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| Director: Edmund Goulding
Actors: Bette Davis, George Brent, Mary Astor, Lucile Watson, Hattie Mcdaniel
Studio: MGM (Warner)
List Price: $14.98
Buy Used: $5.50
You Save: $9.48 (63%)
New (2) Used (26) Collectible (6) from $5.50
Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 15100
Format: Black & White, Hifi Sound, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: VHS Tape
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 108 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 6301968891
UPC: 027616180230
EAN: 9786301968898
ASIN: 6301968891
Theatrical Release Date: April 12, 1941
Release Date: February 3, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: PROCEEDS SUPPORT EMPLOYMENT OF HOMELESS AND FORMERLY HOMELESS NEW YORKERS
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 16
 One of Goulding's Best March 8, 2005
Kevin Killian (San Francisco, CA United States)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Reading the recent biography of Edmund Goulding inspired me to see as many of his films as I can. During 30 Days of Oscar on Turner, they showed THE GREAT LIE which I have not seen in probably over three years. Age has not slowed it down much. For many moderns, it's hard to understand the box office appeal of a man like George Brent. (I put to one side the somewhat different reasons why we might be excused from wondering how Bette Davis and Mary Astor ever became stars.) Brent plays a horndog in THE GREAT LIE who marries Mary Astor while he's drunk, and then lives to regret it once he realizes his "true" love is for Bette Davis, who happens to be Astor's friend. See, it's a sordid little story, raised to true heights of elevation when Astor announces she's pregnant with Brent's baby and then Brent's plane goes down into the Amazon!
Thinking he's dead, Astor panics and with the baby's best interests at heart, Davis offers to bring up the baby as her own. It's funny how in this film Astor plays the hard-hearted playgirl (a variation on her Brigid Shaughnessy role in THE MALTESE FALCON) while Bette Davis does surprisingly well as the "nice girl" from down South, when in truth she could have played the other part very well.
Hattie McDaniel is also in this movie--one of her better parts, though really they're all the same, however in this film both Astor and Davis treat her almost as if she was an equal, it's rather refreshing. And Hattie's brother, Sam, is in the movie too, it's always twice the fun when this talented pair of siblings got to co-star.
There's lots and lots of music, as befits a Goulding film, for Sandra (Mary Astor) is supposed to be a concert pianist and actually looks as though she's playing some of the passages. Did you know Goulding wrote most of the music for most of the films he directed? His talents knew no bounds.
excellent film with two terrific actresses September 8, 1999
simon Davis (novarro@hotmail.com) (Melbourne Australia)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I agree with the previous reviewer from Belgium. This film is movie making at its best with Bette in one of her memorable roles from the war years. She and the great Mary Astor combine so well and create a most interesting and highly entertaining viewing experience. Definately get this one for your collection if you love Bette Davis as I do, a must!!
A GREAT DIVA DUO. December 6, 1999
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Although the storyline is somewhat contrived and artificial, the acting in this 1941 film is excellent. Bette Davis plays the sweetly sincere Maggie and Mary Astor won an AA (best supporting actress) for her exquisite playing of the bitchy concert pianist Sandra. They both love the same man (George Brent) and there is a baby involved which complicates matters considerably (the Great Lie of the title). Astor really gives her role dimension as the brittle, bitchy and essentially selfish Sandra Van Allen: she entirely deserved her prize. Bette is quite young looking and she's attractive and her playing is, as usual, excellent (she plays a nice, noble woman in this one). Mary Astor's short, mannish haircut became all the rage with women for a time after seeing this soap opera par excellence.
 The Great Melodrama September 28, 2005
Samantha Kelley (USA)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
The Great Lie is an excellent melodrama with a wonderful cast. The story revolves around Peter (George Brent), Sandra (Mary Astor), and Maggie (Bette Davis), who are involved in a love triangle. We learn that Peter and Sandra have married on drunken impulse, but they are not legally married because Sandra's divorce from her previous husband is not final. Peter suddenly finds himself questioning whether he actually wants to have Sandra as his wife, as he's been chasing country girl Maggie for years. He goes to see her and decides that it is she that he wants to be with. The two marry and Sandra's jealousy poses a problem. She claims to Maggie that she was pregnant with Peter's child.
