Beyond the Forest

Bette Davis gave many great performances, but she did not make many great films or work with many truly great directors (with the exception of William Wyler & Joseph L. Mankiewicz). King Vidor ranks as one of Bette Davis' greatest directors and Beyond the Forest is her most underrated film (another underrated film is The Private Lives of Elizabeth & Essex, directed by the superb technician Michael Curtiz). The eminent film critic Pauline Kael wrote that "there's not a sane dull scene in this peerless piece of camp." And I agree that this film is never boring. It has elements of film noir, melodrama, comedy and stands the test of time, as it is not sentimental like so many of Bette's soap operas (The Great Lie is a great bore). I challenge anyone to watch this film and be bored by it. Impossible. It starts off slowly, but after the first 20 minutes, it is compulsively watchable: a hoot! And although Bette in her later years said she "loathed" this film, it is clear that she relished the part of Rosa Moline and was living the part as she played it. She poured into the part all of the frustration & fury with Jack Warner and the studio for giving her bad roles & bad scripts, her own fears of aging after she had her baby and she was no longer box office, and all the emotional turmoil (both the sexual electricity & the physical & verbal abuse) of her marriage to William Grant Sherry. Ruth Roman (who played a small role in this film) said that she watched Bette on set and it was all too REAL for her that she was terrified of Bette. And indeed, this is one of Bette's most real performances, however over the top it may be. Rosa Moline is a precursor to Margo Channing in All About Eve, yet I find Beyond the Forest more interesting because King Vidor is more of a stylist than Joseph L. Mankiewicz. All About Eve is theatrical, not cinematic; Beyond the Forest is pure cinema. Savor every frame of this fading femme fatale in this film noir farce. You will laugh at Rosa, be moved by her, feel sorry for her, but ultimately admire her for her courage, pride & determination. She was just a dame who was trying to get out of her own personal prison & hell.

Beyond the Forest is directed by King Vidor and written by Lenore J. Coffee and Stuart Engstrand. It stars Bette Davis, Joseph Cotton, David Brian, Ruth Roman, Minor Watson and Regis Toomey. Music is by Max Steiner and cinematography by Robert Burks.

Resentful of her small-town life, Rosa Moline (Davis), a married woman, schemes to run off with a rich businessman - and she will do anything to achieve her goals...

Whilst not being on the same divisive page as something like Johnny Guitar, King Vidor's picture treads the same pathway to claims of camp and feverish staging. Davis is clearly miscast and too old for the role, whilst she overacts accordingly to either delight her fans - or irritate film fans after a noirish pot boiler of some substance. It's a tough call, and you really have to point the finger at Vidor for not reining Davis in, but if in the zone for a bit of Bovary histrionics tinged with noir flavours this has much to offer.

The pros and cons of small town Americana are vividly brought to life here, as is the central focus of a woman out of her dreams. Metaphors are rife to run in conjunction with the psychological imbalance of Rosa's mind, be it the mill furnace that lights up the sky at frequent intervals, or the steam locomotive that thunders through the centre of town to take folk off to the big city of Chicago, the aural smarts are superbly inserted by Vidor.

Using flashback as a starting point, Vidor firmly enters a noir realm, which continues throughout as he is aided considerably by Burks' photography. One of Hitchcock's main cinematographers of choice, it's a real pity that Burks didn't get hired for more noir ventures in the 50s. His work here is superb, low lights and side lights come to the fore in the final third as the femme fatale axis of story reaches a potent finale. Thus as Steiner rumbles away with his shock and awe, the pic is a tech credit force.

Sadly there's some fault lines to be irked by. Roman is utterly wasted in a pointless role, there's a Native American house maid character (Donna Drake) that's the focus of some unsensitive era treatments that's sole purpose seems to be just to make Rosa out as more of a git than already established. While Toomey and Watson (the latter a key character) are badly under used.

