MamaGravity good back-story, and good acting

Dotbankey A lot of fun.

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

haddesah I must confess I love the old movies ... love the glamour and drama! The dialogue and acting may be bad, but there is still something enchanting about them all... maybe its just the deep respect and awe I have for all the old Hollywood movie stars, after all we would not have the great actors and movies we have today if it had not been for the great stars of yesterday! Love Bette Davis, love the expressions on her face. This is a good old black & white movie that I enjoyed. When you want to watch something completely different with over-the-top drama & acting, something a little more innocent & gentle then the violent movies of today, then curl up on your most comfortable chair or sofa, with a cup of tea or coffee and enjoy.I did have a good giggle to myself tho, as here in South Africa they have rated this movie from 1941 as '18'.... can u believe it!! WOW!! I wonder what kind of old movie it would be that they rate for '13'?? LOL!

sdave7596 "The Great Lie" released in 1941, was made at the height of Bette Davis' fame at Warner Brothers. It's not a very well-known film, and it also stars Bette's frequent co-star, George Brent, and Mary Astor is on hand as well. The three principle stars get mixed up in a sort-of love triangle. George Brent plays Peter, a playboy of sorts, who marries Sandra (Mary Astor) a vain, self-centered pianist. They marry on a whim, find out the marriage is not legitimate; so Peter, realizing he still loves Maggie (Bette Davis) then marries her! Wow...after aviator Peter flies to Brazil and is assumed dead, Sandra discovers she is pregnant. Being that she is career-focused and about as maternal as a rattlesnake, she agrees to allow Maggie to raise the baby. Well, lo and behold, Peter turns up after a year, not dead at all. Maggie lies to him and tells him the baby is hers. Sandra shows up, agrees they had a bargain, but now that Pete is alive, well, she wants him back and the baby. What to do? What saves this improbable and somewhat ridiculous story is the performances of Bette Davis and Mary Astor. Astor clearly has the more delicious part, playing a totally self-absorbed diva and throwing off catty one-liners at Davis. Bette plays her part as more maternal and traditional, but she is not above giving Astor an occasional look that could kill. This film, while certainly not great, shows the real talent of Bette Davis. One of her genuine strengths as an actress was to be able to take the occasional mundane scripts Jack Warner threw at her and turn them into something real. There are also able supporting performances by the reliable Hattie McDaniel and Lucile Watson as well. Worth checking out just to see Davis and Astor go at each other a couple of times.

Neil Doyle The only familiarity this BETTE DAVIS character has with all the other screen portrayals she did at Warner Bros. is that she smokes like a chimney. Davis and MARY ASTOR both consume lots and lots of tobacco while struggling to put some life into a silly plot that has them squabbling over rights to GEORGE BRENT.For a change, Bette is the good gal and Astor is the villainess, a very glamorous looking concert pianist who gets the ripest dialog and sometimes the best camera shots. It's no wonder Astor was able to walk off with an Oscar for her "Best Supporting Performance." As for GEORGE BRENT, he's more relaxed than usual and doesn't seem to mind the fact that his role is much smaller than the two females. Even HATTIE McDANIEL gets a supporting role larger than his as Violet, the maid who sounds an awful lot like Mammy from GWTW.Edmund Goulding has directed the whole soap opera style story with restraint, allowing Astor to have her tantrums with style. Davis merely watches from the sidelines as Astor plays some piece of goods as the arrogant, vain and self-centered pianist.Hovering in the background are CHARLES TOWBRIDGE, JEROME COWAN, LUCILLE WATSON and other Warner contract players who have almost nothing else to do but watch and listen.Some nice concerto music is a bonus, but the story is strictly third-rate soap opera and not even Davis and company can overcome all the suds.

bkoganbing The Great Lie in its own way is quite daring for the time. There were not too many films in which motherhood was seen as a burden rather than a sacred obligation. In that sense Warner Brothers was taking quite a chance with this film.The one thing I don't understand is Bette Davis taking the role of the noble one in the triangle that involves her with George Brent and Mary Astor. Astor's part is clearly the showier one which she proved by taking home the Best Supporting Actress for 1941. Perhaps it was simply a matter of screen time and that Davis was not going to be in support of anyone.Be that as it may, The Great Lie involves a possible lie to come when a certain infant comes of age. George Brent's got both these women on the string. He marries Mary Astor who is a renowned concert pianist in a whirlwind courtship as soon as the ink on her divorce became dry.Turns out it wasn't quite that dry yet. But nature taking its course Astor gets pregnant. But before she and we find that out, Brent whose marriage to Astor was technically invalid runs off with Davis who's a member of the rich Maryland horsey set.Later on Brent goes missing in a plane crash in the Amazon rain forest and Davis comes up with a marvelous proposition. If Astor will give up the kid when it's born, she'll raise it as her own. Astor who is career minded to the last exponential degree agrees to this until Brent finds his way out of the rain forest.The Great Lie is one potboiler melodrama which is lifted above its worth by these two women. Davis does what she can with the part, though I think she would have been better as the pianist. But Mary Astor just dominates the film. Her performance is the best thing by far in The Great Lie. This was the pinnacle year in Mary Astor's career. She also co-starred in 1941 in her best known screen part, that of Brigid O'Shaunessy in The Maltese Falcon. Given the mores of the time there are only certain directions this plot can take. The Great Lie would be one great flop, but for Bette and Mary. See it for them.