I've been hooked on TCM for years now. I just always remember being a fan of Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant, Errol Flynn, Audrey Hepburn, Katharine Hepburn, James (Jimmy) Steward, John Wayne, and many many more. Around a decade ago, I used to do some reviews of movies I saw on TCM. I figured I'd start it up again. If you're interested, click on through.
The Little Foxes (1941). This is a movie set in the year 1900 Alabama. It revolves around the financial scheming of three siblings: Regina Giddens (Bette Davis), Oscar Hubbard (Carl Reid), and Ben Hubbard (Charles Dingle). The movie starts with the three siblings attempting to convince Chicago business man William Marshall (Russell Hicks) to build a cotton mill in their town. Due to Oscar Hubbard's marriage to Birdie Hubbard (Patricia Coolinge), they have the cotton. Birdie's father was a plantation owner who fell on hard times due to his inability to adapt to a post-Civil War society. Oscar married Birdie specifically with the objective of taking control of the land. Their main argument to Marshall is that labor is much cheaper in Alabama versus another site that is under consideration in Massachusetts.
Each sibling needs to invest $75,000. My Internet research indicates that $75,000 in 1900 is equal to nearly $3 million in 2026. So the total cost is around $9 million. This family isn't crazy wealthy like say current billionaires, but they are definitely well off. They also believe that this investment will turn each into millionaires. Let's say that they would just make a million each, that would be about $40 million in today's dollars. We are looking at generational wealth there (though obviously at some point in time the cotton mill would likely go bankrupt due to international competition), but if the family diversified their wealth they would be fine.
There is an obstacle to their plan. Regina's husband, Horace Giddens (Herbert Marshall) controls the Giddens' wealth. The family needs to convince him to invest his money. Horace is both well off and runs the local bank. It is mentioned that he has $95,000 worth of bonds, which is worth nearly $3.8 million. He likely has other assets included that of owning the bank. Unfortunately, he is of poor health and is in Baltimore for medical care. Regina's daughter, Alexandra Giddens (Teresa Wright), is sent to fetch her father.
Horace arrives back in Alabama, looking in very poor health, but is still mentally sharp. He refuses to go along with the deal, unhappy with what he considers is a scheme to take advantage of the town's population. He appears to understand that yes, people in Alabama would be cheaper to employ than people in Massachusetts, but he suspects that the three siblings would pay even less than the understood labor cost differences to squeeze every drop of profit from the mill. He declines.
Yet, there is another scheme up the sleeves of the two brothers. Oscar's son Leo Hubbard (Dan Duryea) works at Horace's bank. He doesn't take his job all that seriously, but he is unethical. At one point in time, he took a look into Horace's safe deposit box and realized that his uncle had $95,000 in bonds. Oscar convinces Leo to "borrow" the bonds. The two brothers then tell Regina that they no longer need her money. One of the brothers heads up to Chicago to deliver the money and bonds.
Knowing he is near death, Horace goes to the bank to make changes to his finances. All his paperwork is in that safe deposit box. He realizes that $75,000 worth of bonds have disappeared. He quizzes his wife and realizes that she had nothing to do with the theft. Instead, he realizes that his wife wants to hold this against her brothers and take a larger ownership stake. He does not like this at all and tells his wife that his decision is that he'll tell the brothers that he considers this a loan. When he dies, his assets will be split between his wife and daughter. The wife will be expected to be repaid the $75,000 and everything else would go to his daughter. Though he doesn't exactly like his wife, $75,000 would still make her the equivalent of a multi-millionaire. One would assume he is also going to leave behind millions to his daughter so this is definitely not a poor family. Regina blows up at him and tells him that she married him when he was just a clerk, because she saw potential and that he has fallen far short of her expectations. Hmm, he became the equivalent of a multi-millionaire during his lifetime with a start of a bank clerk (similar to Leo's current job) and she believes he fell short of expectations. Okay.
There is plenty of additional scheming that occurs in this movie and Regina is quite the villain and Bette Davis has fun playing the character. Based on what I read, she purposely used make-up that made her look 10 to 15 years older. And also gave her a look of a schemer.
This movie is a commentary on how greed (not just good business sense that Horace has) can take you down the wrong path. Not only does it have you make highly unethical decisions, but it can also lead to situations where you break the law. Also, conflicts arise between Regina and her daughter Alexandra (as her ethics more align with the father).
I would say that 75% of the movie is filmed within the confines of the Hubbard house. There are two stretches of the film that occur outside the house. There is the part of the film where Alexandra is off to get her father and their return trip. There is also the scene where Horace heads to the bank. This requires the business combatants of this movie to remain in close proximity to each other. Back stabbings and evil conspiring are all done either within inches of each other or between the two floors.
The Narrow Margin (1952) clocks in at only 71 minutes. If I recall correctly, the TCM commentary to the movie mentioned that Howard Hughes (the movie was produced by RKO, which he owned) liked the movie, but wanted it re-shot with better known actors. So it ended up on the shelf for two years before finally being released.
Similar to The Little Foxes, the movie takes place in tight quarters. The Little Foxes is in a house while a significant portion of The Narrow Margins takes place on a train. The movie has scenes where characters are trying to squeeze past each other in the narrow train hallways.
The basic story line is about a Detective Walter Brown (Charles McGraw) who must escort Frankie Neall (Marie Windsor) from Chicago to Los Angeles via train. Neall is the former wife of a now deceased mobster. She is carrying a list of individuals who worked with her husband. She is also supposed to testify in court about that list. And hey, she has an attitude of someone who has interacted way too much with the criminal underground.
Along the way, including as Brown and Neall are making their way to the train, various mobsters attempt to murder Neall. There are also attempts to bribe Brown to give up Neall. There is plenty of intrigue going on as Brown does his best to deceive the mobsters that are out to get Neall. It is a similar movie to Midnight Run (1988), but less amusing and much shorter. The fact that this movie occurs in the limited confines of a train heightens tensions.
Playing an important role in the movie is a character named Ann Sinclair (Jacqueline White) and her son Tommy Sinclair (Gordon Gebert). They are also on the train and come under suspicion as the widow of the mobster due to the fact that Brown interacts with Sinclair in the dining car. She is a far more refined individual than Neall.
I don't think there are any philosophical themes to the movie -- other than maybe should a cop take a bribe -- but you don't need that in this movie. It just has you on the edge of your seat, wondering how the detective will get his witness into court.
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