What makes it different from others?

Good start, but then it gets ruined

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

THAT CERTAIN WOMAN (Warner Brothers, 1937), Written and Directed by Edmund Goulding, stars the youthful blonde Bette Davis in a melodramatic remake to Edmund Goulding's own directed edition to THE TRESPASSER (United Artists, 1929) starring Gloria Swanson and Robert Ames. With a few alterations about the character, now a gangster's widow, and the name change from Marion to Mary (plus opening and closing changes from the original), much of the plot remains the same. Though Davis would NOT be awarded an Academy Award nomination as did Swanson for her performance, it did pave the way for others, and better melodramatic productions for Davis' resume during her acclaimed peak years (1937-1946).Mary Donnell (Bette Davis) is a gangster's widow who comes to the cemetery to visit the tomb of her deceased husband, Al Haines (1899- 1929), who was gunned down at the 1929 Valentine's Day massacre. Accompanied by her best friend, Amy (Mary Phillips), Mary is photographed by Virgil Whittaker (Hugh O'Connell), a reporter out to get a good story on her four years after the incident. Mary works for a law firm of Rogers, Alden and French, with Lloyd Rogers (Ian Hunter), as her employer. Although a married man, he secretly loves Mary, unaware that she's in a relationship with his good friend and millionaire playboy, Jack Merrick (Henry Fonda), whom she has known for three years, now back from Europe. After their wedding, Jack and Mary honeymoon at the Lake Hotel, only to be interrupted by the arrival of Jack's father (Donald Crisp) and a couple of detectives (Sidney Toler and Tim Henning) who have traced them there. As much as Merrick disapproves of the marriage and the girl's notorious background (like getting married at 16), Mary sees Jack doesn't have enough fight in him to stand up to his father, causing her to walk out on him and have Merrick annul their marriage. During the course of four years, Mary has become a mother to Jack's son (Dwane Day), while Jack has married his childhood sweetheart and debutante, Flip Carson (Anita Louise), whose honeymoon is met with a serious automobile accident that permanently cripples his young wife. As Amy becomes a full-time babysitter to little Jackie, Mary resumes her job working for Mr. Rogers. News spread about Mary's reputation when the seriously ill Rogers comes to and dies in Mary's apartment with his wife (Katharine Alexander) at present. Rogers' last will and testimony leaves Mary and her son $50,000, causing the media to question about Jackie, the "mystery" child. The mystery is cleared upon Jack's return to be told by Mary that the 4-year-old boy happens to be his son. Problems arise when Merrick Sr. returns to the scene to have Mary's son taken away for her being an unfit mother. Others featured in the cast are: Minor Watson (Clark Tilden); Ben Weldon (Harry Aqueilli); Norman Willis (Fred); Frank Faylen and Willard Parker (Newspaper Reporters), among others.Very leisurely paced during its 94 minutes, THAT CERTAIN WOMAN would be the start of what could be categorized as formula Bette Davis material. Under Goulding's direction, Davis is honored with enough close-ups to indicate the movie very much belongs to her. Even with these close-ups, Davis shows how beautiful she can actually be, ranging from short hair-cut bob to long hair shoulder spread. Davis works very well with Henry Fonda (who was better cast here than Robert Ames was in THE TRESPASSER), and would work with Fonda once more the classic Civil War era story, JEZEBEL (1938), the film that would win Davis her second Academy Award as Best Actress. With Anita Louise's character discussed much in the story, and her name listed third in the casting credits, her character of Flip appears 72 minutes into the story, with no more than ten minutes on screen. She, too, gives a sympathetic performance as the crippled girl, while Donald Crisp gives a forceful performance as Fonda's strict father. The lighter moments belong to Hugh O'Connell as the photographer close friend of Mary who helps her through the rough spots. In spite of its slow-pacing that could bore first-time viewers, THAT CERTAIN WOMAN did have plenty of reruns through much of the 1970s and early 1980s on broadcast television late shows to become familiar Bette Davis material.Formerly distributed to video cassette, THAT CERTAIN WOMAN, which commonly plays on Turner Classic Movies along with similar Davis movie titles as FRONT PAGE WOMAN (1935) and MARKED WOMAN (1937), would be more of interest to fans to that certain woman herself, Bette Davis (or Henry Fonda perhaps) more than the Edmund Goulding directorial effort itself. (**1/2)

