evanston_dad "Deception" is a handsome and extremely well acted film with a wisp of a plot. Bette Davis and Claude Rains give master classes in the art of doing a lot with not much material. It's three parts women's picture melodrama of the 1940s, with a final quarter that nudges the film into film noir territory. Irving Rapper, who directed Davis, Rains, and the film's other lead, Paul Henreid, in "Now, Voyager" does the directing honors here, and it's striking to me how much chemistry these three actors again generate on screen. Enjoy the film's opulent settings, especially Davis's loft apartment and Rains' baroque mansion.Grade: B

SnoopyStyle Cellist Karel Novak (Paul Henreid) plays to an adoring American college crowd. Christine Radcliffe (Bette Davis) is overjoyed to find him after assuming him killed during the war. Christine claims to be a struggling musician but he is suspicious of her expensive art and furs. She finally reveals that she had taken in rich pupils. She rushes to get married. Rich famed composer Alexander Hollenius (Claude Rains) surprises her at their reception. He seems to be jealous.This really stretches out the reveal and it's not that big of a reveal. It's melodramatic and Bette Davis pushes very hard. The tension is not that high. I would have loved a more shocking reveal and more heat from Henreid. He is a tall stiff and lacks emotional explosiveness compared to the other two leads. His romantic chemistry with Bette is limited. The movie is a little broad which keeps it from being that compelling.

janmanuel2 After a promising beginning, this movie seemed to become tedious. The main reason is that Bette Davis' character behaved in such an idiotic manner. She treated Henreid's character as if he was made of eggshells. All anyone wanted in this movie was the truth. People became separated during the war, and their lives went on - so what! The music was lovely and Claude Rains performance was outstanding as always. I thought Bette Davis' character was so over the top with what might happen, that she began to get on my nerves in a major way. The ending wasn't very satisfactory. In my own mind, I predict that she will start to get on Henreid's nerves, too. Most normal people don't want to be over-protected the way she did to him. Plus he had such gratitude to Rains for what he did for him. Since spoilers can be subjective, I mark them as I don't want to be black listed. I watch pretty much any movie with these three actors in them, but this was a one shot deal for me.

dougdoepke Keeping audience interest with just three players over a two hour time presents a real challenge. But the pro's at Warner Bros. manage to do it, in spades. Of course, it helps having two of the most dominating performers of the time, Davis and Rains, as leads. Watching them play off one another is a real histrionic treat. In fact, was there ever a more detestable egotist than Rains' arrogant composer, Hollenius. His high-falootin' vocabulary just oozes civilized mayhem. Watching him slyly sabotage Novak's (Henreid) career out of jealousy over Christine (Davis) amounts to a brilliant piece of scripting and acting. Then too, he makes that high- class dinner from heck more unnerving than a pop quiz on rocket science. From now on, I'm sticking to tuna on rye.Actually Davis has one of her more sympathetic roles. True, she deceives poor Novak about her affair with Hollenius, but it's to spare him more agony after the horrors of WWII. And when she has finally had enough of Hollenius' abusive manipulations, she understandably puts a hole in him, while he takes a symbolic tumble down the stairs. I was hoping she'd let the tyrant have all six rounds, but I guess that would cross a criminal line barring her from eventual redemption. Anyway, it appears the movie's moral is that there are deceptions and there are deceptions. Christine's are not intended to harm, whereas Hollenius's are, and likely that's why the movie ends as it does.The production is slickly mounted, worthy of Hollywood's so-called Golden Age. The furnishings, costuming, and set design create just the right high-class ambiance. Watching these well upholstered people glide between gilded rooms is a tour most of us never get outside of the movies. Plus, it's a perfect setting for big shark Hollenius to forage in. My only gripe is with poor Gribble (Abbott). Did they have to telegraph his fall guy status with a comical name like 'Gribble'.Anyway, this is a Rains showcase, showing why an actor doesn't have to be physically big to dominate the screen, even when the formidable Davis is on the same screen.