However, whilst not jumping on the "it's a masterpiece" bandwagon, this is a film of many filmic pleasures - perversely so me thinks... 7/10

It was interesting seeing this soon after seeing The Man Who Wasn't There, the Coen brothers would-be 40s film-noir. Both movies are set in small towns, have way-out plots involving violent crime and illicit love, and feature main protagonists trying to get out of a rut. But whereas the Coens' nouveau-noir plays it deadpan, philosophical and slow, and thereby risks boring the audience stiff; the genuine article with King Vidor at the helm, races along, goes way over the top, and glues the viewer to the screen.

Melodramatic and flawed though it may be, I don't go along with those who regard the movie merely as a camp vehicle for some arch Bette Davis overacting as the "evil" Rosa Moline. This film has genuine substance and potency, and Hedda Gabler-like Rosa's near-hysterical exasperation with the suffocating small town atmosphere - symbolised by the ever-present smoke and dust from the local sawmill - and with her dull, worthy, medico husband (Joseph Cotton), must have rung a bell with many American and other women in the stifling post-war years. Her "What a dump!" quite probably echoed their inner thoughts, as may her reluctance to have a baby (contrasted in the film with another woman's eighth, delivered by the good doctor). Moreover, despite Davis playing a woman at least 10 years younger than her actual age, her scenes with David Brian as her wealthy lover are truly erotic, and some of the lines may raise eyebrows even today.

Those who dismiss this film should perhaps give it another chance, try to place it in the context of its era, and possibly ponder on how some of the "cool" masterpieces of today will be viewed by their grandchildren in 50 years time.

I have seen this film many times and it never fails to get me in. I am also aware of all the negative reviews it has received with plenty of trash talk using terms such as 'banal', 'overblown' and 'incredibly artificial'. But one description is definitely a backhanded compliment "One of the most enjoyable bad movies ever made".

Anyway, who cares about all that, beauty is in the eye of the beholder after all.

Recently - instead of getting a life - I watched three Bette Davis movies in one weekend: "All About Eve", "The Letter" and "Beyond the Forest". She was different in each one. Bette Davis had such a distinctive personality that it would be easy to think she just played herself in film after film, but not so. Her Rosa Moline in "Beyond the Forest" is a one-off; I don't think she ever played any other role that way again. Some say she was sending herself up. Apparently she didn't want to play the part and maybe her bad mood helped shape her character.

I couldn't help thinking of "Madam Bovary" as I watched this film about a woman who leaves her husband to chase her dream. In Madam Bovary's case the dream was a romantic one; in Rosa's, the dream is more superficial; in both cases the dream turns into a nightmare.

Rosa is married to the nice Doctor Lewis Moline (Joseph Cotton), but to her he is just poor and boring. Lewis is the respected doctor in the Wisconsin mill town where they live. Rosa latches onto Neil Latimer (David Brian), a rich businessman from Chicago, and plans to dump Lewis. He is about the only person in town who can't see through her, even their young Indian maid, Jenny (Dona Drake), has her measure. The scenes between Rosa and Jenny are very funny - the film needed a light touch to relieve the angst. It all ends in tears of course, played out in the flickering light of the massive incinerator that dominates the town.

Bette Davis thought she was too old for the part, but doesn't that make her character just that much more pathetic? She feels life has passed her by, and she is making a last desperate grab for what she thinks she deserves.

Much of the film was shot on location and has a rich look. Max Steiner contributed a powerful score, incorporating the melody "Chicago"; the theme for Rosa's yearning. His music actually has sympathy for Rosa; it understands her, even as it accompanies her to the inevitable tragedy.

"Beyond the Forest" is a movie where everything is larger than life, including the emotions. I still think it is fantastic cinema.

...in fact, a deeply disturbing film! What's most disturbing is that back in those days, people were supposed to be shocked and disgusted with the character Rosa Moline, (needless to say, so brilliantly acted by Davis) but today, I'm sure a lot of viewers would sympathise with her desperation to get out of the confines of a dead-end life. From the beginning, we learn of her hatred for life- her husband being a doctor is a sick irony!

If morbid humour is your thing, then you'll love this film. Especially when she says things along the lines of "the only people who are doing a worthwhile job in this town are the undertakers who carry the dead out of here". The only flaw in this film, is the ending. Not enough explanation is given. Give it a try.