Caged Hearts—A Valentine Series
WINTER MEETING starring Bette Davis
or
ALL HAIL HOYT!
Hey Everyone. I’m currently trying to secure the rights to a book called Winter Meeting by novelist Ethel Vance for a potential upcoming project. I’m starting to think it might actually be in the public domain by now. So, next stop—the Library of Congress to see if I’m hopefully right. Written in 1946, Winter Meeting was quickly secured by Warner Brothers as a vehicle for its mega star Bette Davis. Now you’d think that being a Bette Davis film, it must be well known by her legion of fans, right? Well, unfortunately, it isn’t. It’s quite possibly because she seems to have agreed to act in support of a small ensemble of quite wonderful character actors. This 1948 film really feels more like an group effort than a star driven one. And the cumulative power of this wonderful group does much to shield us from a rather unremarkable and ill at ease leading man. Davis manages to create a chemistry that’s mysteriously maternal with her heroic naval swain. She observes him with a keen and often shy eye, making the charm that she finds in him unquestioningly credible to us.
Much of the ensemble feel in this film is to the credit of director, Brentaigne Windust. Mr. Windhust came from a significant theatrical background having already directed several Broadway productions including Life With Father and Arsenic and Old Lace. He was also responsible for directing the original West End production of Eugene O’Neill’s Strange Interlude; an experience that must have provided him with insight into the machinations of a complex character’s inner life—a great asset in his directing Winter Meeting as so much emotional life remains hidden in the character of Susan played by Davis.
I should mention here that there are only a handful of characters represented in this enterprise—only seven if I’m remembering correctly. If you see it, be sure to look for the wonderful character actress Florence Bates. Her part is small, but she’s afforded much breadth and scope as a weathered and emotionally covered Yankee housekeeper. She’s almost unrecognizable here from what we’re most used to see her playing.
Bette Davis has at times deferred to the talents of her cast in films with her name above the title. Only on one other occasion—the year before this film was made, actually—did Davis hand a film on a platinum platter to an actor who was technically in support of her. I’m referring to the great Claude Raines who arguably gives his greatest film performance in their second film together, Deception released in 1947. In this film, Winter Meeting, she provides significant light to actor, John Hoyt providing him with an opportunity—just as she did with Raines—to cast a formidable shadow in his role as an erudite and thinly veiled gay veteran of World War One. I’d be curious as to whether Windhust was making reference to the wonderful British actor, Ernest Thesiger here. By the way, you can hear considerably more about Mr. Thesiger in my Moses/Jesus Week Post on my YouTube Channel.
But, I digress...
This was only Hoyt’s sixth film in Hollywood after a long run with Olson Welles Mercury Theatre here in New York City, and he grabs the chance offered to him to display his wonderfully theatrical actor’s teeth. I’d say that it’s entirely due to both director Windhust and co-star Davis’ generosity of heart and spirit. They both knew the measure of talent when they saw it.
Hoyt went on to other wonderful roles covering quite a bit of odd ground in films as diverse as Jules Dassin’s taut and bizarre, Brute Force to his work as the wheelchair bound villain in the sci-fi classic, When Worlds Collide. And let’s not forget his significant contributions to the trash art ethic I’ve been referring to of late. John Hoyt has graced William Conrad’s Two on a Guillotine, Roger Corman’s X, the Man with the X-ray Eyes, Attack of the Puppet People and above all of these in trashy stature, Joseph Mankiewicz’s 1963 magnum opus, Cleopatra. All hail, Hoyt!
Be well.
And stay engaged.
Bye by for now
