Poll's closed #10

One of my favourite Bette Davis portraits.

From The Rich Are Always With Us (1932)

If it is something that I'm horrible at, it's obviously to reveal the results of my sporadic polls. I always seem to get distracted. (Not so difficult, thinking about this blogosphere...)

Anyways. Back in 1983 or so I asked you to vote in a 1930's Bette Davis performances poll. You got to pick three favourites, and here's (finally) the results.

(And I know that I keep changing the spelling of words like "favourite/favorite", "honour/honor" and "colour/color" - haven't yet decided if I'm a British or an American Swede.)

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No votes went to Bette Davis's performances in The Man Who Played God (1932), The Rich Are Always With Us, Jimmy The Gent (1934), Housewife (1934) or Satan Met A Lady (1936).

The misfits. (Click for larger picture. Yes, I love Photoshop.)

A striking blonde Mrs. Marie Roark in Bordertown (1935) only received 1 vote. But does it look like she cares?

There's a tie between Joyce Heath in Dangerous (1935) and Charlotte Lovell in The Old Maid (1939) with 3 votes each. Anyone besides me who'd like to see a catfight between Bette Davis and Bette Davis?

Bette Davis in Dangerous, and with her nemesis Miriam Hopkins in The Old Maid.
(Click for larger picture.)

With 15% of the votes (4 votes), Mary in the crime drama Marked Woman (1937) starts to show that Bette Davis is something to count on. After all, co-acting with Humphrey Bogart can't give too bad of an outcome. Yes, "it's Bette Davis".

On the fifth place of the poll we find Lynn Mason in Fashions of 1934 (1934), with 5 votes. I bet it's the perfect gentleman William Powell who taught her well.

Lynn in Fashions of 1934. Absolutely fabulous, dahlin'.

Now it starts to get intriguing! On the fourth place, with no less than 7 votes, is a public favourite - Queen Elizabeth I in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), with charming bad boy Errol Flynn as the Earl of Essex. That fat slap Essex receives from the queen is unforgettable - and so was the pain, according to Errol Flynn's autobiography My Wicked Wicked Ways (1959).

The bronze medal goes to Judith Traherne in Dark Victory (1939) with 8 votes, 30%. Not to bad, for a dying woman. Maybe she stands out like Ethel Barrymore in contrast to Bogart's unlikable Irishman? I won't complain - he's handsome as Satan.

On the second place, believe it or not, is another catfight! (9 votes each.) This time in the mud pit stands Mildred in Of Human Bondage (1934) and Gabrielle in The Petrified Forest (1936) (review). To this I have to say - poor Gabrielle. Her only chance is if Mildred suddenly collapses of a drug overdose in the middle of the battle.

Or what do you think?
(Click for larger picture.)

Who's first? Who's first?

Of course it's the Southern beauty in the improper red dress - Julie from Jezebel (1938) (review). She flatters herself with the standing ovations for no less than 15 votes (that 57%, folks!), and I honor it by being so lazy that I just insert the colorized picture from the film that I used in my review post on it.

But I can at least give you the one without the "Colorized by Lolita"-railroad across it. But what if someone steals it? Well, let them.

Thanks for voting, and keep your eyes open for the next poll!