Myron Clemons A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Phillida Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

DKosty123 This light weight has the look of an assembly line romance movie of the 1930's. Bette Davis & Henry Fonda get a few on screen kisses. This one has an only so so script which is what holds back the finished product.If your fan of Fonda or Davis, this is worth a look. Jezebel is definitely better.Interesting the detective in this movie is played by Syndey Toler who would later take over the series Charlie Chan from Warner Oland. Fonda needs approval from his father to live with Davis, but once he gets it, she balks and decides to run away.At the end of the movie they reconnect- but the story is left open ended as to where they go from here. Happy Birthday today to Henry Fonda.

Harold_Robbins This is a superior and under-rated "woman's picture" that really has all the elements of the classic weeper: star-crossed lovers, twists of fate, and self-sacrifice. It also has a sterling performance from Bette Davis which gives a strong indication of why she would soon be a superstar and regarded as the screen's best actress: Her belief in a character could suffuse it with passion and poignancy and transcend the shallowness of the accompanying story. She's supported by an excellent cast - Henry Fonda (in a basically thankless role), the ever-reliable Donald Crisp (her showdown scene with him oddly foreshadows similar scenes with Gladys Cooper in NOW, VOYAGER), Mary Phillips (in a role that in a later version would obviously have gone to Thelma Ritter), who was, at the time, Mrs. Humphrey Bogart (in the same year's MARKED WOMAN Davis would appear with Mayo Methot, the next Mrs. B., and Ian Hunter. Edmund Goulding, who excelled at this kind of thing, wrote and directed it - he would later direct Davis in two other notable soapers, DARK VICTORY (one of her most celebrated performances, as Judith Traherne), and THE GREAT LIE (for which Mary Astor won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar). It's all served up in the best Warner Bros. tradition, but doesn't seem to be as well-remembered as other such films of the era, such as MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION, STELLA DALLAS, or MY FOOLISH HEART.

MartinHafer 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.

nycritic With a title that wouldn't seem out of place in a Harlequin Romance, THAT CERTAIN WOMAN is Edmund Goulding's ultra-soap opera of the weepiest kind. The story of the super self-reliant Mary Donnell, a former bootlegger's wife turned attorney's faithful and efficient secretary. It seems that they might be engaged in something a little over-the-sweater, or maybe he likes her too much and she's just too good to say no, but the Hays Code filtered any naughty-naughty. Where Mary should have been more independent, she's now this saint dressed in self-sacrifice so extreme it gave me a headache at times and made me think Bette's equally self-sacrificing character in ALL THIS AND HEAVEN TOO was closer to Mike Tyson fighting Evander Holyfield. Translation: she made that character fierce in comparison. In short -- Mary Donnell, while is totally and absolutely in love with her boss' client's son Jack Merrick (Henry Fonda, a bit colorless), is unable to fight Jack's mean old father who doesn't want Her in the way. She is, in fact, the quintessential "telenovela" heroine: good to the nth degree, noble to ridiculous levels, passive to the point that you want to smack her like a piñata and see if you get a reaction, sad, and able to bend over backwards farther than Linda Blair doing her spider-walk in order to let things happen, even if it means letting go of her son and even leaving the country. Not that this is a bad thing: it's kept the romance genre alive and well and thriving in newsstands and drugstores alike, but to make a full-length movie out of this without some degree of irony is a bit much. I would have wanted something to happen, let's say, that a monkey-wrench be thrown in for good measure, but bah, this is soap, sap, and sugar down to the bitter end.