rated probably because anyone could watch it. Though I imagine it would bore little children since the play's basic themes are quite complex for adults.

The Little Foxes fmovies. The Little Foxes is as entertaining today as it was in 1941. Lillian Hellman's theatrical hit with Tallulah Bankhead is magnificently brought to the screen by William Wyler with Bette Davis in the TB role. Davis received her fourth straight Oscar nomination (her sixth over all at that point in her career) for portraying Regina Giddons. It is a performance that rates among the best ever created by Davis, or any other actress for that matter.

Greg Toland's deep focus photography rivals that of his work on Citizen Kane.

It's nine Oscar nominations include Teresa Wright's for best supporting actress.

This was the third and last time Davis and Wyler worked together. During the shoot the two did not get along -- Davis even walked off the set and was almost replaced by Goldwyn. She was loaned to Goldwyn as part of a trade out for Warner Bros to have Gary Cooper for Sgt. York -- he took home the Oscar for best actor.

Dorothy Parker translated the theatrical script for the screen adding more location scenes for Wright.

One of the several masterpieces made by master William Wyler, and definetely one of the best movies of all times. As he did in The Letter, Mr. Wyler counted on Bette Davis and Herbert Marshall to play the leading roles in Little Foxes; and the choice worked out perfectly again.

I'm sure that some of the others reviewers will have written about the story of Little Foxes (greed, betrayal, hate... against honesty and loyalty), so I won't. I'll talk about some other things:

-Bette Davis: for me there're no more than 5 actresses which would deserve the title of "best actress ever": Katharine Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman, Audrey Hepburn, Barbra Stanwyck, and of course Bette. She was the best playing evil women, heartless, unmerciful ones. And there's no doubt that the character of Reggina Gibbens gathers all those characteristics together. The performing of Bette Davis is memorable (as expected), and the way she says things such as "I don't hate you, I just feel contempt for you"... that are just like a punch in your face. There should be a picture of Mrs. Davis in the dictionaries next to that sentence that says "look that kills". Bette Davis was the look that killed.

-The Film: "Millimetric" it would be a nice word to define the script. Some of the dialogues of Little Foxes are part of the history of cinema, especially the ones between Reggina and her husband. The scene in which she watches him have a heartattack is simply devastating. There are lots of long shot-sequences that intensify the tension, and Wyler's sense of rhythm is something to be shown in Cinema School even nowadays (especially nowadays).

We got the Gioconda, the Basílica of San Pedro in Vatican, the Guernica... and we got movies such as The Little Foxes.

My rate: 10/10

I have been a fan of Bette Davis since I was a young child. Her riveting performance in this movie made me conscious of what a truly good actor can do. Regina (Bette) and her covetous brothers made the biblical passage "the love of money is the root of all evil" come to life.

The Little Foxes is an apt name. As animals Regina, Horace and Oscar not only would tear others to pieces to get what they want; they would eventually turn on each other to gain satisfaction.

The performance of Herbert Marshall made me immediately search for his other movies to view; I've not been disappointed. I am thankful his character was included to offset the viciousness of Regina and her brothers.