The only reason I can think of as to why Bette Davis chose to star in this movie is that she would be able to not only tackle another unsympathetic (but not villainous) role and in the second half of the film, age credibly as her character sinks into the results of her shallowness.
MR. SKEFFINGTON is an odd title for this movie, since for the most it is about Fanny Trellis (played by Bette Davis) who's in every frame of the film where nothing of relevance happens for a time, other than seeing her with suitor after suitor, looking striking, and neglecting her husband Mr. Skeffington (Claude Rains). The movie falters in giving Davis' character so much screen time because her character is for the most part, too eccentric and just too brittle to warrant that amount of attention, but Davis was a huge actress at the time and Oscar nominated year after year. She was obviously at a position to ask and be given unto her, and in creating the stage for her character's downfall, she occupies so much screen time and does little more than pout, preen, and talk about "bone structure" which is essential for a woman to maintain her beauty. It can be irritating at times, but the story does have a payoff and a moral and it unveils itself, such as her wrinkles towards the end of the film.
This is a reverse NOW VOYAGER. Fanny Skeffington elicits no sympathy even when her inner ugliness surfaces late in the movie at a dinner party thrown to her former lovers, now married to women who see he for what she is: a shell of her former self. Davis, it seems, in aging her character, gave us a preview of what she would look like twenty years later in WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? It could also be noted that the way she forces us to look into her diphtheria-ravaged face was a way of her acting her subconscious disdain towards prettier actresses and by doing so, cement her own status as an Actress Capable of Big Roles. While all that is good, it can be too much at times, and for the most part, MR SKEFFINGTON spends too much time in the conceit that a vain woman, aged beyond her years, will be brought to her knees and her senses, especially when her long neglected husband is the only person who will love her for herself. If it weren't for the solid support that Davis gets from Claude Rains and Marjorie Riordan, this would be a nearly insufferable movie.
MR. SKEFFINGTON is an odd title for this movie, since for the most it is about Fanny Trellis (played by Bette Davis) who's in every frame of the film where nothing of relevance happens for a time, other than seeing her with suitor after suitor, looking striking, and neglecting her husband Mr. Skeffington (Claude Rains). The movie falters in giving Davis' character so much screen time because her character is for the most part, too eccentric and just too brittle to warrant that amount of attention, but Davis was a huge actress at the time and Oscar nominated year after year. She was obviously at a position to ask and be given unto her, and in creating the stage for her character's downfall, she occupies so much screen time and does little more than pout, preen, and talk about "bone structure" which is essential for a woman to maintain her beauty. It can be irritating at times, but the story does have a payoff and a moral and it unveils itself, such as her wrinkles towards the end of the film.
This is a reverse NOW VOYAGER. Fanny Skeffington elicits no sympathy even when her inner ugliness surfaces late in the movie at a dinner party thrown to her former lovers, now married to women who see he for what she is: a shell of her former self. Davis, it seems, in aging her character, gave us a preview of what she would look like twenty years later in WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? It could also be noted that the way she forces us to look into her diphtheria-ravaged face was a way of her acting her subconscious disdain towards prettier actresses and by doing so, cement her own status as an Actress Capable of Big Roles. While all that is good, it can be too much at times, and for the most part, MR SKEFFINGTON spends too much time in the conceit that a vain woman, aged beyond her years, will be brought to her knees and her senses, especially when her long neglected husband is the only person who will love her for herself. If it weren't for the solid support that Davis gets from Claude Rains and Marjorie Riordan, this would be a nearly insufferable movie.