The Bad Sister (1931) on Netflix
Marianne Madison falls for Valentine Corliss, a con artist who came to her town looking for people to swindle. Her sister Laura loves Dr. Dick Lindley, who does not love her back.
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- Netflix3.1/5
- IMDb6.1/101,729 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
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Plot summary
Marianne Madison finds her small-town life dull, and the men around her compete for her attention, among them Dr. Dick Lindley and the portly Wade Trumbull. Her younger sister Laura is quiet and unassuming and loves Dr. Lindley, who does not return her feelings. While out with the doctor, Marianne runs into Valentine Corliss, a swindler in search of fresh marks, and she pretends to know him and leaves her date to go home with him. Their father, Mr. Madison, is a well-respected man in the town, and the sisters live at home with their parents and their young brother Hedrick.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Bad Sister (1931)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Bette Davis had to change a baby in one scene of Bad Sister, and the fact the infant was a boy was kept secret from her. When she undid the diaper, she was so embarrassed her face reddened enough to look deep gray on the black-and-white film.
- The film marked the screen debuts of both Bette Davis and Sidney Fox, and Fox was billed over Davis even though both were making their first screen appearance.
- Nervous about her appearance in her first feature film, Bette Davis consulted studio makeup chief Jack Pierce, who told her her eyelashes were too short, her hair a nondescript color and her mouth too small, and who compared her face to a fat little Dutch girl's. Their meeting left her anxious and lacking self-confidence.
- Bette Davis and her mother attended a preview of Bad Sister in San Bernardino, California, where the actress was so distressed by her own performance that they left before the final credits and she cried all the way home, certain her Hollywood career was over.