Bette goes down Kay Francis territory in this 30's women's film, not getting a break from the men in her life (which are many), yet finding sympathy in the oddest places-her men's wives.She is the widow of a gangster and is being followed around by a reporter out for a scoop on "Where are yesterday's gangsters?". Now working for a highly respectable lawyer (Ian Hunter), she runs into an old beau (Henry Fonda) whose tyrant father (Donald Crisp) dominates his life and instantly sets out to keep Fonda and Davis apart. When they elope, Crisp confronts the two on their honeymoon, and Davis decides to leave behind the man she loves, apparently realizing she's married to a wimp. Guess what happens nine months later. Yep, Davis is now a single mother, and has managed to keep Fonda from finding out about their son. Hunter, who is a loveless marriage with Katharine Alexander, makes Davis his mistress, something his wife doesn't seem to mind. But when tragedy strikes and the two women are snapped together in a photo, the scandal sheet makes it appear like a slugfest. Fonda turns up, having married a sweet society lady (Margaret Lindsay), but she was crippled in a car accident while on their honeymoon, so he is desperate to get Davis back. Papa Crisp makes another threat against Davis, so she must take drastic steps to ensure that he does not destroy her life again.It is ironic that Davis's married name from her first husband is Mary Haines, the same name as the cheated on wife in the then hit Broadway play "The Women", filmed two years later by MGM. Like MGM's Norma Shearer (Mary in the movie version of "The Women"), Davis was queen of her studio (Warner Brothers), having just taken over that title from the reigning queen of mother love sob stories (Kay Francis). The problem in the movie is that it is so unbelievable that a seemingly tough mob widow would not stand up to the threats of the nasty father, played by the normally likable Donald Crisp. I found his dialogue to be so inane that I cringed every time he came on screen. All of the men are one dimensional-Crisp is totally nasty, Fonda is a wimp, and Hunter is so extremely noble he appears to be the male Ann Harding. There are nice scenes between Davis and the two women in her lover's lives, and Dwane Day gives a cute performance as Davis's four year old son. Mary Philips is also memorable as Davis's devoted companion.Warner Brothers had their share of mother love stories, most notably several with Kay Francis, including one of my all time favorites, the same year's "Confession". Those ones are better recommended than this one. Davis would fare better two years later as an unwed mother in the excellent "The Old Maid".

The kind of contrived mess that gives the term "women's picture" a bad name. Bette Davis is the former gun moll turned respectable legal secretary who marries a wealthy, irresponsible weakling (Henry Fonda, poorly miscast). When Fonda's bully of a father (indomitable Donald Crisp) has the marriage annulled after just one day, a distraught Davis runs off, not knowing she and Fonda have conceived a child. When the lovers are finally reunited years later, Fonda has been married to a woman of his own social standing (radiant Anita Louise). The new wife, confined to a wheelchair following a car accident (the result of Fonda's reckless drinking), shows not a shred of bitterness toward her husband and, in fact, pleads with Davis to assume her role as Fonda's wife since the wife herself is unable to give Fonda the child he has always wanted. What Davis does next will come as no surprise to fans of this sort of tripe but Davis, cast against type as a self-sacrificing mother, is vibrantly warm and pretty and her performance surprisingly free of artifice.

This is exactly the sort of movie that must have infuriated Bette Davis. After all, her acting was stupendous--with an incredible emotional range and fantastic acting--it was just so realistic she carried the film all by herself. AND, despite all her great acting, the film was a sappy, soggy, soapy mess! It's because the writing, to put it charitably, stunk! The film was stylistically dated when it appeared in 1937--and was just way too melodramatic and soap-opera-like.Bette is a sweet lady who was unfortunately married at a very young age to a gangster. When the movie began, the thug had been dead for years and Bette had tried very hard to put this past behind her and create a whole new life for herself. You could tell that despite this early experience, she was a real decent lady. So decent that her boss (Ian Hunter) and a rich immature brat (Henry Fonda) fell for her.Well, she eventually elopes with rich-guy Fonda, but on their wedding night Fonda's overbearing father Donald Crisp confronts them and demands they have the marriage annulled. Bette could see that she was about to lose Fonda and so she makes a hasty retreat. Fonda NEVER tries to follow her or get her back.Several years pass. Bette now has a child that was conceived during their honeymoon (that only lasted a few hours--barely enough time to even hope to conceive a child!) and Fonda has remarried to some rich society lady. Bette doesn't bother trying to get in touch with Fonda because she logically reasons that if he didn't return for her, it wasn't worth telling him about the kid and getting him to return.Now at this point, the movie has been pretty good and not too sappy. Unfortunately, this was a synopsis of only the first half of the film. Later, Ian Hunter dies and Bette is accused of causing this death or having an affair with him, Fonda FINALLY returns and his father tries to steal the baby, and you find out Fonda's wife is in a wheel chair and Bette decides to give this other woman the baby?!?!?!?!?!?!? This didn't make any sense, but considering there were MANY more plot elements that all took place in the last half of the film, it's not worth trying to figure any of this out! Giving away the baby when she loved it? Hmmm. This sounds highly reminiscent of STELLA DALLAS and countless other soapy films. Bette Davis playing this super-martyr isn't very attractive or interesting.THEN, after giving up the baby, she finds out some time later that Fonda's wife has died (that was nice of her) and she and Henry and the baby are all reunited for a sappy,....I mean "happy" ending.The movie was lousy but still gets a 5 for Miss Davis' wonderful performance and that's about all. Everyone else, frankly, stunk--including milquetoast Fonda in his most forgettable role. And, the writers should be ashamed of themselves.This film is ONLY for Bette Davis fans--others will no doubt be put off by the plot.