The film Red Shirt Tear Stains/ Gizabel Jezebel (1938) is an American DVD cover
Redshirt Tears/ Gizabel Is an American film released in 1938, directed by William Wheeler William Wyler (1902–1981) starring Betty Davis (1908–1989) and Henry Fonda (1905–1982). The film is a film tailored for Betty Davis. In 1937, David M. When O. Selznick David O. Selznick (1902-1965) began to select the lead actor Scarlett O'Hara for Gone with the Wind (1939), the public considered Betty Davis to be the best candidate. In 1938, "Red Shirt Tear Stains" was filmed and released, and "Gone with the Wind" was still fretting about the selection of the protagonist. The main reason why Betty Davis lost Scarlett was that the backgrounds and personalities of the two characters were too similar.
On the set of the film Redshirt Tears/Gizabel Jezebel (1938), director William Wheeler William Wyler (left) watches the performances of Betty Davis Davis (right) and Henry Fonda (left).
A year later, Vivien Leigh (1913-1967) was very emotional to Petit Davis, saying, "I don't deny that I was annoyed by the casting of the character called Scarlett in the famous film Gone with the Wind." This character was supposed to be written for me! "Know that I'm the ideal Scarlett actor, just as Clark Gable (1901-1960) was the ideal Brad. Many people know this, but they decide to find a 'new person'. ”
Betty Davis plays a stubborn, very self-centered girl in Red Shirt Tears. During the filming of The RedShirt Tears, Bette Davis and director William Wheeler began a relationship, and she later described William Wheeler as "the lover of my life" and described the film's production as "the happiest time of my life." The film was a success and brought her a second Oscar.
The film "RedShirt Tears/Gizabel Jezebel" (1938) also won the 11th Academy Awards in 1939 for Best Actress Bette Davis (right) and Best Supporting Actress Fay Bainter (left), centered by Warner boss Jack Warner
From the fearlessness of willfulness to the real bravery, it is the process of life washing away the glitz and revealing the authenticity, and the scene is like the beautiful transformation of a butterfly after breaking through the pupa shell. For Miss Julie Marsden, her chrysalis is made up of willfulness, vanity, arrogance and intolerance. When this self-righteous hard shell shattered, her life revealed its innermost texture, undisguised and straight into the human heart. William Wheeler's "Red Shirt Tear Stains" mainly tells us such a story about spiritual growth.
As a great director in Hollywood, William Wheeler's film career can be described as fruitful. With the help of "The House of Heroes. Miniver (1942), The Golden Age of Our Lives (1946) and Ben-Hur (1959), he won three awards including Best Picture and Best Director. Among them, "Bin Hun" won 11 awards in one fell swoop, setting a record for Oscar winnings, and it is still the holder of this record.
Stills from the movie Red Shirt Tear Stains/Gizabel Jezebel (1938).
Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993) made Roma Holiday Rome Holiday (1953), which made Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993), win him the favor of fans around the world. These prestigious works, although they pushed his Hollywood film career to the peak, also made his truly excellent works that best reflected his style ignored.
William Wheeler was not as preoccupied with a certain genre as the great directors of his time, such as John Ford (1894-1973) or Frank Capra (1897-1991), who were easily recognized and admired, on the contrary, his work was scattered and difficult to classify. But this apparent inconsistency did not prevent William Wheeler from constructing a uniqueness of his own, as George Satur George Sadoul points out in Histoire du cinema mondial, and what best characterizes William Wheeler's work is the outstanding psychoanalysis.
Film Red Shirt Tear Stains / Gizabel Jezebel (1938)
No matter what type of film he is involved in, the rigorous director can always show people his talent for psychological exploration, and 1938's "Red Shirt Tear Stains" is a model of this.
In all the foreshadowing of the opening part of the film, William Wheeler is merely a reminder of a conflict that has not yet erupted—namely the conformism of New Orleans and the waywardness of Miss Julie Marsden. As one of the main exponents of southern American cities, New Orleans in 1852 was a living replica of a 19th-century European city. "New Orleans is not like the North, here are the rules", mothers admonish their daughters who have just entered the social world, always reminding them again and again to treat the red tape of the upper class as a guideline; the men, in the case of duels, settle disputes instead of resorting to the law; there is no market for new things like railroads— people here are only interested in the elegant classical way of riding horses.
Poster for the American version of the movie RedShirt Tears/Gizabel Jezebel (1938).
In this conservative atmosphere, Miss Julie Marsden's flamboyant, self-styled personality was striking: she was not only late for her family's ball, but also entered the ball in a horseback dress; in order to get her fiancé Price to accompany her to choose clothes, she broke into the bank where the latter worked, interrupting the important official business that was being discussed. Julie Marsden's unbridled style was woven into gossip by the ladies and used as a negative teaching material for them to educate their children. However, such conflicts are shallow, like putting the tip of your finger in a basin to touch in order to determine the temperature of hot water. New Orleans' stereotypes required a more weighty lead hammer to measure its depth.
