Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Michelle Ridley The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

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")

amplexuslotus Spoiler Alert (just a little):I'm glad to read so many positive comments about this film. I watched it for the first time April 2013 on TCM and was really surprised by all the fine qualities (and fun) "The Great Lie" offered. Especially since I'd never heard of this film before and have been a classic film fan since my childhood.While pleased to read so many positive reviews, I find making apologies for this and that in the story unnecessary. Life is stranger than fiction. I truly do not know what is so "unbelievable" about this story? It's an unusual story but "unbelievable" - absolutely not. Less likely today with DNA and paternity tests, media coverage, internet etc....but wealthy (especially famous) women sometimes disappeared and then reappeared with their "adopted" baby, or claimed the child was their "niece" or "nephew". Many of these women were actresses.I've also read several biographies of famous people who married a second or third time without knowing their divorce had in fact NOT been finalized. I've read other biographies of famous people who led secret lives, or had two families, or had a secret love child - human drama is messy beautiful and nuanced. Although most classic movies are in black and white, they understood that life is NOT black and white.Classic film writers and audiences understood this: If it can be imagined - it's absolutely possible. We've lost our imaginations to "facts" and so called "reality." How utterly sad.Although never a fan of George Brent, he's very good in this film. I know he and Davis had an intimate relationship but not sure if it was during the time this film was made. Either way, Davis & Brent have nice chemistry. Their love is believable.This is not a typical role for Davis - she plays it perfectly though - a little restrained and subdued. Bette Davis and Mary Astor reworked much of the script and according to what's been written about the making of "The Great Lie", director Edmund Goulding, was supportive of his actors changing the script, which is kind of amazing. It may also explain why Davis and Astor have great chemistry on screen together as well. They both understand their characters loves, fears and desires and that of each other.Grant Mitchell is terrific (as always) in a small part as the anxious worried manager of Astor's, diva Sandra. Lucille Watson (and actor I've always admired and enjoyed) also in a small role which she plays perfectly as Maggie's (Davis) aunt. But it's Hattie McDaniel who makes the very most of the small role as Maggie's maid, Violet. There's a very moving scene when Pete (Brent) flies down to Baltimore (Maggie's home) and Violet and Maggie have been reading about his marriage to famous concert pianist, Sandra Kovak(Astor). Violet is so loving and protective of Maggie (Davis) as she tells off Pete (Brent) for being thoughtless and uncaring - it's really a powerful scene.There's also a musical number which seems strange to more "modern" audiences but the music and singing is beautiful. In the past, people did entertain themselves by playing music, dancing and singing. Although I realize the African American roles in this movie (in any Warner film, in any classic American movie and let's not kid ourselves, in most current U.S. movies) are one-dimensional stereotypes but if you look past this, the talent of Hattie McDaniel and her brother Sam (playing Maggie's butler, Jefferson) shines through anyway.I find the story intriguing in that there are several strong female characters. The dynamic between Maggie, Sandra and Pete is an unusual twist on the typical love triangle. The dialogue throughout is funny bittersweet and occasionally bitchy and a bit over the top (mostly Astor's diva Sandra) but there are characters like this and in real life! Yes, there truly are we've simply become dull and after years of being subjected to mostly mediocre movies forgot what real makes art real and what makes both life and art interesting and real: heart soul passion sincerity and damn good writing and acting.Mary Astor (Sandra) plays a despicable talented narcissistic manipulative character with the bitchiness and ruthlessness of, many would say, a man. I haven't figured out why it's enjoyable to watch her character's personality unfold in this drama because she never redeems herself.Astor's Sandra remains true to her narcissistic self to the very end but somehow it works. Astor won best supporting actress for this role and it's easy to see why. For those who only know Astor from The Maltese Falcon, you will be surprised by what a sublime actor she was and still is all these decades later.

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.

didi-5 An average melodrama with a powerhouse performance by Mary Astor (if you've only seen her as Marmie in 'Little Women' she's a bit different here). Bette Davis and George Brent are former lovers still on the boil, and circumstances mean that he is passed between her and Astor depending on what's happened on a particular day. Then he goes missing in a plane, there's a baby, there's a plan ... and that's about it.'The Great Lie' is a typical Warners potboiler, lengthy, not very believable, but with decent enough performances and production values. In the 1940s there were a lot of love triangles in the movies and a lot about the sanctity of marriage and the importance of children; this film is no exception. The husband may be a bit colourless, but the ladies he is involved with more than make up for that, although it is hardly Davis' best performance.