All This, and Heaven Too (1940)

Academy Awards, USA 1941

Nominated Oscar	Best Picture
	Best Actress in a Supporting Role Barbara O'Neil
	Best Cinematography, Black-and-White Ernest Haller

Warner Bros.
Directed by Anatole Litvak
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Bette Davis becomes governess in an unhappy house in Paris. She gets along wonderfully with the children and their father, Charles Boyer. However, his miserable marriage pushes them to the verge of an affair, though they keep a respectful distance. The French press makes a scandal of their appearance together at the theatre, inciting his wife into a rage of jealousy. She is eventually forced to resign and lives in near poverty until Boyer discovers her fate and confronts his wife, leading to tragedy. Boyer, and aristocrat, is protected from the police by French law, but Bette is put on trial. She finds peace only after retiring to America as a schoolteacher. Fatally overlong, this melodrama lacks a sympathetic character, even Bette as the kind governess seems a bit detached. There are too many scenes with cute kids, including an annoying French boy who speaks with a southern drawl. Barbara O'Neil makes the most of her role as the evil wife.