Tearful, but Hard to Believe I’ve seen many films starring the renowned Hollywood actress and two-time Academy Award winner Bette Davis. One of her "Oscars" was for Best Actress in a Leading Role, awarded for her performance in "Dangerous" (1935). Naturally, I was curious to finally watch this film. Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to my expectations—nor did Davis’s acting, to be honest. The story revolves around a fading actress, forgotten by everyone, who sees herself as the cause of every misfortune that befalls those around her. A series of circumstances keeps reinforcing this self-imposed reality, dragging her deeper and deeper into depression. To me, the very premise felt contrived and unrealistic. Of course, life can be stranger than fiction, so I was willing to suspend disbelief, but the way it was handled didn’t convince me. The film seems more interested in bending its plot to fit the needs of the filmmakers rather than telling a believable story. As a result, it all came across as artificial and staged. Davis’s character, Joyce Heath, doesn’t feel authentic either. Instead of inhabiting the role, Davis overacts, desperately trying to project suffering. She tries so hard that it becomes even less believable, leaving me detached from what’s happening on screen. The movie is steeped in soap-operatic melodrama, constantly straining to wring tears from the audience. It doesn’t work—it’s unconvincing, it’s dull, and yet (strangely enough) the film remains memorable for precisely those melodramatic beats. Hardly a plus, though. Films should leave you with something positive or at least something compelling. Davis herself isn’t bad in the role, but she’s utterly unremarkable, as is her character. Which makes her "Oscar" win for this performance even more baffling. Katherine Hepburn and Claudette Colbert, even in their relatively weak films that year, struck me as far more deserving of the title. The plot has no real intrigue and offers no surprises. It trudges along from start to finish with all the excitement of the hands of my wristwatch. The direction is bland and predictable, while the characters feel like the standard archetypes of 1930s cinema, complete with their familiar flaws and predictable problems. "Dangerous" simply didn’t work for me. It pretends to be high drama but falls far short. Everything boils down to the main character’s endless suffering, while others try to help her, and she seems to wallow in her misery instead of seeking change. Life doesn’t move forward that way, and watching her stagnation was frustrating rather than moving. 5 out of 10