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The Little Foxes Overview:

The Little Foxes (1941) was a Drama - Romance Film directed by William Wyler and produced by Samuel Goldwyn.

SYNOPSIS

The third of Davis's portrayals of icy women for director Wyler (the others were Jezebel, 1938, and The Letter, 1940), and perhaps the finest, though she never thought so herself and clashed constantly with the director on the set. Davis manipulates, blackmails, and finally needles her husband (Marshall) to an early grave in one of the boldest portrayals of avarice ever put on-screen. When her brothers come to her needing money for an exploitative business scheme, she sends for Marshall, who's recuperating from a heart attack. The would-be mill owners realize they'll never see the money from their principled brother-in-law and resort to stealing bonds from him. Davis seizes the opportunity to blackmail her brothers, and when her husband foils her scheme, she ignores his cries for help as he suffers another attack. Scripted by Hellman from her play (though with help from Dorothy Parker, among others), and with justly renowned camerawork by Toland, who also shot Citizen Kane (1941). Here, Toland employs the same deep-focus techniques that made Kane a cinema breakthrough. Hellman's prequel is Another Part of the Forest (1948).

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

Academy Awards 1941 --- Ceremony Number 14 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best ActressBette DavisNominated
Best Supporting ActressPatricia CollingeNominated
Best Supporting ActressTeresa WrightNominated
Best Art DirectionArt Direction: Stephen Goosson; Interior Decoration: Howard BristolNominated
Best DirectorWilliam WylerNominated
Best Film EditingDaniel MandellNominated
Best Music - ScoringMeredith WillsonNominated
Best PictureSamuel Goldwyn ProductionsNominated
Best WritingLillian HellmanNominated
See More Oscar Winners

The Little Foxes BlogHub Articles:

Screening of "The Little Foxes" at Daystar Center July 24

By Stephen Reginald on Jul 23, 2018 From Classic Movie Man

Screening of "The Little Foxes" at Daystar Center July 24 The Little Foxes (1941) Where: Daystar Center, 1550 S. State Street, Room 102 When: July 24, 2018 Time: 6:30 p.m. Hosted by Stephen Reginald During the turn of the 20th century in the Deep South, the Hubbard family is fighting ... Read full article

The Little Foxes (1941, William Wyler)

By Andrew Wickliffe on Mar 25, 2017 From The Stop Button

The most impressive things about The Little Foxes are, in no particular order, Bette Davis’s performance (specifically her micro expressions), Patricia Collinge’s supporting performance, director Wyler’s composition, director Wyler’s staging of the narrative (adapted by Lillian Hellman from ... Read full article

The Little Foxes (1941): the Melodrama for Our Political Moment

By Judy on Jan 28, 2017 From Cary Grant Won't Eat You

I found it eerie watching Regina (Bette Davis) plotting with her brothers in a story described by a contemporary reviewer as a “grim and malignant melodrama.” Certain themes kept surfacing that read like today’s headlines: mistreatment of minorities, disregard for others’ hea... Read full article

The Little Foxes (1941): the Melodrama for Our Political Moment

By Judy on Jan 28, 2017 From Cary Grant Won't Eat You

I found it eerie watching Regina (Bette Davis) plotting with her brothers in a story described by a contemporary reviewer as a “grim and malignant melodrama.” Certain themes kept surfacing that read like today’s headlines: mistreatment of minorities, disregard for others’ hea... Read full article

Classic Films in Focus: THE LITTLE FOXES (1941)

By Jennifer Garlen on Apr 11, 2016 From Virtual Virago

The Little Foxes (1941) reunites stars Bette Davis and Herbert Marshall with director William Wyler after their collaboration the previous year in The Letter (1940), in which Davis had also played a morally bankrupt wife who wrecks Marshall's life. The original stage version of the play by Lillian H... Read full article

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The Little Foxes Quotes:

Regina Giddens: You're a good loser, Ben. I like that.
Ben Hubbard: Well, I say to myself, what's the good? You and I aren't like Oscar. We're not sour people. I think that comes from a good digestion.
[Regina giggles]
Ben Hubbard: Until one loses today, and wins tomorrow. I say to myself, years of planning, and I get what I want. And then I don't get it... But I'm not discouraged. The world's open for people like you and me. There's thousands of us all over the world. We'll own the country some day. They won't try to stop us. We'll get along.
Regina Giddens: [Amused] I think so.
Regina Giddens: I hope you die!, I hope you die soon!, I'll be waiting for you to die!
Ben Hubbard: [From his balcony] Mornin', Regina.
Regina Giddens: Really, Ben! You look very silly in your nightgown. You shouldn't show yourself.
Ben Hubbard: That's why I never got married. I shall dress and come over for breakfast with you and Alexandra.
Regina Giddens: No, don't. I hate conversation before I've had something hot.
Horace Giddens: Maybe it's easy for the dying to be honest. I'm sick of you, sick of this house, sick of my unhappy life with you. I'm sick of your brothers and their dirty tricks to make a dime. There must be better ways of getting rich than building sweatshops and pounding the bones of the town to make dividends for you to spend. You'll wreck the town, you and your brothers. You'll wreck the country, you and your kind, if they let you. But not me, I'll die my own way, and I'll do it without making the world worse. I leave that to you.
Regina Giddens: I was lonely when I was young. Not in the way people usually mean. I was lonely for all the things I wasn't gonna get.
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The Little Foxes Facts
According to 'Reel Facts: The Movie Book of Records', Goldwyn had to pay Warners $385,000 for Davis' services.
Herbert Marshall had lost a leg in WWI. The scene where Horace crawls up the stairs is done by a stunt man. Marshall takes the role until he walks towards the stairs, but is hidden by a curtain for a moment. That was where the switch was made.
Teresa Wright's debut and her first Oscar nomination.
"The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on August 6, 1945 with Bette Davis, 'Charles' Dingle' and Teresa Wright reprising their film roles.
Warner Brothers loaned Bette Davis to RKO for the role of Regina Giddens.
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