Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Claudio Carvalho In New York, the playboy Peter 'Pete' Van Allen (George Brent) marries the famous pianist Sandra Kovak (Mary Astor) after a party. A couple of days later, his lawyer Lock Thompson (Jerome Cowan) tell him that their marriage is not valid, since Sandra's divorce of the previous husband is not concluded. Pete is a distinguished pilot and he flies to Maryland to meet his former fiancée Maggie Patterson (Bette Davis) in her farm. Maggie tells that her uncle has offered a position of pilot to work for the government. Pete returns to New York and tells Sandra that they need to marry again on the next week. However she has a concert in Philadelphia and tells that she cannot marry him on that date. Pete travels to Maryland and tells Maggie that he is free to marry her. They get married and soon Maggie learns that Sandra is pregnant. However Pete is missing and the search party does not find him. Maggie seeks out Sandra and proposes to adopt her baby; in return she would give a generous amount for the pianist. However when Pete is found in Manaus, Sandra visits Maggie and Pete and blackmails Maggie, expecting to have the child and Pete back."The Great Lie" is an exaggerated melodrama with Bette Davis, Mary Astor and George Brent. Pete is a shallow character that does not work and leaves Sandra in a ridiculous way to stay with Maggie. The rivals do not have much reason to be with Pete. The conclusion is dull, with Pete giving up of his son. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "A Grande Mentira" ("The Great Lie")

bob-790-196018 The quintessential soap opera plot is two women fighting over the same man. Here it is in pure form, with Mary Astor obsessed with stealing George Brent away from Bette Davis. Nothing subtle about Mary Astor here, just blatant bitchery. You kind of wonder what the George Brent character saw in her to marry her in the first place (though the marriage proved not to be legal).But then, this story is so very improbable that questioning motives is beside the point.It's interesting to see the Brent character from what could be construed as "the woman's view" back in 1941, when men were supposed to do Important Things while women cooked and sewed and discussed the love affairs of others. All we know about George Brent is that he has gone off to do something in "aviation." (This makes sense, since he flies a plane.) What men did for a living was not a woman's concern--and was assumed to be too difficult for her to understand anyway.To be fair to Mary Astor, once the camera closes in on her face, so that we no longer have to look at the unflattering clothes she wears in this film, we can see that she was very beautiful.Bette Davis is, however, the reason I watched this movie in the first place. She is almost always interesting to watch. A diminutive woman, she lacked the full figure and glamorous face of the traditional female movie star. What she had that was far more memorable, however, was a great range of expression and a vivacity that made her beautiful in a deeper sense. In most of her pictures, even the bad ones, she is fun to watch.Ah, then there are the black folks, a whole big cast of them, with Hattie McDaniel at the top of the list, all of them having a happy time around the ole plantation. They are treated decently in this movie, at least in comparison with many other films of the time with black characters. But that's not saying much. What it means is that the stereotypes that they portray are seen in a condescendingly kindly light, rather than subject to mockery or made to look foolish.Yes, 1941 was a very different era from today.

bkoganbing The Great Lie in its own way is quite daring for the time. There were not too many films in which motherhood was seen as a burden rather than a sacred obligation. In that sense Warner Brothers was taking quite a chance with this film.The one thing I don't understand is Bette Davis taking the role of the noble one in the triangle that involves her with George Brent and Mary Astor. Astor's part is clearly the showier one which she proved by taking home the Best Supporting Actress for 1941. Perhaps it was simply a matter of screen time and that Davis was not going to be in support of anyone.Be that as it may, The Great Lie involves a possible lie to come when a certain infant comes of age. George Brent's got both these women on the string. He marries Mary Astor who is a renowned concert pianist in a whirlwind courtship as soon as the ink on her divorce became dry.Turns out it wasn't quite that dry yet. But nature taking its course Astor gets pregnant. But before she and we find that out, Brent whose marriage to Astor was technically invalid runs off with Davis who's a member of the rich Maryland horsey set.Later on Brent goes missing in a plane crash in the Amazon rain forest and Davis comes up with a marvelous proposition. If Astor will give up the kid when it's born, she'll raise it as her own. Astor who is career minded to the last exponential degree agrees to this until Brent finds his way out of the rain forest.The Great Lie is one potboiler melodrama which is lifted above its worth by these two women. Davis does what she can with the part, though I think she would have been better as the pianist. But Mary Astor just dominates the film. Her performance is the best thing by far in The Great Lie. This was the pinnacle year in Mary Astor's career. She also co-starred in 1941 in her best known screen part, that of Brigid O'Shaunessy in The Maltese Falcon. Given the mores of the time there are only certain directions this plot can take. The Great Lie would be one great flop, but for Bette and Mary. See it for them.

MartinHafer While this does not rank among the very best of Bette Davis' films, it is exceptional and extremely entertaining. The reason it doesn't quite make it to the heights of the great movies such as LITTLE FOXES or ALL ABOUT EVE is that the plot, though interesting, is so impossible that if you really stop and think about it, it all makes very little sense. However, provided you are not a close-minded curmudgeon (I, myself am an open-minded curmudgeon), then forgetting about the impossibilities isn't an issue and you can sit back and love this film.The film begins with George Brent eloping with Mary Astor. After they both sober up, Brent can't help but notice that Astor is a highly strung and demanding....um...diva (I'm trying to keep this review family-friendly). That same sober morning, Brent is told that the marriage is not legal, as Astor's divorce decree isn't yet final, so they'll have to remarry. Fortunately, the guy realizes that Astor is a baby-eating monster and leaves--back into the arms of his ex-fiancé, Bette Davis.Davis had been terribly wronged by Brent, as they were STILL engaged when Brent eloped with Astor. However, Brent is super apologetic and convinces her to marry him--after all, the marriage to Astor wasn't legal.Shortly after this, Brent is killed while on government business in Brazil. Davis is sad, but things get really interesting when she learns that Brent's one night "marriage" to Astor has resulted in pregnancy!! Astor, however, has all the maternal instincts of a hamster, so Davis convinces her to take the baby to term and then give it to her to raise--after all, she'd love to have Brent's baby. While never said, it was implied that if Davis hadn't made this deal to finance the baby's birth, then Astor would have probably gotten an illegal abortion.During the months living all alone with Davis, Astor is quickly going stir-crazy. However, if she has the baby, she must keep it a secret or it might harm her musical career (after all, this was the 1940s). Plus, Davis intends to return home and tell everyone it is her biological child--or at least let them think this. This portion of the film is probably the most interesting, as Astor goes from being selfish and mean to being like Davis' character in the film WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?--but only meaner and grumpier!! Astor's part allows her to scream, yell, nearly burn down their cabin and run amok with wild abandon. This ain't exactly intellectual fare, but wow is it fun to watch as it unfolds!! It was really interesting that in this film, Davis is in control and sweet and Astor is the Devil's daughter (well, practically Satan's kid--she's THAT selfish and cruel).After the baby is born, as agreed Astor splits and leaves the baby with Davis--showing no second thoughts or concerns for the kid. However, when out of the blue, Brent is discovered alive in the Amazonian jungle, Astor sees her chance to return to not only bust up the marriage, but take the child AND Brent for herself. This leads to a very satisfying conclusion that practically brought this old grouch to tears.As I said above, there are so many impossible situations piled on top of each other that the plot is all but ridiculous. But, with amazing dial dialog, acting and very, very smooth direction and production, this couldn't help but be a great film. A must-see for old movie buffs.