Jolie Marsden was sought after as a princess and acted fearlessly, and she didn't take it for granted that unmarried women in New Orleans could only enter the ball in white dresses. As a result, at the ball, which was all white dresses, Julie Marsden's red dress caused not commotion, but depression—the cheerful ball seemed to suddenly fall a frost, people's smiles were frozen, and their usual friends avoided Julie Marsden and Price.
Stills from the film Redshirt Tears/Gizabel Jezebel (1938), by Betty Davis Bette Davis (left) and Henry Fonda (right)
This unanimous indifference is too powerful and too frightening! Julie Marsden was heartbroken, and her ego was shattered in the face of public will. In this play, William Wheeler tries to show that a person's enlightenment often begins with making mistakes—when the destructive force of a mistake is bounced back by a powerful external force to hit itself, the hard shell of a person made of habits and ideas can be broken, and only then can he turn his eyes to himself.
The indifference of the crowd at the ball broke julie Marsden, who had always been competitive, but it aroused Price's anger and courage, although he had previously strongly opposed Julie Marsden wearing a red dress to the ball. People were leaving the scene, the music was stopped, and there was only one pair on the dance floor who had been left out in the cold. Price ordered the musicians who had been stopped to play the dance, and he turned the dance with Julie Marsden into a declaration against the tyrannical public will; at the same time, this confrontation was also the strongest accusation given to Julie Marsden — what serious consequences her self-righteousness had!
Stills from the film Redshirt Tears/Gizabel Jezebel (1938), by Betty Davis Bette Davis (right) and Best Supporting Actress Award Fay Bainter (left)
Such a layered ability to grasp the psychology fully reflects william Wheeler's talent. Using pictures to express the hearts of characters has always been a weakness of film, but in William Wheeler's film world, this has become the most powerful expression. Whether in Dodswoths (1936), In The Letter (1940), The Little Foxes (1941), or In The Heiresses (1949), based on Henry James's washington square Washington Square, We can all see his exploration of the character's inner excellence—almost to the point of being as meticulous as a novel. Even in the ideological overtones of postwar reconstruction, Wheeler's power as a psychological master can still be seen.
On the set of the film Redshirt Tears/Gizabel Jezebel (1938), directors William Wheeler William Wyler (left) and Betty Davis (right) have a pleasant conversation during a break
In Red Shirt Tears, William Wheeler strives to present the process of life reaching an epiphany. Julie Marsden's outrageous behavior was punished severely—she was abandoned by the entire social community, and Price went north because of her willfulness. After a year of solitude and depression, Julie Marsden put on a beautiful white dress and asked Price, who had returned from the North, with the shyness and joy of her lover's reunion: "Is this dress white enough?" "What a great reunion, what a great way to ask for forgiveness!" But she didn't expect Price to come back with his new wife, Amy, this time.
Next, William Wheeler exhibits an intriguing psychological phenomenon—willfulness is as inertial as the motion of objects, and Julie Marsden vows to get Price back to her at all costs. First, seduced with tenderness, she said to Price, "Even a fast and dangerous horse, as long as it is familiar, don't be afraid, because it has become a part of you." And I'm a part of you, and I'm never going to let you go. "She still ignores the rules, and this time she wants to destroy the marriage that was concluded by law." After being rejected by Price, Julie Marsden uses the loyalty of her suitor, Bader, to conspire to fight Amy from the north at the dinner table and stir up a dispute.
At this time, New Orleans was suffering from the ravages of yellow fever and became a city of death. Every time yellow fever hit the city, the road in and out of the city was blocked, and anyone who tried to escape from the city would be shot. Every night in this conservative city, cannons are fired and bells ring out to ward off the disease. No one volunteered to participate in the sanitation of the city, and people even avoided the carriages carrying the bodies. Dr. Anderson is looking for an assistant, but no one is there, and Price decides to go to town to help.
After Price leaves, the dispute in the country manor intensifies, and his brother Tim duels With Bader to protect Amy's reputation, and the latter is killed. Once again, the situation is out of control, and it is the price of a life. This even bigger mistake made Julie Marsden see clearly the shell that was covering her, and she understood why her aunt said she was like the woman named Gizabel Jezebel, the woman who thought she was a god, thinking she could control everything. When the scrutinizing eye can look at its own flaws and mistakes fairly, the original heart will begin to be revealed.
