Tonight I watched a film called "Payment On Demand" (1951), starring Bette Davis as the ambitious, domineering wife of a corporate lawyer who breaks the news to her shortly after the movie begins that he wants a divorce. I found this title in a library search for actor Barry Sullivan, who we recently saw in "Forty Guns", and who plays the husband in this case. The opening credits roll with saturated black and white photography on an exterior shot of a beautiful East Coast home, not quite a mansion but close. A sleek, rounded automobile from the style of the early 1950s comes up the long driveway as lush, sweeping string music plays to set the emotional tone.
Once again, it seems we are going to be in Douglas Sirk territory, and we will be, but the story - directed by Curtis Bernhardt - will play out with a blunt show of cruelty that Sirk would never have included because of the spiritual nature of his themes.
As the movie opens, Davis and Sullivan are getting ready to go out for the evening. She had arrived home early to meet her daughter's boyfriend, who she disapproves of. This is Bette Davis at her highfalutin' bitchiest. By the time her husband Sullivan gets home, she is hurrying him to get ready for the party they are scheduled to attend. She nags him on every detail as he gets dressed, and it is clear something is bothering him.
Finally he lets go. This is an excellent performance by Barry Sullivan, and he doesn't blow his top but releases his frustration in a way that suggests he is somewhere in between a complete wimp and a man in control of himself and his household. Slowly, as Davis pulls on his bow tie to get it finished so they can leave for the business-oriented party, Sullivan deflates, but as he does so he gains confidence, blurting out his hidden truth to Davis that he wants out of the marriage.
She is Absolutely Shocked, in classic and haughty Bette Davis fashion.
How could this man, who she pushed to the top, want to leave her?
Much of the story is thereafter told in flashback sequences. We see that Davis and Sullivan were once poor farm kids. She was raised by an Aunt who detested her own boyfriend (Sullivan), just as she later would detest her daughter's beau. At the beginning of their marriage, while they were still establishing themselves, they truly were in love, but then Bette Davis' materialism took over. No amount of money or accomplishment was enough. Barry Sullivan is happy with being a well regarded lawyer and doesn't need, nor want, any more money or acknowledgement. What he wants is a happy family life that includes their two young adult daughters.
Bette Davis keeps pushing for more "success", until he ultimately breaks the news of his desire for a divorce. The news comes down hard and cold, and the plot takes off from there.
I must say that it gets brutal. This is Sirk with the gloves off.
The story is very well written and includes a subplot where Bette Davis hires a Private Eye to track Sullivan's moves with a suspected girlfriend. Davis wants to trap him into a situation where she can prove marital infidelity, and even though it is clear that Sullivan is a harried husband and a good man, and has been driven to his current condition, he is shown no mercy by his wife.
She feels that she made him as a businessman. When they got married, he was a talented lawyer but had no acumen nor desire for riches. She wanted it all, though, and pushed him to go for the heights. And when they got there, it ruined their relationship, because it was all based on her unconscious drive for stature, as she had begun life as a poverty stricken orphan. ////
Sounds pretty depressing, right? And as I said, it is a brutal story. It is told in a very elegant way, however, which is why I have compared it to the films made by Douglas Sirk, who directed what might be called "heavenly tragedies".
Now, you know that Bette Davis the actress was never going to let herself be cast in that way. She could be a tragedienne, but not without asserting herself and getting in the last word, which she does here, after a long drawn out final act where she discovers what it is like to be alone and to no longer have power over her husband.////
I am not an expert on her career, but I am surprised that "Payment On Demand" is not mentioned when critics review Davis' work. Actually, I had never even heard of this film until I did my search on Barry Sullivan. I find this somewhat inexplicable, as the movie has a 7.4 rating on IMDB, and is a first rate melodrama on all fronts. The storyline includes many other relationships between characters I haven't mentioned, including a lot of catty ladies who try to falsely commiserate with Davis after they gleefully learn of her bad news.
This script is one of those I have talked about in the past when I mention the high level of writing in the Golden Era. To write in such detail and to tie all the ends together and do it with depth takes a very big talent, and this is what Bruce Manning and director Bernhardt did here.
Great actors need great writing to work from. In "Payment On Demand", they had it.
It isn't a pretty story, and you may not feel uplifted when you watch it (and you may need a Martini).
But boy is it ever powerful, and also a cautionary tale as well.
Two Very Big Thumbs Up, with a special nod to underappreciated actor Barry Sullivan, who turns in a low key performance that has high impact. ////
Before I sign off, a shout out to Elizabeth. I saw your post on Instagram and am glad to hear that you are making another film. I had thought you were gone from social media because you hadn't posted since last Fall, but at any rate, I know it will be a success. I hope you will post more updates, if you can. :)
That's all I know for tonight. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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