Bette Davis Collection Volume Three (2008)

To celebrate what would have been her 100th birthday, Warner is releasing the Bette Davis Collection Vol. 3, six films from the '30s and '40s that highlight the star's ferocious talent. Unfortunately, while Davis fascinates, most of these fabled films are a bit of a slog. (I know, heresy coming from a gay man of a certain age.) Lillian Hellman's WWII potboiler Watch on the Rhine feels dated; the melodrama In This Our Life needed King Vidor's touch; and The Old Maid, Deception, and the sumptuous All This, and Heaven Too lack the enduring power of The Letteror Now, Voyager. That leaves The Great Lie, a jaunty sudser enlivened by the great Mary Astor as Davis' romantic rival. Davis not only plays nicely but graciously gives Astor room to roar. Lie: BThe rest: B-