Talk about your tour-de-force. Ms Davis dominates a talented cast and expensive backdrops as the vainglorious Southern belle Julie / Jezebel of the piece, cowing her spiky fiancé Henry Fonda into allowing her to wear a scandalous red dress to the ball where the great and the good are all in attendance to pass judgement on her misplaced show of bravado. A mortified Fonda toughs it out in one of the most memorable scenes as the universally white - frocked female dancers vacate the floor, too affronted to share space with Davis, with the aftermath seeing Fonda move away and bring back a year later a Yankee wife. Davis's reaction to this and her ultimate sacrifice as redemption, when she later tends to fever - infected Fonda at the movie's climax encompass the main plot to this grand old piece of Hollywood costume drama. There are some disaffecting matters here though, particularly the patronising of the southern negro, all "yes'm'" and "clap yo' hands" - even if this is the way old Dixie treated its coloured inhabitants it's still painful to view the coarse stereotyping. Allowances made for this, this is a compelling showpiece for Davis, whose physical and emotional energy drive the film along. Watch out for the justly celebrated scene as Davis drops a magnificent curtsy to Fonda in a grand show of humility - in her huge white dress, you almost think she drops through a trapdoor.