Editing Dangerous (1935 film) (section)

==Critical reception==
[[File:Bette Davis.jpg|thumb|right|For her performance, [[Bette Davis]] won the [[Academy Award for Best Actress]].]]

Australian film historian [[John Baxter (author)|John Baxter]] wrote that Davis’ performance "is an incomparable portrayal of human desolation moderating to hope and triumph...the peak of her performance is a brief scene, in which, to escape a storm, she and Francois Tone run to a barn stacked with bales of hay...the couple face each other in the damp, electrically charged air. Davis moves her arms in a gesture of seductive negligence, offers a mockingly companionable half-smile and we understand immediately the combination of sexual desire and malicious contempt for men that is both her mood at the moment and the key to her entire life.

"Epiphanies are rare in the cinema, and it is to Davis' genius alone that we owe this brief insight into the complexities of human behavior. Here is a talent beyond comparison, and nowhere is it more advantageous displayed than in her films of the Thirties."<ref>Baxter, 1974 p. 177</ref>

''The New York Times'' wrote "That Bette Davis has been unable to match the grim standard she set as Mildred in ''[[Of Human Bondage (1934 film)|Of Human Bondage]]'' is not to her discredit. In ''Dangerous'', she tries again. Except for a few sequences where the tension is convincing as well as deadly she fails...Say this for Miss Davis: she seldom lets down."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1935/12/27/archives/at-the-rivoli.html|title=At the Rivoli.|date=27 December 1935|access-date=16 November 2021|website=Nytimes.com}}</ref>

''Variety'' wrote "Laird's dialog is adult, intelligent and has a rhythmic beat. Davis' performance is fine on the whole, despite a few imperfect moments. When called upon to reach an intense dramatic pitch without hysterics, Davis is capable of turning the trick. Yet there are moments in ''Dangerous'' when a lighter acting mood would be opportune."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117790226.html?categoryid=31&cs=1&query=dangerous+bette+davis|title=''Variety'' review|website=Variety.com|access-date=16 November 2021}}</ref>

Writing for ''The Spectator'' in 1936, [[Graham Greene]] gave the film a mixed review. Characterizing the story as "poor, [and] the ending atrociously sentimental", and criticizing Margaret Lindsay's portrayal of Gail, Greene also praised Bette Davis for her portrayal of Joyce, and concluded that the film was "a picture to see for [Bette Davis'] sake"—"unusual, but only because of Miss Davis."
<ref>{{cite journal |last= Greene|first= Graham|author-link= Graham Greene|date= 19 June 1936|title= Dangerous/Big Brown Eyes|journal= [[The Spectator]]}} (reprinted in: {{cite book|editor-last= Taylor|editor-first= John Russell|editor-link= John Russell Taylor|date= 1980|title= The Pleasure Dome|url= https://archive.org/details/pleasuredomegrah00gree/page/81|page= [https://archive.org/details/pleasuredomegrah00gree/page/81 81–82]|isbn= 0192812866}})</ref>