‘Bette Davis: Larger Than Life’

Judging a book byits cover could not be more gratifying than with a quick glance at the imposingcoffee-table book Bette Davis: LargerThan Life (Running Press) by film historians Richard Schickel and GeorgePerry. That imperiously sardonic face from AllAbout Eve, gazing defiantly from a brilliantly colored cover at theunsuspecting browser, provides a tantalizing challenge. Just the briefestglance at the wondrous selection of color photos, largely from Hollywood's genuinely “golden years”(1938-1946), compels the viewer to turn a browse into a purchase.

Distinguishing thislatest addition to the Daviscanon are the arrestingly brilliant studio stills, many rarely seen, and theWarner Bros. posters that heralded every new picture of the screen's greatestdramatic star. The size of Davis'name often dwarfed the title. In the poster for The Letter, the studio art department fails to conceal theimperious fatalism of her unadorned, unyielding persona or her uniquelook, forever resigned to a potentially hostile world. Poster art couldnot bury Daviswith a glamorous airbrush.

This is not just apicture book, however. Perry gives a substantive biography of Davis' career, including commentaries andphoto art from each of her more than 75 feature films, brilliantly highlightedwith background shots of the star at work. Schickel provides a superbintroduction with one of the most perceptive analyses ever written of Davis' mesmerizing effecton audiences. Schickel surprises by revealing that as a normal boy of his time,interested in Westerns, action flicks and baseball, he found himselfunexpectedly intrigued by this unique lady on screen.

“Underneath thescheming and hysteria was a thwarted masculine willstruggling for autonomy asdoes every developing young boy. There was no one quite like her,” he writes.

Later Schickel willexplain: “Davis was the most highly stylized leading actress in filmhistorythe brisk way she clipped her wordsthe singular pauses betweensyllablesno one took command of the language as she did, bending it to herinner rhythms rather than submitting to its tyrannythe abrupt gestures as ifshe were brushing aside gnats of insincerity and indecision that beset ordinarymortals.”

Larger Than Life is less a testimonial to a famous star than a glowing perspective onfilm artistry at the height of cinematic magic. That so complex a star as BetteDavis, geared for sophisticated audiences, could exert an appeal so universalon that of an average young boy of otherwise typical pursuits remains one ofthe wonders of her mystique. Schickel never wants to lose her, he writes.Neither do we.