Mr. Skeffington
Encyclopedia
Mr. Skeffington is a 1944
American drama film
directed by Vincent Sherman
, based on the novel
of the same name by Elizabeth von Arnim
.
The film stars Bette Davis
as a beautiful woman whose many suitors, and self-love, distract her from returning the affections of her husband, Job Skeffington. It also makes a point about Skeffington's status as a Jew in 1914 high society and, later, in relation to Nazi Germany.
It stars Claude Rains
as Skeffington, along with Walter Abel
, George Coulouris
and Richard Waring
.
) and would do anything to help him. When Fanny learns that Trippy has embezzled
money from his stockbroker employer Job Skeffington (Claude Rains
), she marries the lovestruck businessman in order to save her brother. Disgusted by the arrangement, in part because of his prejudice against Skeffington being Jewish, Trippy leaves home to fight in the Lafayette Escadrille
in World War I
.
Job loves Fanny, but she is merely fond of him and largely ignores him. She becomes pregnant with his child, but, when Trippy dies in France, she states she is "stuck" with Job, and the marriage then becomes wholly loveless, continuing only for the child's sake. Job and George also enlist but remain stationed near home.
Fanny enjoys playing the wealthy socialite, stringing along a persistent quartet of suitors who are unfazed by her marriage, as well as much younger lovers. Lonely, Job finds solace with his secretaries. When Fanny finds out, she divorces him, conveniently ignoring her own behavior.
Their daughter, also called Fanny, prefers her father and begs him to take her with him to Europe
. Although Job fears for his child and tries unsuccessfully to explain to her the nature of prejudice she will encounter as a Jew abroad, he finally, tearfully and joyfully, says yes to her. Fanny is relieved to be free of the encumbrance of a child. Fanny has a series of affairs, living well on the extremely generous settlement Job has left her, half his fortune, and hardly giving a thought to her daughter, whom she does not see for many years.
She retains her beauty as she grows older (much to the envy of her women acquaintances), but when she catches diphtheria
, it ravages her appearance. In denial, she invites her old lovers (and their wives) to a party. The men are shocked (and the women relieved) by how much Fanny has changed, leaving her distraught. Ironically, her latest young suitor Johnny Mitchell falls in love with her kind daughter (played as an adult by Marjorie Riordan), who has returned from Europe because of the rise of the Nazis
. They marry after only a few months and leave for Seattle. Fanny is left alone with her maid, Manby.
Fanny's cousin George Trellis (Walter Abel
), who has wryly observed Fanny's self-centeredness all along, brings Job back to Fanny's home, unannounced. The Nazis have left Job penniless and worse, George tells Fanny, and he calls on her to be generous. Fanny's vanity nearly prevents her from venturing down her home's grand staircase to see Job. When she does finally enter the parlor, Job moves to her, stumbles and falls, and it is apparent that, among the sufferings he has undergone in Germany, Job has been made blind. Fanny, sobbing with compassion, rushes to cradle him in her arms. As she takes his arm and guides him up the staircase, she tells the maid that "Mr. Skeffington has come home." Job had once, long ago, told Fanny that, "A woman is beautiful when she's loved, and only then." George tells Fanny that, at that moment, "she has never been more beautiful". At long last, she realizes the truth of it.
, while Claude Rains was nominated for Best Supporting Actor
.
1944 in film
The year 1944 in film involved some significant events, including the wholesome, award-winning Going My Way plus popular murder mysteries such as Double Indemnity, Gaslight and Laura.-Events:*July 20 - Since You Went Away is released....
American drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Vincent Sherman
Vincent Sherman
Vincent Sherman was an American director, and actor, who worked in Hollywood. His movies include Mr. Skeffington , Nora Prentiss , and The Young Philadelphians ....
, based on the novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
of the same name by Elizabeth von Arnim
Elizabeth von Arnim
Elizabeth von Arnim , born Mary Annette Beauchamp, was an Australian-born British novelist. By marriage she became Gräfin von Arnim-Schlagenthin, and by a second marriage, Countess Russell...
.
The film stars Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
as a beautiful woman whose many suitors, and self-love, distract her from returning the affections of her husband, Job Skeffington. It also makes a point about Skeffington's status as a Jew in 1914 high society and, later, in relation to Nazi Germany.
