''Mr. Skeffington'' is a 1944 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Vincent Sherman Vincent Sherman (born Abraham Orovitz, July 16, 1906 – June 18, 2006) was an American director and actor who worked in Hollywood. His movies include '' Mr. Skeffington'' (1944), '' Nora Prentiss'' (1947), and '' The Young Philadelphians'' (1959 ...

, based on the 194
novel of the same name
by

Elizabeth von Arnim Elizabeth von Arnim (31 August 1866 – 9 February 1941), born Mary Annette Beauchamp, was an English novelist. Born in Australia, she married a German aristocrat, and her earliest works are set in Germany. Her first marriage made her Countess v ...

. The film stars

Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress of film, television, and theater. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in Hollywood history, she was noted for her willingness to play unsympatheti ...

as a beautiful but self-centered woman who has many suitors but marries Job Skeffington, played by

Claude Rains William Claude Rains (10 November 188930 May 1967) was a British and American actor whose career spanned almost seven decades. He was the recipient of numerous accolades, including four Academy Award nominations for Academy Award for Best Supp ...

, solely to save her brother from going to prison. It also makes a point about Skeffington's status as a Jew in 1914 high society and later in relation to Nazi Germany. Supporting actors include

Walter Abel Walter Abel (June 6, 1898 – March 26, 1987) was an American stage, film, and radio actor whose career spanned nearly seven decades. Life Abel was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, the son of Christine (née Becker) and Richard Michael Abel. Abel ...

George Coulouris George Alexander Coulouris (1 October 1903 – 25 April 1989) was an English film and stage actor. He was perhaps best known for his collaborations with Orson Welles, most notably ''Citizen Kane''. Early life Of Anglo-Greek origin, Coulouris ...

and

Richard Waring Richard Waring (born Richard Waring Stephens; 27 May 1911 – 18 January 1993) was an American actor. He is perhaps best remembered for his role in the film '' Mr. Skeffington'' (1944). Biography Richard Waring was born Richard Stephens in ...

Plot

In 1914, spoiled Fanny Trellis is a renowned beauty with many suitors. She loves her brother Trippy and would do anything to help him. Fanny learns that Trippy has embezzled money from his employer Job Skeffington. To save her brother from prosecution, Fanny pursues and marries the lovestruck Skeffington. Disgusted by the arrangement, in part because of his prejudice against Skeffington being Jewish, Trippy leaves home to fight in the

Lafayette Escadrille The La Fayette Escadrille () was the name of the French Air Force unit escadrille N 124 during the First World War (1914–1918). This escadrille of the History of the Armée de l'Air (1909–1942)#World War I (1914–1918), ''Aéronautique Mil ...

in World War I. Job loves Fanny, but she is merely fond of him and largely ignores him. She becomes pregnant with his child, but when Trippy dies in France, she states she is "stuck" with Job, and the marriage then becomes wholly loveless, continuing only for the child's sake. Job and George Trellis, Fanny's cousin, also enlist but are stationed near home. Fanny enjoys playing the wealthy socialite, stringing along a persistent quartet of suitors who are unfazed by her marriage, as well as much younger lovers. Lonely, Job finds solace with his secretaries. When Fanny finds out, she divorces him, conveniently ignoring her own behavior. Fanny neglects her young daughter (also named Fanny), who understandably prefers her loving father and begs him to take her with him to Europe. Although Job fears for his child and tries unsuccessfully to explain to her the nature of prejudice she will encounter as a Jew abroad, he finally, tearfully and joyfully, says yes. Fanny is relieved to be free of the encumbrance of a child. Fanny has a series of affairs, living well on the extremely generous settlement Job has left her – half his fortune – and hardly giving a thought to her daughter, whom she does not see for many years. She retains her beauty as she grows older (much to the envy of her women acquaintances), but when she catches

diphtheria Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacteria, bacterium ''Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild Course (medicine), clinical course, but in some outbreaks, the mortality rate approaches 10%. Signs a ...

