In the classic Bette Davis film Jezebel, Davis’ character Julie Marsden shocks society by wearing a red dress to her debutante ball. Her hapless, weakling of a fiance dumps her at the end of the evening – lacking the guts to marry a woman who doesn’t conform. Incidentally, I don’t think that is how we are supposed to perceive their relationship, I think we are supposed to think she had it coming, the shameless hussy! However, when I saw the film my first thought was “you’re better off without that prig.” I often don’t think the way I am “supposed to” about films. Anyway, my idea is that if Julie Marsden has this red dress, Preston might have found some backbone and stayed engaged, they would have married, lived happily ever after and he never would have caught yellow fever – a fitting end for someone who dumps his girl because she wears a shocking dress.
