calvinnme If ever a more insidious, arrogant, pathetic set of siblings came into the world of fiction it would be hard to beat the Hubbard family in William Wyler's "The Little Foxes." Their greed knows no bounds. Their hearts know no love. In reality they have nothing but each other and it's a sad end to it all.It is also a movie of reactions. I found myself watching the rest of the cast when someone was speaking. How did they react? Herbert Marshall (Horace) as Regina's (Davis) husband has plenty to react to. Whether it is coming to a home where there is no love or listening to the plans of his family's greed he is wonderful in showing his annoyance and disgust. His only light is his daughter Alexandra (Teresa Wright.) Everyone on the fringe of this triad from hell is poisoned by their greed. Whether it is brother Oscar's wife Birdy, a sweet and lonely soul who softens her life with a drink or their own son Leo (Dan Duryea) who is so the product of the family that his mother can't stand him. Nobody wins. Until the last. The one who does win is, oddly enough, Alexandra. When all the back stabbing and wheeling and dealing is over she is the only one who can stand up to Regina. That is only because she wants nothing that her mother can give her. On the night her father dies she leaves her mother and is free of it all. She is the only one free of it all.Very good performances all around. The only drawback for me is Teresa Wright. She is playing a part that seems to be quite a bit younger then she is. She parades around the whole movie with a big bow in her hair and a pair of Buster Brown shoes. Duryea is good as the young not very bright son. Near the end when he gets slapped by Alexandra's young man it is given more like a man to an insolent child. It is not one good one but a quick series of slaps that ring more of disgust than anger.They all had it coming.

Dunham16 Herbert Marshall and Bette Davis are at their best in this brilliant adaptation of a classic Lillian Hellman play about an upper class clan in turn of the century Alabama who hides behind the sugar coating of financial security melded to a respectable place in local society to become slowly overwhelmed by malice, avarice and greed in pursuit of something which will not keep them on a straight and narrow path hence spell their doom. Herbert Marshall has I think the strongest central core and Bette Davis the strongest stage presence when filled with emotion she is bursting to let out at possibly inopportune moments. Birdie and Alexandra are the principal victims caught in the web not likely to come out winners. Other than some of the black and white editing not top drawer a brilliant cinematic effort in every way holding your attention and offering plenty of possibility for personal thought.

GeoPierpont Like Bette needed the ghost white makeup to further insure we comprehend her icy cold character? Giveth thy viewer a primal break!! She constantly twirled both arms in a windmill fashion to show evil hummingbird motion? I was very confused as to why she played this character so over the top. In preparation for "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" I could at least appreciate the Toland Touch, the swampy location shots in LA as well as the sumptuous sets. The saccharine Zan and David were not anywhere near enough to offset the tortuous scene after scene of scheming death, destruction and desolation.This was extremely difficult to watch as it became a horror film and was just waiting for the zigzag lightning streaks to suddenly appear on her hair. Yikes!Can only recommend for Toland's work and sets. Bette be damned for this!

Mark Patti The only thing that I really liked about this film was Bette Davis. Her acting was amazing which is not really surprising. She was very good at playing an evil woman. Other than that though I just did not like this movie. The majority of the time I was very bored. In part I think the bored came from the confusion because I had absolutely no idea what was going on. The entire plot of the film was just overly complicated. There was way too much going on between all the characters, and none of them were even likable. I felt no connection to any of the characters. I didn't want to root for any of them and I did not feel bad for any of them. I'm not sure if the acting was to blame or if the writing was to blame but either way I still didn't like it.