From 1945, this is perhaps one of my favorite Bette Davis films because she plays someone so different from her usual characters. She is a teacher who comes to a small Welsh mining village and finds an extraordinary pupil when she sets up a school for the young boys going into the mines. The older boy is played in a wonderful performance by John Dall. She finds he has a great mind and she desperately wants him out of the mines and into university. It could be yet another melodrama, but the material is better than many Davis films of the 1940s and John Dall's performance raises the movie to a higher level. It's told very simply without much fuss or muss which often were found in Davis' vehicles. It's a great story with great heart, and Davis seems to take a back seat to the material and truly lets Dall shine.

From 1945, this is perhaps one of my favorite Bette Davis films because she plays someone so different from her usual characters. She is a teacher who comes to a small Welsh mining village and finds an extraordinary pupil when she sets up a school for the young boys going into the mines. The older boy is played in a wonderful performance by John Dall. She finds he has a great mind and she desperately wants him out of the mines and into university. It could be yet another melodrama, but the material is better than many Davis films of the 1940s and John Dall's performance raises the movie to a higher level. It's told very simply without much fuss or muss which often were found in Davis' vehicles. It's a great story with great heart, and Davis seems to take a back seat to the material and truly lets Dall shine.