Production
Tallulah Bankhead starred as Judith Traherne in the 1934 Broadway production, which ran for 51 performances at the Plymouth Theatre.
In 1935, David O. Selznick wanted to cast Greta Garbo in Dark Victory, but Garbo chose to play the lead in Anna Karenina instead.
Dark Victory was the eighth on-screen teaming of Bette Davis and George Brent. Davis had recently ended affairs with William Wyler and Howard Hughes and her husband Ham Nelson had filed for divorce, and after the first few days of filming she begged to be released from her contract, claiming she was too sick to continue. Producer Hal Wallis responded, "I've seen the rushes—stay sick!" She found comfort with Brent, who had just divorced Ruth Chatterton, and the two embarked on an affair that continued throughout filming and for a year after.
The tune, "Oh, Give Me Time for Tenderness" sung by Judith was written by Edmund Goulding and Elsie Janis. The voice of Vera Van was dubbed for Davis.
Another scene for the ending was filmed but ultimately deemed anticlimactic and not used. After Judith's death, her horse was seen winning a race, and her stablehand Michael (Humphrey Bogart) was shown crying. The scene met with negative response with sneak preview audiences and was cut.
The film premiered at Radio City Music Hall.
Read more about this topic: Dark Victory
Famous quotes containing the word production:
“The production of too many useful things results in too many useless people.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“The myth of unlimited production brings war in its train as inevitably as clouds announce a storm.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“The growing of food and the growing of children are both vital to the family’s survival.... Who would dare make the judgment that holding your youngest baby on your lap is less important than weeding a few more yards in the maize field? Yet this is the judgment our society makes constantly. Production of autos, canned soup, advertising copy is important. Housework—cleaning, feeding, and caring—is unimportant.”
—Debbie Taylor (20th century)