Stills from the film Redshirt Tears/Gizabel Jezebel (1938), by Betty Davis Bette Davis (right) and Henry Fonda (left)
Price was unfortunately infected with yellow fever, his life was in danger, and he was to be sent to Leprosy Island, which was full of sick people, as stipulated by the Louisiana state government. The incident sparked another argument, and both Julie Marsden and Amy decided to risk their lives to take care of Price on Leprosy Island:
Julie: I'm jealous that you have that courage, but please let me go in your place. We are all fighting for Price's life.
Amy: What about you?
Julie: I need to prove myself brave and strong, not selfish, help me, Amy, help me wash away the shame. ...... Give me the opportunity to prove myself.
Amy: Julie, tell me I'm going to ask you a question that only you can answer. Does Price still love you? He may not know it himself, only you know.
Julie: Amy, you must let me go with him.
Amy: No.
Julie: It doesn't matter who we go, what matters is his life.
Julie: We all know that Price loves his wife. It's definitely not me anyway, I've done a lot of things that make him angry, and I'm not as brave as you. I used to want to snatch him out of your hands. I tried but failed, and he only loves you.
Amy: I appreciate you telling me. I must know this.
Julie: Amy.
Amy: I'll wait for you and Price to come back.
Stills from the film Redshirt Tears/Gizabel Jezebel (1938), from left to right: Margaret Lindsay Bette Davis Henri Fonda
In this passage, William Wheeler convincingly transforms the rivalry between the two women into a quest for self-worth beyond selfish desires—no vanity, no jealousy and open struggle, just a sublimated belief in life. In a carriage full of yellow fever patients, Julie walked toward Leprosy Island with a truly brave look and gaze, without fear of death. At this time, Julie really became Gizabel, the woman who thought she was a god, and she was beyond any worldly gaze.
William Wheeler gave the final shot to a gritty-looking Betty Davis, and loud music sounded, announcing a person's new life. The actress, who was a hit in the 1930s and 1940s, won the Oscar for the second time for her brilliant interpretation of Julie's inner transformation. The role of Price in the film was played by Henry Fonda, who was just emerging at the time, and later won the appreciation of almost all the big Hollywood directors and achieved his brilliant acting career. It is worth mentioning that john Huston (1906-1987), a great director who became famous a few years later, was one of the screenwriters of the film and served as an assistant director.
Stills from the film Redshirt Tears/Gizabel Jezebel (1938), from left to right: George Brent, Bette Davis, Bette Davis Henry Fonda
When she did not take over the filming of "Red Shirt Tear Stains", Betty Davis fought a lawsuit with Warner because the roles assigned by the boss were always unsatisfactory, and Betty Davis had to return to Warner because of the loss of the lawsuit, but won a certain range of casting rights. At this time, Warner handed over the responsibility of production to the new style of Hull Wahes and began the "high-cost, refined" route.
Betty Davis felt comfortable in this situation, and soon performed another masterpiece that won the Best Actress Award at the 11th Academy Awards in 1939, "Red Shirt Tear Stains": set in the American South during the Civil War, depicting a stubborn beauty who after willfully losing her boyfriend, and then trying her best to snatch him back as a husband who had found a wife. Betty Davis went all out to shoot this film, her efforts were not in vain, the film was both a hit and acclaim, And Betty Davis finally became a veritable film queen, becoming the most eye-catching star in Hollywood. This may be a fair ruling in Hollywood, which is not necessarily impartial.
Betty Davis Bette Davis for the film Redshirt Tear Stains/Gizabel (1938).
The film was well received the year before the epoch-making Gone with the Wind. Betty Davis worked on three consecutive films with director William Wheeler, establishing Betty Davis as a superstar. In fact, since 1937, Betty Davis has won the reputation of "box office queen" for ten consecutive years, and has been promoted to "the first lady of the American national film industry", which is quite rare in the film industry. If you carefully observe the screen image of Betty Davis, you can find that she rarely plays the role of treating other women well, usually complaining with others, fighting, and even having fierce disputes, which fully shows the strong exclusion color of "same-sex repulsion". At the same time, the role of Betty Davis also proves that women can be as ruthless and aggressive, and even deprive them of the privileges that have always been regarded as men, so that men have to eat women's losses, which can be said to be the first interpreter of "women's films".
Stills from the film Redshirt Tears/Gizabel Jezebel (1938), by Betty Davis Bette Davis (right) Henry Fonda (left)
As an excellent psychological and genre film, "Red Shirt Tear Stains" was praised by André Bazin (1918-1958) as one of the representatives of exquisite perfection in film. He compared the film to some contemporaneous works such as John Ford's "Stagecoach" (1939) and Marcel Carné's (1906–1996) "Dawn Breaks Le Jour se leve" (1939). Even if you re-watch the films, he says, "people will still appreciate an artistic enjoyment that has reached a level of perfect proportion and found the ideal way of expression." ”