The Hollywood Tirade

Lola loses her temper many times before the final credits, but her best tirade is near the beginning of the movie, where she is constantly thwarted in her attempts to get to work. Surrounded by hangers-on and barking dogs, she vents her frustration in a long, fast-paced speech during which she hardly seems to take a breath, while trying to gather her effects and get out the door. Here is ample proof that Harlow was one of the best screen comics.

Of Human Bondage (1934), Bette Davis
"You disgust me." When Philip Carey (Leslie Howard), says these words, he is rejecting slatternly waitress Mildred's (Bette Davis) seduction attempt. Instantly, he realizes his mistake. She turns from a gooey-eyed lover into a vicious beast. The instant the insult sinks in, her eyes widen, her shoulders rattle back and forth and she launches into a tirade so harsh that it hasn't lost a bit of power to this day.

Davis spits out her lines as if they are bitter seeds. Her eyes bug out and the veins her neck are so strained they look as if they could explode. It is a moment that could be overplayed so easily; everything she does teeters on the edge of absurdity, but she hones in on Mildred's anger with a precision that gives the moment unbearable intensity. This is the moment when Davis became a star; there is nothing else in the movie worth remembering.

There was an uproar in Hollywood when the Academy failed to nominate Davis for best lead actress that year. Her peers honored her by giving her a significant showing as a write-in candidate. The next year she would win for her portrayal of an alcoholic actress in Dangerous, but everyone knew the prize was meant to honor her blistering, brutal Mildred.

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