The acting is wonderful, especially by Bette Davis, whose emotions outwardly register quickly but not too overtly. Mary Astor is less likable in her arch-enemy type role, but she serves her purpose as the selfish rival. Brent's role is less demanding; he is a straight character and supplies the necessary believability for the role. Hattie McDaniel, who plays the maid Violet, has a decent part which allows her to be a matronly figure. She is lovable and sweet.
The story is filled with twists and turns in this elegant soap-opera-like extravaganza.
1941 Bette Davis & Her Grand Gestures of Conscience April 1, 2008
dr. m~d (USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Bette Davis would go to the mat with star-struck-snobs with whom she acted: like Miriam Hopkins, Joan Crawford, Faye Dunaway & Susan Hayward. The "Yankee Woman," couldn't stand their real-life superficial arrogance. No secrets there. What's less well known is how well Davis worked with & liked women she considered real actors: Mary Astor & Olivia de Havilland, for example.
When Davis liked a peer actor, she'd go a distance, such as, to pull herself back or assert her power, to bring out their best performance & even get them a role. Mary Astor won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1942 for her performance as Sandra Kovak largely because Davis generously pulled herself back so that Astor's star could shine brightest. This was a typical gesture for Davis to help make the best actors & movies.
Kovak is a self-centered concert pianist who acts spoiled & superior because of her status as a classical musician. She's embattled with Maggie Patterson Van Allen (Davis) for the love & child of Pete Van Allen (George Brent). Pete's an aviator with whom Kovak partied for days following their supposed shot-gun wedding. Once sober, Pete learns from his lawyer that Kovak wasn't legally divorced. Concerned over his situation, Pete flies to Maggie's (Davis') estate to discuss his marital woes with his 1st & true love. Maggie's most concerned about Pete's drinking & risk-taking lifestyle.
But, since Pete & Kovak's marriage isn't legal, Maggie lands her man. Shortly afterward, Pete disappears in flight & is presumed dead. Kovak learns she's carrying Pete's child. Maggie, now the presumed widow Mrs. Van Allen, is so bereaved over losing Pete that she devises a plan that includes Kovak.
The self-centered pianist isn't filled with joy to become an unwed mother who totes a child from 1 concert hall to another, on the road. Whereas, Maggie desperately wants to give Pete's child his surname & a stable home. Both of Pete's women move into a reclusive cabin & return after Pete Jr. is born.
All's as well as can be expected since everyone assumes the baby's Maggie & Pete's. Miraculously, Pete is located & returns to his wife & child unaware that Kovak gave birth to him.
Davis plays the child-centered widow congeniality. Astor becomes the emotionally blackmailing shrew from hell after Pete Sr. resurfaces. In other words, Davis & Astor switch their more typical character roles for "Great Lie." Davis tones herself down to be a gentle caretaker; while Astor stokes up an intellectually fiery, back-stabbing, betrayer who's bent upon destroying the Van Allen family.
It takes a keen set of skills to critique the total quality & value of a motion picture. One of them is understanding the story within its historical & cultural contexts. The cultural issues of unwed pregnancy, bigamy, being a professional woman who prefers her vocation over raising her child are very controversial issues in the US in 1941! It's not unrealistic to imagine many audiences covering their mouths to muffle gasps of moral shock over the central themes of "Great Lie."
The role Davis plays as the grieving widow who takes in her dead husband's baby could have been viewed as the best moral choice for the child--instead of being labeled & raised as a "bastard" & called "illegitimate." Thus, while we, as a post-modern audience, find these central themes nearly innocuous, the big name of Bette Davis giving legitimacy & love to a child born out of wedlock was a grand gesture.
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