Mr Skeffington
Mr Skeffington
From a novel of the same name by “Elizabeth”, the film begins in 1914, with Bette Davis cast as vain, flighty society woman Fanny Trellis. Informed by Jewish-American financier Job Skeffington (Claude Rains) that her brother Trippy (Richard Waring) has stolen money to pay his gambling debts, Fanny marries Job, securing his promise that he won’t prosecute her thieving sibling. 1
In 1914, in New York, Fanny Trellis (Bette Davis) is a shallow futile selfish woman surrounded by suitors and without any other preoccupation but her beauty. Her brother Trippy Trellis (Richard Waring) wasted the fortune of the family. When he fakes business in stock market and embezzles US$ 24,000.00 commission from the Skeffington Bank, the wealthy Job Skeffington goes to Trellis’ house to charge the amount back and meets Fanny. He falls in love for Fanny and she marries him to save Trippy. Fanny gets pregnant, but her selfishness destroys their marriage and they divorce. Many years later, when Fanny has diphtheria and loses her beauty, she realizes that a woman is beautiful only when she is loved. 2 The plot centers around their loveless marriage and Fanny’s aging. Skeffington loves Fanny, though she all but ignores him. She enjoys playing the wealthy socialite, stringing along a series of unsuitable and much younger lovers. Lonely, Skeffington finds solace with his secretaries. When Fanny finds out, she divorces him, conveniently ignoring her own behavior. Her daughter, also called Fanny (Marjorie Riordan), prefers her father and begs him to take her with him to Europe. When he agrees, Fanny is relieved to be free of the encumbrance. Fanny has a series of affairs, spending the extremely generous settlement Job has left her and neglecting her daughter, whom she does bother to see for years. 4 In the early 1900s, spoiled Fanny Trellis (Bette Davis) is a renowned beauty, with many suitors. She loves her brother Trippy (Richard Waring) and would do anything to help him. When Fanny learns that Trippy has embezzled money from his stockbroker employer Job Skeffington (Claude Rains), she marries the lovestruck businessman in order to save her brother. 3 Skeffington is imprisoned in a German concentration camp for being Jewish, where he is blinded. He survives the war, but is left penniless. However, when he visits Fanny, he is unable to see the effects of old age on her and still sees her as the beauty she once was. This suits a wiser, more compassionate Fanny very well. Job once told Fanny that, “No woman is beautiful until she is loved.” Their life-long friend, and Fanny’s cousin, George Trellis (Walter Abel) tells Fanny that, at that moment, she has never been more beautiful. And at long last, she realizes the truth of it. 6 But then, fate lends its hand. Fanny’s cousin, George, tells her that Job has returned. He has been in a concentration camp, and is not in good shape. He wants to see Fanny. Fanny however, doesn’t want Job to see what’s become of her. But with much pleading from George, she agrees to see him. When she reaches Job, she discovers that he is blind. So no matter how she looks, Job will always love her, and remember her for the beauty she had. But Fanny realizes that looks are not important, because of what Job said many years before: “A woman is beautiful only when she is loved”. 7 The 1950 Oscar for Best Picture went to Joseph L. Mankiewicz’ sardonic look at show business glamour and the empty lives behind it. Bette Davis is veteran actress Margo Channing; Anne Baxter is Eve, her understudy desperate for stardom. 10 Director Vincent Sherman (*1906) is still alive. He turned 99 on July 16th, 2005. He had worked before with both, Bette Davis and Claude Rains. He had directed Bette Davis in The Old Acquaintance and played a small role as an actor alongside Claude Rains in the Broadway theatre play, The Good Earth. Sherman and Rains became good friends and met once or twice a month. 9
