Fasten your seat belts.Stardust: The Bette Davis Story * Narrated by Susan Sarandon * Premieres May 3 on TCM (1) (Trellis-Coded Modulation/Viterbi Decoding) A technique that adds forward error correction to a modulation scheme by adding an additional bit to each baud. TCM is used with QAM modulation, for example. Ladies and gentlemen, start your TiVos: May is Bette Davis month on Turner Classic Movies. And this original documentary kicks off a cavalcade cav·al·cade n. 1. A procession of riders or horse-drawn carriages. 2. A ceremonial procession or display. 3. A succession or series: starred in a cavalcade of Broadway hits. of eye-popping, cigarette-twirling, ball-breaking fun. Emmy-winning writer-director Peter Jones's homage to Davis runs along at quite a pace, not unlike the diva herself. The montage of film clips, stock footage, behind-the-scenes photos, supporting interviews, written documents, and sound bites builds a portrait of a complex and split character. Davis was indeed a woman divided. She tried to appease her domestic side with a series of hunky hun·ky 1 n. pl. hun·kies Offensive Slang Used as a disparaging term for a person, especially a laborer, from east-central Europe. husbands (four), but in the end admitted that her only enemy was anything that got in the way of her work. The familiar film work is supplemented by numerous interviews with Davis, who often seems to be creating her own legend on the spot. The major notes are covered well: William Wyler's Jezebel Jezebel (jĕz`əbĕl), in the First Book of Kings, Phoenician princess who was the wife of King Ahab and the mother of Ahaziah, Jehoram, and Athaliah. and her first Oscar, Dark Victory (Bette's favorite), the crypto-coming-out story Now Voyager, The Little Foxes, and on to the crowning achievement of All About Eve. As we get to What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? there's some fun Bette versus Joan Crawford rivalry trash. Poor Joan was always a camp object while Bette wasn't afraid of being so perceived and had fun with it all the way to the final travesty of Wicked Stepmother. The gay sensibility is brought home by author James McCourt, Charles Busch, and a gem of a clip of Charles Pierce doing his famous impersonation Impersonation Patroclus wore the armor of Achilles against the Trojans to encourage the disheartened Greeks. [Gk. Lit.: Iliad] Prisoner of Zenda, The . Trivia: Davis's tombstone Tombstone, city (1990 pop. 1,220), Cochise co., SE Ariz.; inc. 1881. With its pleasant climate and legendary past, Tombstone is a well-known tourist attraction. The city became a national historic landmark in 1962. reads, "She did it the hard way." This portrait of her tumultuous life certainly reflects that. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion