Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.

Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

BILLYBOY-10 What a hoot. Her last flick before leaving Warner Brothers which she hated so much that she impersonates a (male) female impersonator impersonating her. Just think of it! Way way over the top Bette. "What a dump" "If I don't get out of here I'll die...If I don't get out of here, I hope I die" Later, Liz Taylor would do an impersonation of her in Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe in the opening scene of that movie. Here Bette plays Rosa Moline, as Liz describes her: "She's a housewife, she buys things" and "she's discontent". Boy, oh boy, Is she ever. And mean. And evil. And conniving. And scheming. And toting a rifle and shooting porcupines because "they irritate me". A million laughs. Honestly, its precious. Almost as bad (good) as her 'Dead Ringer'

tomsview I have seen this film many times and it never fails to get me in. I am also aware of all the negative reviews it has received with plenty of trash talk using terms such as 'banal', 'overblown' and 'incredibly artificial'. But one description is definitely a backhanded compliment "One of the most enjoyable bad movies ever made".Anyway, who cares about all that, beauty is in the eye of the beholder after all.Recently - instead of getting a life - I watched three Bette Davis movies in one weekend: "All About Eve", "The Letter" and "Beyond the Forest". She was different in each one. Bette Davis had such a distinctive personality that it would be easy to think she just played herself in film after film, but not so. Her Rosa Moline in "Beyond the Forest" is a one-off; I don't think she ever played any other role that way again. Some say she was sending herself up. Apparently she didn't want to play the part and maybe her bad mood helped shape her character.I couldn't help thinking of "Madam Bovary" as I watched this film about a woman who leaves her husband to chase her dream. In Madam Bovary's case the dream was a romantic one; in Rosa's, the dream is more superficial; in both cases the dream turns into a nightmare.Rosa is married to the nice Doctor Lewis Moline (Joseph Cotton), but to her he is just poor and boring. Lewis is the respected doctor in the Wisconsin mill town where they live. Rosa latches onto Neil Latimer (David Brian), a rich businessman from Chicago, and plans to dump Lewis. He is about the only person in town who can't see through her, even their young Indian maid, Jenny (Dona Drake), has her measure. The scenes between Rosa and Jenny are very funny - the film needed a light touch to relieve the angst. It all ends in tears of course, played out in the flickering light of the massive incinerator that dominates the town.Bette Davis thought she was too old for the part, but doesn't that make her character just that much more pathetic? She feels life has passed her by, and she is making a last desperate grab for what she thinks she deserves.Much of the film was shot on location and has a rich look. Max Steiner contributed a powerful score, incorporating the melody "Chicago"; the theme for Rosa's yearning. His music actually has sympathy for Rosa; it understands her, even as it accompanies her to the inevitable tragedy."Beyond the Forest" is a movie where everything is a larger than life, including the emotions. I still think it is fantastic cinema.

bettedavis-53555 Bette Davis gave many great performances, but she did not make many great films or work with many truly great directors (with the exception of William Wyler & Joseph L. Mankiewicz). King Vidor ranks as one of Bette Davis' greatest directors and Beyond the Forest is her most underrated film (another underrated film is The Private Lives of Elizabeth & Essex, directed by the superb technician Michael Curtiz). The eminent film critic Pauline Kael wrote that "there's not a sane dull scene in this peerless piece of camp." And I agree that this film is never boring. It has elements of film noir, melodrama, comedy and stands the test of time, as it is not sentimental like so many of Bette's soap operas (The Great Lie is a great bore). I challenge anyone to watch this film and be bored by it. Impossible. It starts off slowly, but after the first 20 minutes, it is compulsively watchable: a hoot! And although Bette in her later years said she "loathed" this film, it is clear that she relished the part of Rosa Moline and was living the part as she played it. She poured into the part all of the frustration & fury with Jack Warner and the studio for giving her bad roles & bad scripts, her own fears of aging after she had her baby and she was no longer box office, and all the emotional turmoil (both the sexual electricity & the physical & verbal abuse) of her marriage to William Grant Sherry. Ruth Roman (who played a small role in this film) said that she watched Bette on set and it was all too REAL for her that she was terrified of Bette. And indeed, this is one of Bette's most real performances, however over the top it may be. Rosa Moline is a precursor to Margo Channing in All About Eve, yet I find Beyond the Forest more interesting because King Vidor is more of a stylist than Joseph L. Mankiewicz. All About Eve is theatrical, not cinematic; Beyond the Forest is pure cinema. Savor every frame of this fading femme fatale in this film noir farce. You will laugh at Rosa, be moved by her, feel sorry for her, but ultimately admire her for her courage, pride & determination. She was just a dame who was trying to get out of her own personal prison & hell.

Neil Doyle Just about everyone in 'Beyond the Forest' seems to have graduated with honors from The School of Bad Acting. First and foremost, Bette Davis, in her most wildly overdone, overbaked role sporting a Dracula-like black wig and pounds of lipstick, quivering with impatience at being stuck in a coal-mining town as the wife of a dull doctor. She's Madame Bovary in a major key, spitting out her lines with gusto as everyone else cowers around her. Neither Joseph Cotten nor Ruth Roman nor David Brian can do much but stand and stare at her antics. Of course, she's so camp that it's hard to turn away--like being at the scene of an accident. The only other cast member who outdoes her is Dona Drake as her dim-witted maid...talk about bad acting! Amid all the mayhem, we at least have Max Steiner's score to remind us that this is a Warner Bros. melodrama, a steamy concotion giving Davis a tailor-made role in which to be the ultimate bitch. Poor Ruth Roman stands by, wasted in a small role--a pity, because she can be a strong actress when given the right material. Only ardent Bette Davis admirers can possibly like this one--relieved occasionally by some typical Davis remarks. "What a dump!" Yeah, right. And what a film!!