It stars Claude Rains
Claude Rains
Claude Rains was an English stage and film actor whose career spanned 66 years. He was known for many roles in Hollywood films, among them the title role in The Invisible Man , a corrupt senator in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington , Mr...
as Skeffington, along with Walter Abel
Walter Abel
Walter Abel was an American stage and film character actor. His eyes were brown and his height was five foot ten inches....
, George Coulouris
George Coulouris
George Coulouris was a prominent English film and stage actor.-Early life:Coulouris was born in Manchester, England, the son of Abigail and Nicholas Coulouris, a merchant of Greek origin. He was brought up both in Manchester and nearby Urmston and was educated at Manchester Grammar School...
and Richard Waring
Richard Waring
Richard Waring was a British-born American actor, appearing in both Hollywood movies and in many Broadway plays....
.
Plot
In 1914, spoiled Fanny Trellis (Bette Davis) is a renowned beauty, with many suitors. She loves her brother Trippy (Richard WaringRichard Waring
Richard Waring was a British-born American actor, appearing in both Hollywood movies and in many Broadway plays....
) and would do anything to help him. When Fanny learns that Trippy has embezzled
Embezzlement
Embezzlement is the act of dishonestly appropriating or secreting assets by one or more individuals to whom such assets have been entrusted....
money from his stockbroker employer Job Skeffington (Claude Rains
Claude Rains
Claude Rains was an English stage and film actor whose career spanned 66 years. He was known for many roles in Hollywood films, among them the title role in The Invisible Man , a corrupt senator in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington , Mr...
), she marries the lovestruck businessman in order to save her brother. Disgusted by the arrangement, in part because of his prejudice against Skeffington being Jewish, Trippy leaves home to fight in the Lafayette Escadrille
Lafayette Escadrille
The Lafayette Escadrille , was an escadrille of the French Air Service, the Aéronautique militaire, during World War I composed largely of American volunteer pilots flying fighters.-History:Dr. Edmund L...
in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
Job loves Fanny, but she is merely fond of him and largely ignores him. She becomes pregnant with his child, but, when Trippy dies in France, she states she is "stuck" with Job, and the marriage then becomes wholly loveless, continuing only for the child's sake. Job and George also enlist but remain stationed near home.
Fanny enjoys playing the wealthy socialite, stringing along a persistent quartet of suitors who are unfazed by her marriage, as well as much younger lovers. Lonely, Job finds solace with his secretaries. When Fanny finds out, she divorces him, conveniently ignoring her own behavior.
Their daughter, also called Fanny, prefers her father and begs him to take her with him to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. Although Job fears for his child and tries unsuccessfully to explain to her the nature of prejudice she will encounter as a Jew abroad, he finally, tearfully and joyfully, says yes to her. Fanny is relieved to be free of the encumbrance of a child. Fanny has a series of affairs, living well on the extremely generous settlement Job has left her, half his fortune, and hardly giving a thought to her daughter, whom she does not see for many years.
She retains her beauty as she grows older (much to the envy of her women acquaintances), but when she catches diphtheria
Diphtheria
Diphtheria is an upper respiratory tract illness caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae, a facultative anaerobic, Gram-positive bacterium. It is characterized by sore throat, low fever, and an adherent membrane on the tonsils, pharynx, and/or nasal cavity...
, it ravages her appearance. In denial, she invites her old lovers (and their wives) to a party. The men are shocked (and the women relieved) by how much Fanny has changed, leaving her distraught. Ironically, her latest young suitor Johnny Mitchell falls in love with her kind daughter (played as an adult by Marjorie Riordan), who has returned from Europe because of the rise of the Nazis
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
. They marry after only a few months and leave for Seattle. Fanny is left alone with her maid, Manby.
Fanny's cousin George Trellis (Walter Abel
Walter Abel
Walter Abel was an American stage and film character actor. His eyes were brown and his height was five foot ten inches....
), who has wryly observed Fanny's self-centeredness all along, brings Job back to Fanny's home, unannounced. The Nazis have left Job penniless and worse, George tells Fanny, and he calls on her to be generous. Fanny's vanity nearly prevents her from venturing down her home's grand staircase to see Job. When she does finally enter the parlor, Job moves to her, stumbles and falls, and it is apparent that, among the sufferings he has undergone in Germany, Job has been made blind. Fanny, sobbing with compassion, rushes to cradle him in her arms. As she takes his arm and guides him up the staircase, she tells the maid that "Mr. Skeffington has come home." Job had once, long ago, told Fanny that, "A woman is beautiful when she's loved, and only then." George tells Fanny that, at that moment, "she has never been more beautiful". At long last, she realizes the truth of it.
Cast
- Bette DavisBette DavisRuth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
as Frances Beatrice 'Fanny' Trellis Skeffington - Claude RainsClaude RainsClaude Rains was an English stage and film actor whose career spanned 66 years. He was known for many roles in Hollywood films, among them the title role in The Invisible Man , a corrupt senator in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington , Mr...
as Job Skeffington - Walter AbelWalter AbelWalter Abel was an American stage and film character actor. His eyes were brown and his height was five foot ten inches....
as George Trellis, Fanny's cousin - Richard WaringRichard WaringRichard Waring was a British-born American actor, appearing in both Hollywood movies and in many Broadway plays....
as Trippy Trellis, Fanny's brother - Marjorie Riordan as Fanny Rachel Trellis, Fanny and Job's daughter as an adult
- Robert ShayneRobert ShayneRobert Shayne , born Robert Shaen Dawe, was an American actor.-Career:Shayne played many character roles in movies and television, such as a 1943 movie entitled Wagon Wheels West, but he is best remembered for his portrayal of the recurring character Police Inspector William "Bill" Henderson on the...
as MacMahon, a local gangster - John AlexanderJohn Alexander (actor)John Alexander was an American stage and film actor.Perhaps his most memorable performance was as Teddy Brewster, a lunatic who thinks he is Theodore Roosevelt, in the 1944 classic film Arsenic and Old Lace opposite Cary Grant. He had previously portrayed that role in the 1941 Broadway play of the...
as Jim Conderley, one of Fanny's four persistent suitors - Jerome CowanJerome CowanJerome Palmer Cowan was an American film and television actor. At eighteen he joined a travelling stock company, shortly afterwards enlisting in the navy in World War I. After the war he returned to the stage and became a vaudeville headliner, then gained success on the New York stage...
as Edward Morrison, one of Fanny's four persistent suitors - Peter WhitneyPeter WhitneyPeter Whitney, was an American actor in film and television. Born as Peter King Engle in Long Branch, New Jersey, Whitney's corpulent, heavy build qualified him to play villains in many Hollywood movies in the 1940s and 1950s.From the late 1950s, he was more prolific playing character roles in...
as Chester Forbish, one of Fanny's four persistent suitors - Bill KennedyBill Kennedy (actor)Willard "Bill" Kennedy was an American actor, voice artist, and host of the long-running Detroit-based television show, Bill Kennedy at the Movies. He began his career as a staff announcer in radio; Kennedy's voice narrates the opening of the television series Adventures of...
as Bill Thatcher, one of Fanny's four persistent suitors - Johnny Mitchell as Johnny Mitchell, a younger suitor of Fanny's who later marries her daughter. Born Douglas N. Lamy, this actor changed his name to that of his character.
- George CoulourisGeorge CoulourisGeorge Coulouris was a prominent English film and stage actor.-Early life:Coulouris was born in Manchester, England, the son of Abigail and Nicholas Coulouris, a merchant of Greek origin. He was brought up both in Manchester and nearby Urmston and was educated at Manchester Grammar School...
as Doctor Byles - Dorothy PetersonDorothy PetersonDorothy Peterson was an American actress.Peterson was born in Hector, Minnesota of Swedish immigrant ancestry. She made her screen debut in 1930's Mothers Cry, a domestic drama that required the 29-year-old actress to age nearly three decades in the course of the film...
as Manby, Fanny's housekeeper
Production
According to the 1989 book Bette & Joan: The Divine Feud by Shaun Considine, Davis was going through incredible personal torments at this time, which was reflected in her treatment of co-stars on this film, and several others at the time, culminating in a vicious personal attack: apparently, while Davis was away from her dressing room, the eyewash she always used after filming the day's scenes, had been poisoned, causing Davis to scream out in pain. Director Vincent Sherman, with whom Davis had once been romantically involved, admitted to the detectives investigating the incident, "If you asked everyone on the set who would have committed such a thing, everyone would raise their hand!" Even Bette Davis herself is quoted as saying, "Only a mother could have loved me at this point in my life."Awards
Bette Davis was nominated for the Academy Award for Best ActressAcademy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
, while Claude Rains was nominated for Best Supporting Actor
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
.