All This, and Heaven Too (1940)

Bette Davis and Charles Boyer star in this period romance based on the novel of the same name by Rachel Field. 'All This, and Heaven Too' is speculative but based on an actual scandal that rocked 1840's France and even played a role in the unseating of a King. Davis plays the English nanny to the children of a couple of French aristocracy played by Boyer and Barbara O'Neil. The wife is clingy, obsessive and unpleasant and ultimately someone, likely her husband, ended up killing her. The story takes a very chaste read on the relationship between the master of the house and his children's tutor, likely in part because the novel was written by the great niece of the Davis's characters husband, (they married after the scandal when she fled to America in an attempt to escape notoriety). The story is actually quite good, the two lead performances understated and O'Neil's suitably manic (she got a best supporting actress Oscar nomination out of this). But the whole thing is just too long and too slow, clocking in at 141 minutes. Also forbidden love between 19th century master and servant, I feel like I've encountered this plot too often ('Dragonwick', 'Jane Eyer'). Both luscious and lame. Capably directed by Lithuanian born Anatole Litvak, but could have really used a more empowered editor. A 15 year old June Lockhart plays one of the daughters in an early role. **