Jezebel

In antebellum New Orleans, Julie Marsden is a headstrong young woman engaged to banker Preston Dillard. After a quarrel, she defies the city's social rules by appearing in a red dress at a formal ball where unmarried women are expected to wear white. The gesture humiliates Preston, who ends the engagement and leaves for the North. He later returns with a wife, Amy, at a time when yellow fever is sweeping the city, and Julie finds her chance to prove her feelings for him. William Wyler directed, and Robert Buckner, Abem Finkel and Clements Ripley wrote the screenplay.

The film stars Bette Davis as Julie, with Henry Fonda as Preston, George Brent as Buck Cantrell, Margaret Lindsay as Amy, Donald Crisp as Dr. Livingstone and Fay Bainter as Aunt Belle Massey, among a credited cast of 48. It was released on March 26, 1938, runs 103 minutes and was produced by Warner Bros. Pictures on a budget of one million dollars. It stands fourth among the 22 films Wyler directed in chronological order, between Dead End and Wuthering Heights.

Audience response has been positive over the decades: on IMDb it holds 7.4 out of 10 from around 16,000 votes, while on TMDB it rates 7 out of 10 from far fewer voters. A critics' rating of 7.6 out of 10 from 23 reviews places it slightly above the audience scores.