In This Our Life

(John Huston, US 1942, 97 min., 35mm)

Olivia de Havilland. In This Our Life, the second feature by the great director John Huston, had the misfortune of arriving very shortly after his legendary debut, The Maltese Falcon, and thus remained forever in the shadow of that quintessential film noir. Unjustly so, because this eponymous adaptation of the 1942 Pulitzer Prize–winning novel by Ellen Glasgow is a superb romantic melodrama. It sees the director tackling serious issues in a mature way that most people associate only with the latest phase of his illustrious career. Olivia de Havilland shines as a humble younger sister to spoiled and sinister Bette Davis who runs away with de Havilland’s husband, causing misery and misfortune for everyone around her.