Bette Daviss bravura, moving-but-never-morbid performance as Judith Traherne, a dying heiress determined to find happiness in her few remaining months, remains a three-hankie classic. But that success would never have happened if Davis hadnt pestered studio brass to buy Dark Victorys story rights. Jack Warner finally did so... skeptically. Who wants to see a dame go blind? he asked. Almost everyone: Dark Victory was Davis biggest box-office hit yet and garnered Academy Award nominations for 1939s Best Picture, Actress and Original Score (Max Steiner). A socialite discovers she has a terminal brain tumor, and falls in love with her doctor despite the negative prognosis.
