Dark Victory,  released in 1939, was a daring movie for its time. it depicted its heroine, Bette Davis, dying of a brain tumor. The film blended romance and realism so successfully that it is still a model for movies about death and dying today.
    Bette Davis drew upon every mood she had ever expressed—insouciance, impatience, anger, passion, acquiescence. She worked hard at the role, reveling in a story that, according to her account, she had actively campaigned for. She also benefited greatly by the professional talents of director Edmund Goulding and screenwriter Casey Robinson and a supporting cast that included Humphrey Bogart.

    Bernard F. Dick is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Fairleigh Dickinson University. He has written several books, including Anatomy of a Film (1978) and Billy Wilder (1980).
    Tino Balio, Professor in the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, is the author of United Artists: The Company Built by the Stars, United Artists: The Company That Changed the Film Industry, and the editor of The American Film Industry as well as the 22 volume Wisconsin/Warner Bros. Screenplay series, all published by the University of Wisconsin Press. He directed the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theatre Research from 1966 to 1882.

• Contents 
• Foreword
• Balio, Tino
• Introduction: The Fine Art of Dying
• Dick, Bernard F.
• Illustrations
• Dark Victory
• Notes to the Screenplay
• Production Credits
• Cast
• Inventory