Bette Davis: More Deadly Than the Maleruns at the Irish Film Institute, Dublin. June 1-30. www.irishfilm.ie
June 1 The Old MaidEdmund Goulding's absorbing melodrama features Davis as an unmarried mother whose true love died in the American Civil War.
June 7 & 8 Jezebel(1938) In her first film with her favourite director William Wyler, Davis gives a marvellous, Oscar-winning performance as a spoiled Southern belle in 1850s New Orleans.
June 7 & 8 Dark Victory(1939) Davis plays a wealthy heiress forced to re-evaluate her life when diagnosed with a brain tumour in Edmund Goulding's moving drama. The cast includes Irish actor Geraldine Fitzgerald, future president Ronald Reagan, and as an Irish horse trainer named Michael O'Leary.
June 14 & 15 The Letter(1940) William Wyler's compelling film of a Somerset Maugham play is set on a Malaysian rubber plantation with Davis as the married woman claiming self-defence when accused of killing a family friend.
June 14 & 15 The Little Foxes(1941) Working with Wyler again, in his enthralling movie of Lillian Hellman's play, Davis is on rare form as a scheming Southern matriarch with Herbert Marshall as her ailing husband.
June 21 Mr Skeffington(1944) The fine performances of Davis and Claude Rains enhance Vincent Sherman's film in which she plays a vain socialite and he's the Wall Street banker she marries for his money.
June 21 & 22 Now, Voyager(1942) Irving Rapper's stylish melodrama features Davis as a middle-aged single woman falling for an unhappily married man (Paul Henreid) - and delivering the famous closing line: "Don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars!"
June 28 Pocketful of Miracles(1961) Davis plays Apple Annie, a role she disdainfully described as "a 60-year-old Cinderella", in Frank Capra's final film, a remake of his Lady for a Day (1933).
June 28 & 29 Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?(1962) The off-screen rivalry between Davis and Joan Crawford adds frissons to this stylish horror film in which they play sisters whose Hollywood stardom has long passed. Robert Aldrich directs.
June 29 The Whales of August(1987) In the penultimate film of her career, Davis is joined by fellow veterans Lillian Gish, Ann Sothern and Vincent Price. Lindsay Anderson directs this touching meditation on old age.
June 30 All About Eve(1950) Backstage backstabbing abounds in Joseph L Mankiewicz's sparkling, caustic picture of the theatre world. Nominated for 14 Oscars, it won six, including best picture, director, supporting actor (George Sanders) and screenplay.
MD
