Bette Davis Collection - Volume 3 (DVD, 2008, 6-Disc Set)

The Volume #3 Collection of a set of 6 Bette Davis movies includes:

1) "All This and Heaven Too," with a handsome, young Charles Boyer as Davis' aristocratic boss. Davis becomes the governess of his children, whose mother is a horrible one. Boyer & Davis surprisingly ignite the silver screen together.

2) "Deception" reunites actors Claude Rains & Paul Henreid with Davis, but in very different roles than they played in the immortalized romance, "Now, Voyager." Rains is the only actor I've ever watched take the lead from Bette Davis. He delivers his most powerful performance as Hellenious, the grand master concert pianist. This is the movie where Davis and Rains go script to script against each other. The script in cunning, sharp & ever so memorable, and the musical score is classical & stunning.

3) "The Great Lie," includes a heated dramatic struggle over George Brent between Davis & a mature, gorgeous Mary Astor. Astor plays a concert pianist which makes this musical score brilliant. Davis delivers one of her finest tamed performances.

4) "In This Our Life," Olivia de Haviland & Bette Davis are sisters at odds with each other over George Brent. In one of his most candid movies, director John Huston says, "There is something elemental about Bette--a demon within her which threatens to break out and eat everybody, beginning with their ears...I let the demon go."

5) "The Old Maid," with Davis playing one at the age of 31, brings Miriam Hopkins onto the screen to display the wrath between both women that actually exists off-screen. Hopkins assumed the position as the mother of a child Davis had soon after the child's father (George Brent) was killed in action during the US Civil War.

6) "Watch on the Rhine," is one of the few serious political dramas that Davis performed in. Paired with Paul Henreid, Davis is the American wife of a leader of Germany's anti-Nazi underground movement. Traveling with their children to her US home and natal family, they are pursued by pro-Nazi agents in Washington, DC. Dashiell Hammett adapted this, Lillian Hellman's famous play.

It would be extremely difficult to pick which one of these six Bette Davis movies is best. I will say, however, that of the 3 DVD collections, this set is my peroneal favorite. These are the movies that Bette Davis gave oscar nominated performances in and yet they remain unknown to many. Compared to movies made in this century, this DVD box set is a collectors must own because of the quality of acting, actors, scripts, musical scores, storylines and masterful direction. I could rave on. . . .