IMDb > Jezebel (1938)
Jezebel
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Jezebel (1938) -- A haughty headstrong Southern Belle in Antebellum Louisiana loses her fiance due to her stubborn vanity and pride and vows to get him back.
Jezebel (1938) -- Trailerfan.com - Trailer (Flash)

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Overview

User Rating:
7.6/10   3,670 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
No change in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers:
Owen Davis (play)
Clements Ripley (screenplay) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for Jezebel on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
26 March 1938 (USA) more
Genre:
Tagline:
A Fearless Feminine Creature with a heart full of love ! more
Plot:
A haughty headstrong Southern Belle in Antebellum Louisiana loses her fiance due to her stubborn vanity and pride and vows to get him back. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
Won 2 Oscars. Another 1 win & 4 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(5 articles)
User Comments:
"1852, we're in 1852 darling, not the dark ages" more (63 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Bette Davis ... Julie

Henry Fonda ... Preston Dillard
George Brent ... Buck Cantrell
Margaret Lindsay ... Amy
Donald Crisp ... Dr. Livingstone
Fay Bainter ... Aunt Belle
Richard Cromwell ... Ted
Henry O'Neill ... General Bogardus
Spring Byington ... Mrs. Kendrick
John Litel ... Jean La Cour
Gordon Oliver ... Dick Allen
Janet Shaw ... Molly Allen
Theresa Harris ... Zette
Margaret Early ... Stephanie Kendrick
Irving Pichel ... Huger
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Additional Details

Runtime:
104 min (TCM print)
Country:
Language:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Franco Corsaro, Roger Valmy, George Sorel, Vic Demourelle and Louis LaBey are in studio records/casting call lists as cast members, but they did not appear or were not identifiable in this movie. more
Goofs:
Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): As Bette Davis's character hurries through the room arranging flowers, one flower falls out of the vase, but she doesn't bother with it or even seem to notice it, continues arranging them, and then moves the vase to another table. more
Quotes:
Buck Cantrell: To the very good health of the future Ms. Dillard.
Julie Marsden: Buck. Aren't you gonna wish me happiness too?
Buck Cantrell: What's the use? You won't get it. Marryin' a traitor and goin' up North.
Julie Marsden: Pres is a banker, not a traitor. I'll thank ya to remember that.
more
Movie Connections:
Featured in Breakdowns of 1938 (1938) more
Soundtrack:
Jezebel more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
10 out of 11 people found the following comment useful.
"1852, we're in 1852 darling, not the dark ages", 19 February 2007
8/10
Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

Jezebel was Bette Davis's consolation prize for losing the Scarlett O'Hara sweepstakes. Considering the sacrifice that the title character makes in this film, it is fitting and proper that Davis got this role because she could have had Scarlett, but she wouldn't make Gone With the Wind if it included Errol Flynn as Rhett Butler.

Julie Marsden is as willful and and spiteful a southern belle as Scarlett O'Hara ever could be. But Scarlett would never deliberately violate the code the way Julie does and wear that red dress to a cotillion. Just simply not done in the best families.

Bette Davis is Julie and while she's going to be married to the very proper Henry Fonda, she likes the idea that she can still turn the head of every young blade in New Orleans. Especially George Brent's head as the dashing Buck Cantrell.

When Fonda doesn't jump at her beck and call he prefers doing business to catering to her whims she decides on a daring move. This is a woman who cannot stand not being the center of attention. She wears a red dress to a cotillion when polite society dictates that all the unmarried young ladies wear white. When she does, New Orleans society shuns her as effectively as the Amish can and Davis retreats to her plantation upriver.

Fonda goes north and returns after a while to New Orleans with Margaret Lindsay who he is now married to. An insult our southern belle won't put up with. Davis sets in motion a string of events that results in a lot of tragedy.

I have to say that just a description of the plot seems a bit ridiculous at times, but Bette Davis does make this whole thing quite believable. She won her second Oscar for Best Actress in this film and as her aunt who occasionally gives her a reality check every now and then Fay Bainter was named Best Supporting Actress of 1938.

Fonda and Brent are fine in their parts, but they are in support of Bette Davis in a Bette Davis film. Another performance I liked is that of Donald Crisp as the doctor who fights a lot of prejudice and ignorance in New Orleans in trying to deal with yellow fever.

Looming over all of the film is the knowledge we have that this society will come crashing down in another eight years or so in events so well told in Gone With the Wind. This film should be seen back to back with Gone With the Wind as a view of southern society.

This was Bette Davis's first film with director William Wyler who she admired above all other directors. Davis was not generous with praise for colleagues so any kind words towards one are really something. Apparently Wyler did have the magic touch in handling Bette.

Jezebel is one of Bette Davis's finest films, maybe not the finest, but definitely right up there. Unlike Davis's first Oscar for Dangerous which she said was a consolation for not winning for Of Human Bondage, this one she was proud of. And we're proud of it too.

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Jezebel (1938)
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Thematic issues omoo22
Who did Preston really love? roseytrebles
Does anyone have a problem with the ending? pwbri
Dont yell at me but I wish they would colorize caymancic
What ultimate evil does Julie/Bette actually intend? DonnaLevin
Welts and Ointment Quote ballooning64
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