Jezebel (Restored and Remastered Edition)

Bette Davis plays a self-involved southern belle whose neurotic attempts to mold her fiance (Henry Fonda) to her own designs eventually bring about her tragic downfall. Co-stars George Brent and Fay Bainter. Year: 1938 Director: William Wyler Starring: Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, George Brent

Bette Davis won her second Best Actress Oscar for her showcase role in this sumptuous southern costume melodrama, which was released in 1938 in response to the phenomenal popularity of Margaret Mitchell's novel Gone with the Wind. (It would take another full year for the famous film adaptation of Mitchell's novel to be released.) The setting is New Orleans in 1862, and Davis plays Julie, an egocentric southern belle who's used to getting her way. Henry Fonda plays the equally selfish banker who breaks off their engagement, prompting Julie to a variety of futile schemes to win him back. Gracefully directed by William Wyler, the film won Oscars for Davis and Fay Bainter (for Best Supporting Actress), and was nominated for Best Picture, Music Score, and Cinematography. Highlights include the lavish ball scene where unmarried ladies dressed in traditional white are horrified by Julie's scandalous red dress, and Fonda's subsequent pleasure upon witnessing Julie's humiliation. An absorbing period melodrama, this film was ultimately overshadowed by Gone with the Wind, but it remains a classic in its own right thanks to Wyler and his remarkable cast. --Jeff Shannon

Bette Davis didn't get to play Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, but she did get to play a troublesome Southern belle in William Wyler's 1938 Jezebel. Davis's character, a coquette fond of stirring up rivalries among the men, goes too far and loses her fiancé (Henry Fonda), but she finds atonement when she cares for him during illness. This handsome melodrama by Wyler (who later directed Davis in The Little Foxes) is fully absorbing (John Huston contributed to the script), and Davis's carefully constructed performance does make one draw instant comparisons with Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind. --Tom Keogh