Jezebel (1938)

Academy Awards, USA 1939

Winner Oscar	Best Actress in a Leading Role Bette Davis On 19 July 2001 Steven Spielberg purchased Davis' Oscar statuette at a Christie's auction and returned it to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This was the second time in five years Spielberg did so to protect an Oscar from further commercial exploitation.
	Best Actress in a Supporting Role Fay Bainter
Nominee Oscar	Best Picture
	Best Cinematography Ernest Haller
	Best Music, Scoring Max Steiner

Warner Bros.
Directed by William Wyler
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Warner Bros.)

Headstrong Bette Davis defies convention by wearing a red dress to a ball in New Orleans. The fallout includes her fiance, Henry Fonda, leaving her. A year passes and Bette has had time to reflect and regrets her decision. However, when Fonda visits with his new wife she is silently enraged. Her plan to get revenge by goading Fonda into a duel goes awry and results in the death of her new admirer. When Fonda comes down with yellow fever, she drops everything to take care of him, even going with him to an island where he is quarantined, and presumably she may die as well. Another triumph for Bette, who excels in her role as the southern aristocrat with an attitude, though her change of heart at the end doesn't really work.