DennisHinSF This is a soaper supreme that has all the makings to be overwrought and overdone. But surprise! Bette Davis and Mary Astor yank the material to the A level, and their scenes together simply crackle with tension, and subtext. It's amazing how their presence (and creative input no doubt) take what could have been maudlin, and make it something You don't want to miss! And the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto throbbing in the background certainly doesn't hurt. Astor won a well deserved Oscar for her role and said Bette's input was a major reason why, having insisted the part be built up and polished. Just watched it again a few hours ago, and man, was it fun! Make sure you see it, and I'm not going to spoil it for you by giving away plot details!

evanston_dad I've been in showers that didn't have as much soap in them as this hammy sudser from 1941."The Great Lie" is a heap of bullshit given the sheen of respectability by the presence of Bette Davis (looking adorable, by the way) and Mary Astor. Astor is a preening concert pianist who divorces the man with whom Davis is in love, but not before she becomes pregnant with his child. When Davis and the ex-husband (played by George Brent) marry, Davis agrees to take the child and pretend it's hers so that Astor can be free. But then Astor, mostly out of spite, wants the baby back and traps Davis in her lie. Then in the last 30 seconds of the movie, Astor changes her mind and the whole thing is over.I can certainly have fun with melodrama under the right circumstances ("Now, Voyager" anyone?), but his cornball of a film is too much to bear. Astor is quite a bit of fun, I'll grant that, and she won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for acting spoiled and petulant. But her performance isn't quite enough to recommend watching the entire movie. Maybe tape it and fast forward just to the scenes with her in them. (Sorry Bette. I love you, but you were in about a billion other things that were better than this so you'll forgive me if I suggest that people give you a pass).Grade: C

calvinnme This one hits all of the right notes, is perfectly paced, and perfectly performed and directed.Maggie (Bette Davis) and Pete (George Brent) are engaged or at least have an understanding. However, pianist Sandra (Mary Astor) has her eye on Pete. One night at a party, when Maggie is not in attendance, Sandra and Pete get sauced, and wind up getting married. Pete wakes up the next morning with a ringing headache and resounding regret, but figures he just can't wed and bed the lady and leave, so he resolves to stick it out, even though he never says any of these things. It is all between the lines. Well low and behold Pete finds out that the marriage is not legal, that Sandra's divorce from her first husband was not final until AFTER their wedding. Pete is free technically, but still he wants to do the right thing. He tells Sandra he will meet her at city hall at a particular time to redo this thing legally. But Sandra has a big piano concert she can't miss! Pete holds firm. He will be at city hall at the appointed time or the marriage is off. She does not show up, and Pete leaves skid marks on his way back to Maggie, who is dehydrating herself with all of her tears over Pete's sudden marriage and abandonment of her.Maggie and Pete reconcile, AND they immediately marry. They both want this so there will be no more Pete waking up to any more Sandras hanging around. Some time is given to showing them being happy newlyweds, spending time together doing nothing in particular but being happy while doing it. Isn't that the definition of love? Being happy no matter what you are doing as long as you are with the other person? Well, patriotic duty takes Pete on a aerial mission over South America. It's not that he is in the military, but he is a skilled airman who can get to the remote site safely...only his plane goes down over South America and he is presumed dead. Maggie is devastated at the news, but then up pops Sandra with news of a "little accident" that is on the way from her very short lived marriage with Pete. Sandra has no room in her life for a child, Maggie very much wants Pete's child regardless of the mother, so the two head out to a remote desert spot for Sandra's pregnancy to come to fruition. Here the two enter into a "strange marriage" of sorts with Maggie being the nagging mother hen to an unhappily pregnant Sandra. The kind of nagging mother hen she said she would never want to be to Pete. During this time you get the feeling that Sandra and Pete probably were very much alike with the same impulsiveness and bristling at the idea of discipline, but then it is opposites that often attract is it not? Maggie returns and tells everybody the child is her own by her short lived marriage with Pete. Sandra goes back to her world piano concert tour. Maggie settles into happy single motherhood. And it helps to be rich and have servants in that case too.But then happy news. Pete is alive and well. He's been living with natives in South America and has finally found his way back to civilization and is on his way home. Maggie continues "the great lie" once Pete returns, and he is thrilled to be a dad. But Sandra has heard the news too. And one day she turns up at Pete and Maggie's home. What happens? Watch and find out.Bette Davis and George Brent play wonderfully off of each other. This is probably at least partly because they had a romantic attachment off screen. Mary Astor as Sandra is very convincing as the vengeful woman who never wanted her child, but is glad to act like she does to get Pete back. And she seems to enjoy torturing Maggie as to what her next move will be. Why? You might ask. Because Sandra knows that Pete may have married her at one time when drunk, but he chose Maggie. He still chose Maggie in his heart even after he was married to Sandra. It is never said, but I think Pete wouldn't budge on the date and place for Sandra and himself to remarry because he KNEW she'd say no, that she'd put her career first. This gave him the excuse to get out of the marriage while being able to lay the blame entirely at her feet. This movie may have been made 75 years ago, but this is still the M.O. for most men. If they are with "miss right now" and find "miss right" they will find some way to make "miss right now" leave them, so they do not have to be the bad guy. Some things never change.Some odd facts about this movie. Bette Davis wanted Mary Astor in this film because she was an accomplished pianist, yet apparently all of the scenes of her playing were dubbed. Also, Davis and Astor hated the original script and rewrote it so that it is the accomplished work it became. Highly recommended.

st-shot In the middle of her prime Bette Davis switches gears and Mary Astor races past her in this implausible melodrama that has aged badly-not that there wasn't plenty to complain about it upon release.Pete Van Allen (George Brent) wakes to find he has married piano virtuoso Sandra Kovak. It's clear that since both are career people accommodating each other might be a challenge and Van Allen manages to have the marriage annulled clearing the way for him to marry the more domesticated less shrill Maggie Patterson (Davis). When Van Allen's plane crashes in a South American jungle and Kovak turns up pregnant Maggie demure but resourceful concocts an elaborate scheme to make the baby appear to be her own. Van Allen is eventually rescued and returns home to find out the truth or be deceived by the great lie.You have to jump through a lot of hoops to accept the premise of The Great Lie but Davis and Astor have some terrific scenes together with Davis shockingly less hysterical and the cooler head of the two which allows Astor to walk away with the picture as she brings a bravura haughty elegance to her role. Director Edmond Goulding's camera movement is gracefully impressive in more than one scene and he uses it to great affect when diva Astor sweeps into a room but the story itself remains too far fetched and dragged out to hold together for the duration.