Dangerous: Bette Davis playing with fire

If you want to see Bette Davis acting like her life depends on every single syllable, Dangerous is the one. It’s definitely not for folks who want a lighthearted watch or a clean, happy ending. You’re gonna hate it if you need your protagonists to be likable, but if you like watching a slow-motion train wreck in a fancy dress, you’ll probably find something here.

Davis plays Joyce Heath, and she is truly, magnificently awful. She’s the kind of character who burns bridges just to see if the fire looks pretty. There’s this one scene where she’s staring at a mirror, and honestly, you can tell she’s just waiting for the next thing to break. It’s uncomfortable, but it’s real.

The guy trying to 'save' her, Don Bellows, is played by Franchot Tone. He spends most of the movie looking like he’s trying to solve a math problem that has no right answer. It’s a bit frustrating to watch him chase her around. You just want to grab him by the shoulders and tell him to walk away.

The dialogue is thick. It’s got that old-school melodrama rhythm that feels like someone read a book of proverbs before sitting down to write the script. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it feels like they’re trying way too hard to make a point about destiny or whatever.

Small things I noticed:

• There’s a coat rack that shows up in three different rooms. Either they were on a budget or the set decorator had a favorite piece of furniture.
• The lighting in the final act is weirdly moody. It makes everyone look like they’re hiding a secret, which, to be fair, they mostly are.
• I kept thinking about how different this feels compared to the lightness of Oh, Doctor, Doctor!. It’s like switching from a comic book to a police report.

The pacing is a bit of a weird beast. It drags in the middle, then suddenly everyone is screaming at each other, and then it’s over before you’ve really processed the shift. It reminded me a little of the messy intensity in Seven Sinners, though that one had more grit and less high-society wallowing.

Does it hold up? Mostly because of Davis. She’s like a magnet. Even when the plot feels like it’s spinning its wheels, you can’t look away from her. She has this way of blinking that says, I’m about to ruin your life, and you just have to respect the commitment to the bit. 🍷

It’s not a perfect movie. Actually, it’s kind of a disaster in some parts. But it’s a fascinating disaster. You can feel the studio pushing for something grand and tragic, even when the story is just a small, sour argument between two people who probably shouldn't be in the same zip code.