Best Bette Davis Movies Colorized — Hollywood’s Greatest Actress in Color

The Best Bette Davis Movies Colorized — Hollywood’s Greatest Actress in Color

Bette Davis was the most fearless actress in Hollywood history. She didn’t care about looking beautiful — she cared about being real. With those enormous eyes, that staccato delivery, and an intensity that could burn through the screen, Davis created characters who were scheming, suffering, loving, and destroying with equal conviction. No actress before or since has matched her range.

Our Bette Davis colorized collection brings her greatest black-and-white performances to vivid life. See the bitchy brilliance of All About Eve in the amber glow of Manhattan parties. Watch the Southern gothic horror of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? in decaying color. Experience the elegant cruelty of The Little Foxes. Davis’s performances are volcanic — in color, they’re even more powerful.

Every Bette Davis classic is available as an instant HD digital download for €15.

🏆 Bette Davis — The Essential Films, Ranked

1. All About Eve (1950) — ★ 8.2 — The sharpest dialogue ever written. Davis as Margo Channing, a Broadway star being undermined by a seemingly devoted fan (Anne Baxter). “Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night.” Joseph Mankiewicz’s masterpiece about ambition, aging, and the theatre. Davis is magnificent — acid wit barely masking deep vulnerability.
2. Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) — ★ 8.0 — Davis and Joan Crawford — real-life rivals — as sisters trapped in a decaying Hollywood mansion. Davis’s Baby Jane is grotesque, pathetic, and terrifying. Crawford’s silent suffering is equally powerful. The pet parakeet scene is cinema’s most disturbing lunch. Grand Guignol at its finest.
3. The Little Foxes (1941) — ★ 7.9 — Davis as Regina Giddens, a Southern matriarch so ruthless she lets her husband die at the foot of the stairs rather than fetch his medicine. William Wyler’s deep-focus compositions make the family mansion feel like a trap. Lillian Hellman’s script is razor-sharp. Davis has never been more chillingly controlled.
4. Now, Voyager (1942) — ★ 7.8 — Davis transforms from a repressed, dowdy spinster into a confident, beautiful woman — and finds love with a married man (Paul Henreid). The double cigarette lighting scene became one of Hollywood’s most iconic romantic gestures. “Don’t let’s ask for the moon — we have the stars.” A woman’s picture that’s genuinely powerful.
5. Mr. Skeffington (1944) — ★ 7.6 — Davis as a vain socialite who marries a wealthy man (Claude Rains) she doesn’t love, then watches her beauty fade over decades. A sweeping drama about vanity, loyalty, and what matters when everything else is stripped away. Davis aged herself decades for the role — without vanity, without compromise.
6. The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942) — ★ 7.5 — Monty Woolley as a cantankerous celebrity who breaks his hip and tyrannizes his hosts while Davis plays the long-suffering secretary who finds romance. A wickedly funny comedy based on Alexander Woollcott. Davis shows her comic chops alongside one of the great ensemble casts.
7. The Petrified Forest (1936) — ★ 7.5 — Davis as a dreamer working at an Arizona gas station who meets a wandering intellectual (Leslie Howard) and a notorious gangster (Humphrey Bogart, in his breakout role). A stage adaptation that still crackles with ideas about art, violence, and the death of the American frontier.
8. The Letter (1940) — ★ 7.5 — Davis shoots a man dead on a moonlit rubber plantation, then claims self-defense. But a letter exists that tells the real story. William Wyler’s adaptation of Somerset Maugham’s thriller uses deep shadows and tropical heat to create suffocating tension. Davis’s controlled performance is masterful — you never know what she’s really thinking.
9. Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) — ★ 7.5 — Davis as a Southern belle haunted by a decades-old murder. Olivia de Havilland replaced Joan Crawford (who dropped out) as the cousin who may not have Charlotte’s best interests at heart. A Southern Gothic thriller with Grand Guignol twists. Davis is both pitiable and magnificent.
10. Dark Victory (1939) — ★ 7.4 — Davis as a spoiled socialite diagnosed with a brain tumor who finds meaning in her final months through love (George Brent) and friendship (Humphrey Bogart, Ronald Reagan). The final scene — Davis going upstairs to die, alone and brave — is one of the most moving death scenes ever filmed.

📁 More Actor & Director Collections

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Directors: William Wyler (Davis collaborator) • John Huston

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Bette Davis considered the greatest actress of the Golden Age?

Davis refused to be decorative — she demanded complex, flawed, even villainous roles when studios wanted actresses to be pretty and agreeable. All About Eve (1950) features her most iconic performance as aging star Margo Channing. The Little Foxes (1941) shows her chilling portrayal of Southern greed. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) is a horror masterpiece of sibling rivalry.

Which colorized Bette Davis film should I watch first?

Start with All About Eve (1950) — Davis delivers quotable dialogue with razor-sharp precision in this backstage drama. For Southern Gothic intensity, The Little Foxes (1941) is riveting. For camp horror, Baby Jane with Joan Crawford is unforgettable.

How does colorization change the experience of Bette Davis films?

Davis was famous for her expressive eyes and dramatic physicality. Colorization adds a new dimension to her performances — the pallor of fear, the flush of rage, the carefully chosen wardrobe colors that reflect character. The Little Foxes gains Southern atmosphere with warm earth tones. All About Eve reveals the theatrical glamour of Broadway backstage life.

What was the Bette Davis and Joan Crawford rivalry?

The greatest feud in Hollywood history reached its peak when Davis and Crawford co-starred in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962). Their genuine animosity fueled performances of terrifying intensity. The film revitalized both careers and spawned a new genre of psychological horror starring aging stars.

What collections should Bette Davis fans explore next?

Explore more: Drama Movies, Film Noir, William Wyler (directed The Little Foxes), Audrey Hepburn, and Humphrey Bogart. Browse all 95+ curated collections.

Colourised Classic Movies

Watching from the UK, Ireland or Australia? Our colourised classic movies are the same professionally restored catalogue — more than 2,750 colourised films from Hollywood's Golden Age and world cinema, each an instant DRM-free HD download.