, it ravages her appearance. In denial, she invites her old lovers (and their wives) to a party. The men are shocked (and the women relieved) by how much Fanny has changed, leaving her distraught. Her latest young suitor, Johnny Mitchell, falls in love with her daughter, who has returned from Europe because of the rise of the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

. They marry after only a few months and leave for

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

. Fanny's daughter explains that, while she wishes her mother well, she feels no real love for her, and pities her for discarding the one man who truly loves her. Shortly before her daughter's departure, Fanny suffers the ultimate humiliation when one of her old beaux makes what she at first believes to be a sincere marriage proposal, only to withdraw it when he begins to suspect, incorrectly, that she is no longer wealthy. Fanny is left alone with her maid, Manby. Fanny's cousin George brings Job back to Fanny's home unannounced. The Nazis have left Job penniless and worse, George tells Fanny, and he asks her to be generous. Fanny's vanity nearly prevents her from venturing down her home's grand staircase to see Job. When she does finally enter the parlor, Job moves to her, stumbles and falls: He is blind (due to torture in a

Nazi concentration camp From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...

). Fanny rushes to cradle him in her arms. As she takes his arm and guides him up the staircase, she tells the maid that "Mr. Skeffington has come home." Job had once, long ago, told Fanny that, "A woman is beautiful only when she is loved." George tells Fanny that, at that moment, she has "never been more beautiful." At long last, she realizes the truth of it.

Cast

as Frances Beatrice 'Fanny' Trellis Skeffington *

as Job Skeffington *

as George Trellis, Fanny's cousin *

as Trippy Trellis, Fanny's brother * Marjorie Riordan as Fanny Rachel Trellis, Fanny and Job's daughter, as an adult *

Robert Shayne Robert Shayne (born Robert Shaen Dawe, October 4, 1900 – November 29, 1992) was an American actor whose career lasted for over 60 years. He was best known for portraying Inspector Bill Henderson in the American television series '' Adven ...

as MacMahon, a local gangster * John Alexander as Jim Conderley, one of Fanny's four persistent suitors *

Jerome Cowan Jerome Palmer Cowan (October 6, 1897 – January 24, 1972) was an American stage, film, and television actor. Early years Cowan was born in New York City, the son of William Cowan, a confectioner of Scottish descent, and Julia Cowan, née Pal ...

as Edward Morrison, one of Fanny's four persistent suitors *

Peter Whitney Peter King Engle (May 24, 1916 – March 30, 1972), known professionally as Peter Whitney, was an American actor in film and television. Tall and heavyset, he played brutish villains in many Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, Hollywood fil ...

as Chester Forbish, one of Fanny's four persistent suitors * Bill Kennedy as Bill Thatcher, one of Fanny's four persistent suitors * Johnny Mitchell as Johnny Mitchell, a younger suitor of Fanny's who later marries her daughter. Born Douglas Lamy, this actor changed his name to that of his character. *

as Doctor Byles *

Dorothy Peterson Bergetta "Dorothy" Peterson (December 25, 1897 - October 3, 1979) was an American actress. She began her acting career on Broadway before appearing in more than eighty Hollywood films. Early years Peterson was born in Hector, Minnesota, the ...

as Manby, Fanny's housekeeper * Sylvia Arslan as Fanny Rachel Trellis, Fanny and Job's daughter, at age 10 (uncredited) *

Creighton Hale Creighton Hale (born Patrick Wills Fitzgerald; May 24, 1882 – August 9, 1965) was an Irish-American theatre, film, and television actor whose career extended more than a half-century, from the early 1900s to the end of the 1950s. Career Hale ...

as Casey (uncredited) * Halliwell Hobbes as Soames (uncredited) *

Ethan Laidlaw Ethan Allen Laidlaw (November 25, 1899 – May 25, 1963) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 350 films and made more than 500 appearances on television, mainly uncredited in Westerns, from 1923 to 1962. Laidlaw was born in Bu ...

