Bette Davis won her second Best Actress Oscar, after winning her first for Dangerous three years earlier, for her performance here as headstrong Southern belle Julie Marsden, who flouts social norms in 1850s New Orleans; it was her first time working with William Wyler, who would go on to direct her in two more films, The Letter and The Little Foxes. The film follows Julie’s tumultuous relationship with fiancé Preston Dillard (Henry Fonda).

Julie’s rebellious nature and desire to assert her independence comes to a point of crisis when she chooses to wear a scandalous red dress to a ball.

Screening as part of Fasten Your Seatbelts: The Films of Bette Davis.

Notes by David O’Mahony