Pun Salad

A lot of famous movie-making names in this 1940 movie: William "Ben Hur" Wyler directed, the screenplay was by Howard "Casablanca" Koch, and the music was by Max "Also Casablanca" Steiner. And it had the incomparable Bette Davis. And it was nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture.

And yet, I didn't care for it at all. Not sure what's going on there.

Ms Davis plays Mrs. Crosbie, the wife of the manager of a British rubber plantation in the Malay peninsula. The movie opens with her emptying a revolver into the back of one Geoffrey Hammond, who has (for some reason) worn out his welcome at the Crosbie's bungalow, while Mr. Crosbie is out of town.

The remainder of the movie involves Mrs. Crosbie's efforts to not hang for this offense, despite the fact that what happened is bleedingly obvious to everyone save Mr. Crosbie. Unfortunately her exoneration is cast into doubt by (guess what) "The Letter" she sent to Hammond, which is now in the hands of Hammond's Eurasian "wife", the very pissed-off Gale Sondergaard.

It's 95 minutes, but seems to be much, much longer. We keep seeing shots of the moon getting obscured by clouds, and more shots of the moon getting revealed again. I think this may be Symbolism.

Mrs. Salad did not appreciate me pointing out "She's got Bette Davis eyes." Maybe because I did it about 20 times.