as Cop (uncredited) *

Jack Mower Jack Mower (September 5, 1890 – January 6, 1965) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 520 films between 1914 and 1965. He was born in Honolulu and died in Hollywood. After studying at Punahou College, in Honolulu, Mower moved ...

as Man (uncredited) * Will Stanton as Sid Lapham (uncredited) *

Dolores Gray Dolores Gray (June 7, 1924 – June 26, 2002) was an American actress and singer. She was nominated for the Tony Award for Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, Best Lead Actress in a Musical twice, winning once. Early life Both her mother ...

as Nightclub Singer (uncredited)

Production

Julius Epstein said "They had four or five scripts that had never been made, including one by

Edmund Goulding Edmund Goulding (20 March 1891 – 24 December 1959) was a British screenwriter and film director. As an actor early in his career he was one of the 'Ghosts' in the 1922 silent film '' Three Live Ghosts'' alongside Norman Kerry and Cyril Chadwic ...

and one by

John Huston John Marcellus Huston ( ; August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics. He rec ...

. We took a look at ''Mr. Skeffington'' and said, ‘First of all, it shouldn’t be English; it should be made with an American family. Secondly, the trick of the book was that its title was Mr. Skeffington, and he never appeared in the book. He should be a character in the movie.’ And it was made." Paul Henreid says he was offered the male lead but turned it down as he felt he would not be convincing as a man who looked on passively while his wife had affairs. According to the 1989 book ''Bette & Joan: The Divine Feud'' by Shaun Considine, Davis was going through intense personal torments at this time, which was reflected in her treatment of co-stars on this film, and several others at the time, culminating in a vicious personal attack. Apparently, while Davis was away from her dressing room, the eyewash she always used after filming the day's scenes had been poisoned, causing Davis to scream out in pain. Director Vincent Sherman, with whom Davis had once been romantically involved, admitted to the detectives investigating the incident, "If you asked everyone on the set who would have committed such a thing, everyone would raise their hand!" Even Bette Davis is quoted as saying "Only a mother could have loved me at this point in my life."

Box office

According to the Warner Bros. records, the film earned $2,456,000 in the U.S. and $1,365,000 in other markets.

Reception

In '' The Nation'' in 1944, film critic and author

James Agee James Rufus Agee ( ; November 27, 1909 – May 16, 1955) was an American novelist, journalist, poet, screenwriter and film critic. In the 1940s, writing for ''Time'', he was one of the most influential film critics in the United States. His autob ...

wrote, "... essentially ''Mr. Skeffington'' is just a super soap opera, or an endless woman's-page meditation on What to Do When Beauty Fades." ''

Leslie Halliwell Robert James Leslie Halliwell (23 February 1929 – 21 January 1989) was a British film critic, encyclopaedist and television rights buyer for ITV, the British commercial network, and Channel 4. He is best known for his reference guides, '' Fi ...

'' gave it three of four stars: "Long, patchily made, but thoroughly enjoyable star melodrama." On Rotten Tomatoes, 57% of seven critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.9/10.

Awards

Bette Davis was nominated for the

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...

for Best Actress, and Claude Rains was nominated for Best Supporting Actor.

References

External links

* * *
''Mr. Skeffington''
on

Lux Radio Theater ''Lux Radio Theatre'', sometimes spelled ''Lux Radio Theater'', a old-time radio, classic radio anthology series, was broadcast on the Blue Network, NBC Blue Network (1934–35) (owned by the National Broadcasting Company, later predecessor of A ...

: October 1, 1945 {{DEFAULTSORT:Mister Skeffington 1944 films American black-and-white films Warner Bros. films Films scored by Franz Waxman Films directed by Vincent Sherman Films set in the 1910s Films based on British novels Films about Jews and Judaism Films set in New York City Films with screenplays by Julius J. Epstein Films with screenplays by Philip G. Epstein Films scored by Paul Dessau American historical drama films 1940s historical drama films 1944 drama films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films English-language historical drama films