Bette Davis Collection Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Bette Davis Collection Blu-ray Movie Review

The eyes have it.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III October 29, 2025

Warner Archive has been stepping up their multi-disc collection efforts in recent months, and that's very good news indeed for anyone looking to fill up their shelves on the cheap: these low-risk sets simply bundle together a handful of like-minded titles in a space-saving format at wallet-saving prices. For pure value, look no further.

The wide majority of WAC's October collection slate focuses on some of Hollywood's biggest leading ladies including Judy Garland, Bette Davis, and Joan Crawford. This new Bette Davis Collection offers four well-known entries from the beloved star's filmography including 1938's Jezebel, Dark Victory and The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex from 1939, as well as 1940's The Letter. All were released on Blu-ray by Warner Archive and WB within the last decade, so fans can expect consistently good to great A/V presentations and a few interesting extras for each one.

For full synopses and reviews of each film in this collection, please follow the links below.

Jezebel (reviewed by Randy Miller III) - Bette Davis was already no stranger to playing mischievous, unsympathetic characters by 1938, but just the name of William Wyler's Jezebel tells to all you need to know. This caustic melodrama stars Davis as sharp-tongued Southern belle Julie Marsden, whose engagement to banker Preston "Pres" Dillard (Henry Fonda) is a disaster waiting to happen. During preparations for the upcoming Olympus Ball -- a posh social event where unmarried women are expected to wear white dresses -- she passive-aggressively picks out a red one after their most recent argument. It's the latest in a string of petty actions by Julie, who stubbornly wears that fiery dress to the ball but realizes her mistake when the party grinds to a halt. Pres refuses to take her home, dancing alone with mortified Julie as her friends and neighbors gawk in horror. Literally and figuratively, the engagement is over.

Dark Victory (reviewed by Michael Reuben) - "...A huge success for WB in 1939, though it was considered an unlikely prospect. The original play bombed on Broadway in 1934. MGM's super-producer, David O. Selznick, had acquired the film rights but failed, after several years of effort, to get the project off the ground; at different times, both Greta Garbo and Merle Oberon were considered for the demanding lead role. Studio head Jack Warner didn't want to make the film, because he thought no one would want to see a story about a woman who goes blind and dies. But Warner was overruled, and ticket sales were brisk, and the reason for both was one person: Bette Davis."

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (reviewed by Randy Miller III) - Famously plagued by the chilly working relationship between lead actors Bette Davis and Errol Flynn, Michael Curtiz's The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex still ended up being a critical and commercial smash for Warner Bros. in 1939. This very early three-strip Technicolor production, based on Maxwell Anderson's 1930 play Elizabeth the Queen and adapted by Norman Raine and Aeneas MacKenzie, dramatizes the real-life historical relationship between Queen Elizabeth I (Davis) and Earl Robert Devereux (Flynn) while reminding us that bangs can be pretty cute under the right circumstances.

The Letter (reviewed by Randy Miller III) - Leslie Crosbie (Davis) just shot a man six times, and mostly in the back. The deceased is Geoff Hammond, who paid her a visit that night at the rubber plantation managed by her husband Robert (Herbert Marshall), who arrives some time later with a police inspector and her attorney Howard Joyce (James Stephenson). Clearly in distress, she tells all: after a friendly invitation and nightcap, Mr. Hammond professed his love for Leslie before trying to rape her, so she shot him in self-defense with the revolver her husband kept for protection. It's a seemingly open-and-shut case but still needs to go through proper legal channels, so she's placed under arrest until the trial begins. So begins The Letter, whose trajectory is changed by the revelation of that titular item, a copied note whose original was supposedly penned by Leslie herself on the day of Mr. Hammond's death.

Bette Davis Collection Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

For details about each film's 1080p transfer, please follow the review links below.

Jezebel

Dark Victory

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex

The Letter

Bette Davis Collection Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Likewise, for more details about each audio mix, you know what to do by now.

Jezebel

Dark Victory

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex

The Letter

Bette Davis Collection Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This six-disc set ships in a hinged keepcase with separate hubs for each disc. Like other WAC collections, this one simply repurposes existing poster-themed covers as a paneled collage. One or more bonus features, identical to those found on the previous Blu-rays, can be found on each disc. Follow the review links for full coverage.

Jezebel

Dark Victory

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex

The Letter

Bette Davis Collection Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Warner Archive's new Bette Davis Collection is another budget multi-disc release from the beloved boutique label, serving up four well-known entries from the beloved star's filmography in a space-saving set. All were released on Blu-ray by Warner Archive and WB within the last decade, so fans can expect consistently good to great A/V presentations and a few interesting extras for each one. Firmly Recommended, unless you own most or all of them already.