"I Got It When Things Were Cheap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

                             Would you believe, girls, I was not at all familiar with the Bette Davis movie, "Deception," until yesterday???????????  I had heard of it, of course, but had never gone out of my way to see it!  But you really should, dolls, because, let me tell you, it is a hoot!!!!!!!!!!

                                  Inconceivable as it may seem, two things in this film actually upstage Bette!  I kid you not, girls!!!!!!!!!  The first is the set design of Bette's fabulous Manhattan studio apartment!  Just look at that view, from the skylight like picture window!  And I think there is a skylight above, as well.  Forget window treatments; who needs them???????  If things were ever this cheap to get an apartment like this, well, then, girls, I would be  living in the Dakota, right now!

                                   Claude Rains also upstages Bette, and the film loses a lot of juice, after she dispatches him!  His digs are elegant, but not as impressive as Bette's; actually, they look like the Vale house set recycled, from "Now Voyager."  Which would not surprise me a bit, since both this film and that were shot at Warners, and directed by Irving Rapper!

                                      The plot is hilarious.   Get this!  Bette plays a concert pianist (!!!!) who is being mentored and mistressed by Claude Rains!  But, when Paul Henreid, whom she thought had been killed in the war, but, nevertheless suffered much during it, she discovers to be alive, things rekindle, and Claude is out the door!  But this maestro, who plays the role with all the flourish of an outraged dizzy queen, is not to be outdone!  You have to see the wedding party scene to appreciate what a howler this is!  In this scene, dominated by Claude, he becomes, to this story, what Maleficent does to "Sleeping Beauty!!!!!"

                                       And Bette's character's name--Christine Radcliffe!!!!!!!!!!!  Who wrote this thing??? Anya Seton???? Barbara Cartland???? They might as well have!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                       "Deception" is something all my girls should not miss!  You will swoon for that apartment, and Bette's fur coat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                          And a champagne, candlelit wedding, of course!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!