Nonureva Really Surprised!

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

MusicChat It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

kindtxgal One of the best documentaries that I've seen in quite awhile. How can one miss? Such a fascinating biopic of one of the greatest actresses of hers and our time -- then and now! What I appreciate about this hard-nosed, difficult person as she unashamedly was -- was her quiet heart which is portrayed in the fact that she and fellow actor John Garfield created and entirely funded Hollywood Canteen during World War II. I'm glad this documentary touches on that! Also, I sense a kindness in her son Michael which had comes from his love and if anything, respect for his difficult mother -- who tried her best, I think, to be a good mother despite her nature and her career. I would much rather know about this than a back-lashing from a bitter daughter who shadowed her Mom as an assistant in a book akin to Mommy Dearest. Thank you TCM for creating this wonderful documentary on a truly outstanding, wildly talented, amazing movie star to whom nobody other than perhaps Katharine Hepburn can hold a candle to....certainly not any modern actresses that come to mind. Hepburn and Davis fought in the trenches of Hollywood so that actresses today have the voice and power they do. It takes a tough nut to stand up in that world of Hollywood then , AND entertain and awe fans throughout time.

PrometheusTree64 Narrated by Susan Sarandon -- presumably because she's a bit of a Davis lookalike (but a much better voice-over than Anjelica Huston's on the Joan Crawford doc), STARDUST presents a nice, kinda fun, warts-and-all portrait of screen icon Bette Davis.No, few of her peers are still around, so the program has to rely on latter day film actors to provide commentary and opinion, but that doesn't seem to hurt it.The film seems to fairly skewer Davis for her well-documented pathologies, yet defends her from undue slurs (rightly dismissing her daughter's petty 1985 tome, "My Mother's Keeper", nowhere NEAR as intelligent or as responsible a book as "Mommie Dearest").The fresh, sort of melancholy, nostalgic tone keeps the viewers' interest throughout, although there's a relative lack of detail (and it tends to short sheet her post-Warners' career) but that would likely have taken a much longer show. Still, another 20 minutes might have been nice, so that Bette's life after 1949 weren't so truncated.Still, quite watchable, and better than most such efforts on the Great La Bette.

Michael_Elliott Stardust: The Bette Davis Story (2006) *** 1/2 (out of 4)Extremely entertaining documentary on the life and career of legend Bette Davis features countless interviews with the actress from various shows including 60 Minutes and the Steve Allen Show. The documentary runs 90-minutes and I feel an extra half hour would have helped things because the movie quite often jumps around from her film life to her sexual life. We hear about all five husbands but also how many other actresses, including Joan Crawford, ended up hating her because she would sleep with their husbands or boyfriends. I'm really not sure all of the dirt was needed but it's here. Also on hand is discussing about how difficult she was to work with and how Jack Warner eventually had to sue her to get her to work. We get interviews with James Woods, Jane Fonda, Ellen Burstyn, Gena Rowlands and Samuel Goldwyn, Jr.. Vincent Sherman is also interviewed where he discusses how difficult she made shooting their first film together and when he asked to be let go, according to him, Davis took him back to her house for a sexual night. In the end we pretty much learn that Davis had a very rough life style and it probably ended with her being very lonely. After a series of strokes and the heartbreak of her daughter writing a not-so-friendly book, she eventually went on a tour to great acclaim. No matter how tough her life is, there's no doubt she left us with some great films, which is the documentaries main point to get across.

XweAponX ...And how it Broke Bette's heart.I became very interested in Bette after seeing this the first time in 2006 when I came out... Not that I did not already love her as one of my favourite actresses... But because of this documentary, I have changed my opinion of Miss Davis, as not just one of the best, but The Best Actress, ever.And as such, she was never really left a moment's peace in her personal life. However, this documentary shows, that fact never affected Davis work ethic, and she plod on regardless of what was going on with her life.I think the documentary ought to have had a bit more to say about The Hollywood Canteen, a pivotal point in her career, and one that awarded her the highest civilian honour in real life, even above Bob Hope. It is almost like I am proud to be a Davis fan because of what she did for our Servicemen in WWII.A lot of people always measure Davis by the Joan Crawford Yardstick... And the documentary maker here also does that, to a small degree. I think in reality, Davis probably never had the slightest Crawford, but Crawford, who was always combative with the other high profile stars at her studios (aka, Norma Shearer at MGM) - It is almost as if, Since Norma Shearer, who beat Crawford hands down at MGM, retired in 1941... Crawford targeted Miss Davis as her new "antagonist"- Something which I don't think Davis thought of at all, as any Crawford/Davis feud (Or Crawford/Shearer feud) was always more so on the part of Crawford. It is a sad laughable thing about Crawford, not that it makes me disrespect Crawford for it, but Davis just wasn't like that at all, Miss Davis was always more interested in the health of the Film (to the point of micromanaging things) to deal with petty Crawford Feuds.The documentary maker of this, I think could have used better wisdom collecting the filmed anecdotal items: Such as those comments from Davis Former Husband William Grant Sherry's wife (who used to be Davis' nanny - I forget her name, but her name is unimportant, as, the PERSON is unimportant) - I can't believe that the documentary makers would use that particular source of footage- INCLUDING the footage where the woman, if I could loosely use that term woman, just about makes a blanket statement that Bette had something to do with Arthur Farnsworth's untimely death.I appreciate the clips from Bob Osbourne and James Woods... And it is important to show all aspects of the person, but Betty was as complicated as anyone- The film does however show the high level of disrespect of BD Hyman toward her mother, something that shocked me, especially as how Hyman considers herself not just a Christian, but a Minister: And As Such is a very Poor example of one.The tragedy of this documentary are the clips from BD, whose betrayal must have hurt Bette more than anything done to her by anyone else in her lifetime.I am glad that they showed the BD clips, as they show this Girl/Woman, whom Davis loved more than anything... What an inconsiderate Phony "Christian" she was and is, using a "Mommy Dearest" attack to accumulate 100,000 dollars (which is more than the usual sum publishers forked out in those days) which she claims to have used to Christian Ministries: And if I were to tell this BD Hyman anything, it would be that money obtained from the public Disrespect of one's blood Parent... Is NOT money that God has blessed and has put His hand on.This documentary shows this disrespect, and not in a flattering light toward Hyman.Hyman did not consider, that good ministry, IS looked at by the public, and if Hyman's anti-Mom books are considered by Hyman as something God either WANTED, Ordained, or Supported: That She is WRONG and as a Christian I want nothing to do with THAT God, who would allow parental disrespect as a means to access money for so-called Christian Works, and any Minister or Ministry that is FOUNDED on such.I am glad that the original book was laughed off of the shelves by the critics. - Hyman was revealed as a Hypocrite who needs to either shut-up or make it right with her Mother.BD, Your Mother loved you, and you can actually make it right even now.