Review of The Great Lie (1941) by Daniel A — 18 Jul 2011

Just recently British soap opera Eastenders produced its most successful (and controversial) plotline in years based around a baby-swap scenario. Well 70 years earlier Warner Brothers were way ahead of them; The Great Lie is pure soap opera, featuring sham marriages, unwanted pregnancies, and two razor sharp women at each other's throats, but in many ways it was well ahead of its time.

Davis and Astor provide the backbone of the film, while Astor has the baitier role (as proven by her Oscar win) it is Davis for me who has rarely been more likeable a screen presence than here. She lights up the screen without exception, and plays the good girl just as brilliantly as the she did the bad girl that most will remember her as.

The film's biggest weakness however is its script which was notoriously rewritten during filming, yet still contains a number of poorly concocted and frankly confusing exchanges. Overall however this is another entertaining melodrama in the Davis canon, which any fan of either the star or the genre should make time for.