Bette Davis, late in life, told Boze Hadleigh in one of her numerous interviews with him that she could not be accused of repeating herself. She could not have been closer to the truth, because she went from role to role giving powerhouse performances, and even if the movie in itself was less than stellar, she would make sure the viewer remembered her. See-sawing from playing a doomed heroine dying from a brain tumor in DARK VICTORY to playing Elizabeth the Queen in THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX to playing Queen Carlotta in JUAREZ and then doing a complete about-face to stun audiences with her nasty portrayal of Leslie Crosbie in THE LETTER, she could do it all.
And in ALL THIS AND HEAVEN TOO she does it again. Playing a much more maternal woman that she is noted for, she plays Henriette Deluzy-Desportes, a governess employed by the Duke Theo de Praslin to care for his children (among them a young June Lockhart and restrained Virginia Weidler). She is not welcomed by his wife, the Duchese de Praslin, who would rather have her out on the streets than anyplace in the house. It's never truly explained why her initial disdain for Henriette rapidly escalates into a grotesque display of hatred gone mad. Certainly the Duke doesn't show signs of being a womanizer, but something in the way he and Henriette treat each other may suggest otherwise.
Unrequited love and triumph of the spirit is at the center of this story focused not only on Henriette's experience while working at the Praslin house, but her brave attempts to forge a life where society would have her be the tainted woman for being in the middle of a marital scandal. I was surprised that Davis would have chosen this role -- this would be a showcase for someone like Joan Fontaine, who had a winning streak playing these kind of mousy, noble women, so simperingly noble you want to slap them into reality -- but she makes the role her own. Davis this time, instead of wildly emoting, goes the other way around and conveys so much more in key scenes with her sad eyes and shy body language.
She is well-matched by veteran actor Charles Boyer, and if in later accounts she expressed a vague disdain for him it doesn't show in any of their scenes together. Boyer, most remembered from GASLIGHT, plays a broken man as if her were living the part at that moment. This of course, leads to Barbara O'Neill, a largely forgotten actress most known for playing Vivien Leigh's mother in GONE WITH THE WIND in 1939. Looking strikingly familiar to Ava Gardner, serpentine, her character is the one who walks away with the film and I can certainly see Davis telling O'Neill off-screen to hit her with as much venom as she could, and boy, does she! She not only walks off with the movie, she walks off with the director in tow, the 67 sets, the entire production and the celluloid packed neatly under her arm.
One of the best examples of a "woman's picture" that most actresses at the time were producing with varying degrees of success, ALL THIS AND HEAVEN TOO manages to rise well-above its material, based on a notorious case in the mid-1800's, and of course is one of Davis' prime outings. It only received one Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Barbara O'Neill, well-deserved. Anatole Litvak would go to greater films like ANASTASIA, SORRY WRONG NUMBER, and THE SNAKE PIT.
And in ALL THIS AND HEAVEN TOO she does it again. Playing a much more maternal woman that she is noted for, she plays Henriette Deluzy-Desportes, a governess employed by the Duke Theo de Praslin to care for his children (among them a young June Lockhart and restrained Virginia Weidler). She is not welcomed by his wife, the Duchese de Praslin, who would rather have her out on the streets than anyplace in the house. It's never truly explained why her initial disdain for Henriette rapidly escalates into a grotesque display of hatred gone mad. Certainly the Duke doesn't show signs of being a womanizer, but something in the way he and Henriette treat each other may suggest otherwise.
Unrequited love and triumph of the spirit is at the center of this story focused not only on Henriette's experience while working at the Praslin house, but her brave attempts to forge a life where society would have her be the tainted woman for being in the middle of a marital scandal. I was surprised that Davis would have chosen this role -- this would be a showcase for someone like Joan Fontaine, who had a winning streak playing these kind of mousy, noble women, so simperingly noble you want to slap them into reality -- but she makes the role her own. Davis this time, instead of wildly emoting, goes the other way around and conveys so much more in key scenes with her sad eyes and shy body language.
She is well-matched by veteran actor Charles Boyer, and if in later accounts she expressed a vague disdain for him it doesn't show in any of their scenes together. Boyer, most remembered from GASLIGHT, plays a broken man as if her were living the part at that moment. This of course, leads to Barbara O'Neill, a largely forgotten actress most known for playing Vivien Leigh's mother in GONE WITH THE WIND in 1939. Looking strikingly familiar to Ava Gardner, serpentine, her character is the one who walks away with the film and I can certainly see Davis telling O'Neill off-screen to hit her with as much venom as she could, and boy, does she! She not only walks off with the movie, she walks off with the director in tow, the 67 sets, the entire production and the celluloid packed neatly under her arm.
One of the best examples of a "woman's picture" that most actresses at the time were producing with varying degrees of success, ALL THIS AND HEAVEN TOO manages to rise well-above its material, based on a notorious case in the mid-1800's, and of course is one of Davis' prime outings. It only received one Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Barbara O'Neill, well-deserved. Anatole Litvak would go to greater films like ANASTASIA, SORRY WRONG NUMBER, and THE SNAKE PIT.