Trailer
Plot summary
New Orleans in 1852: bankers worry that Yankee abolitionists could change how their accounts are handled, and a health administrator keeps moving the yellow fever quarantine line. Julie Marsden, headstrong and used to having her own way, has moved from her house below the fever line into the home of her Aunt Belle. Her suitors include Buck Cantrell, a dandy, and Preston Dillard, the banker she is engaged to, who sits on the committee arranging the Olympus Ball. Busy with the bank, Pres will not leave a meeting to approve the gown Julie is having made. Julie commissions a red satin dress for the ball, though unmarried women there are expected to wear white. The choice scandalizes her friends.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Jezebel (1938)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Bette Davis was offered the lead role of Julie Marsden as compensation for losing the part of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, though David O. Selznick never seriously considered her for it, according to Turner Classic Movies.
- Warner Bros. Pictures wanted Cary Grant to play Preston Dillard, but balked at his $75,000 salary demand and cast Henry Fonda in the role instead.
- David O. Selznick reportedly hired Max Steiner to score Gone with the Wind on the strength of Steiner's work on Jezebel.
