Movie Review: Jezebel

Jezebel is about Julie Marsden (Bette Davis) who is engaged to Preston Dillard (Henry Fonda). She is a spoiled, wealthy young woman (perhaps a teenager), living in 1852 New Orleans. From the take of things, she is an orphan as she lives with her Aunt. She is spoiled, but also complex. She definitely has an adventurous side as her first appearance on screen is her riding a horse that will only obey her commands. She is late to her own party and has little regard for tradition. She walks into her own party in riding cloths while everyone else is dressed for a Southern party. And when it comes to Preston, she wants to make sure she has him around her finger. The two of them are supposed to go to a fitting for the Olympus Ball, but he is busy in a bank meeting. She walks right into the bank (which based on the looks of the customers is taboo) and demands that Preston come and talk to her. He does, but tells her that he simply can't go with her. In a bit of fury, she goes to the fitting and instead of buying the traditional white dress, she goes with a red dress. 

Her family as well as Preston are shocked that she wants to wear a red dress to the Olympus Ball, but she insists that she wishes to go in red. When they arrive at the ballroom, the crowd immediately rejects the couple. When on the dance floor, they are soon left alone as the rest of the couples move to the side. Julie sees that she's made a serious blunder and begs Preston to take her home, but he refuses, figuring -- I suppose -- that this is a way to teach Julie to be less spoiled. The Olympus Ball is more than just a social blunder, it also ends the engagement. 

Preston moves to the North (business related to the bank) and Julie remains secluded in her home, avoiding all contact. The movie shifts to 1853 and there is the start of a Yellow Fever outbreak. Julie and her aunt move to Halcyon Plantation, which seems to be her property via her deceased parents. Preston also returns to the city and a homecoming party is set at Halcyon Planation. A group of friends show up, including Buck Cantrell (George Brent) who is a rejected suiter of Julie's. The reason for the party goes beyond a homecoming. It is meant as a way for Julie to win back Preston's heart. Unknown to her, Preston got married and he brings his wife, Amy (Margaret Lindsay) to the party. 

On the fly, Julie schemes to break up the marriage. It backfires greatly when a duel is set between Buck Cantrell and Preston's brother. Julie knows that her plan has backfired, but can't convince Buck to just accept an apology. (At this point, Preston had to leave the party early and return to New Orleans and so wasn't around to put a stop to it all.) Buck Cantrell is known to be very good at the duel and he quietly admits to a friend that he has no intention of killing Preston's brother. Unfortunately, the brother did not know the situation and via an apparent lucky shot, kills Buck. Those around know that Julie is to blame for this outcome.     

News then arrives that Preston has taken ill with Yellow Fever. Julie immediately heads back to New Orleans, having to go via the cover of night as there is a quarantine and no one is allowed to and from the city. Preston has been taken to her house and so she goes to tend to him. Later, Amy and the others show up (having been given a pass). By this point, Preston is about to be taken to Lazaret Island, which is a leper colony. Amy intends to go with him, but Julie requests to take her place. Julie tells Amy that as she is from the North she would have no idea how to deal with Southern customs and would actually cause more harm than good in caring for Preston. Amy relents and Julie heads off to the leper colony with Preston. 

In this time of COVID-19, one of the first things I did after watching this movie was to see if there really was a 1853 outbreak of Yellow Fever in New Orleans. In fact, there was an outbreak. One in twelve people in New Orleans died that year.

At least two of the methods used in the movie to deal with Yellow Fever were accurate (even though they perhaps sound silly). The city fired cannons and burned tar in an attempt to clean the air of the disease. 

Now was their really a Lazaret Island? From what I can tell via this article, the answer is no.  But that was probably symbolic for Carville Leprosarium in Baton Rouge. There was also a believe that Yellow Fever was connected to Leprosy. The article doesn't indicate that those suffering from Yellow Fever were taken to Carville Leprosarium, but at the least the movie was indicating the believed connection of the two diseases at the time.

What about the movie? I loved it, but in the back of my mind I couldn't help but think, "Isn't this just a rip off of Gone with the Wind? Julie is Scarlett -- they're probably around the same age. Preston is Ashley. Buck is Rhett. Both movies take place in the South. One twist is that in Gone with the Wind, Scarlett is more attracted to Rhett (though also to Ashley) while Julie is most definitely attracted to Preston and just uses Buck as a pawn. But then, of course, Jezebel was made in 1938 while Gone with the Wind came out in 1939. But Gone with the Wind the book did come out in 1936. To me, I wouldn't doubt that Jezebel was influenced by the book.   

What admittedly might be considered a sexist take of the two movies, both Scarlett and Julie are spoiled teenagers (or perhaps early twenties for Julie). They know that they are the most beautiful young women that are available for marriage and use their sex appeal to the fullest. They shed their spoiled attitude via tribulation. Scarlett has to go through the Civil War. Julie deals with the Yellow Fever pandemic. Yet where is their end destination. To me, both take on qualities of the men they pursue. Scarlett takes on the worst of Rhett's qualities, being a shrewd and heartless business woman. Julie takes on the qualities of Preston who has a more kind and thoughtful heart (even though he does embarrass Julie at the Olympus Ball, which was kind of her fault anyways).

To me, the movie is about redemption: that making an error in judgement that results in huge negative consequences and living through horrific events can change someone in positive ways.