Ed Sikov's new biography of Bette Davis, "Dark Victory," is for people who love old movies and great acting. Readers who adore celebrity life stories and Hollywood dish will be sorely disappointed.

Sikov puts Davis — the brilliant, often belligerent actress — front and center.

His Davis is not the hard-drinking New Englander of "My Mother's Keeper," the "Mommie Dearest"-like tell-all that Davis' daughter B.D. Hyman published in 1985.

Sikov's attitude is crystal clear: Davis (1908-1989) is important because of her work on screen, not her personal life.

He is the rare biographer of a female subject who does not fixate on how the woman fulfilled or failed in her maternal duties. (In Davis' case, she had a son to whom she remained close, a handicapped daughter who was a challenge, and Hyman, to whom she left nothing in her will.)

"Victory" is an opinionated exploration of Davis' film career. She won two Academy Awards: in 1935 for "Dangerous" and in 1938 for "Jezebel."

Practically every movie, director, producer, conflict, co-star and performance is discussed in rich detail. "Of Human Bondage," "Jezebel," "Dark Victory," "All About Eve" and "Now, Voyager" are addressed, as are scores of less significant and, frankly, less interesting movies.

Sikov touches on Davis' childhood, active sex life, drinking, four marriages and tormented relationship with her father, but these details are secondary.

The author of biographies of Billy Wilder and Peter Sellers, Sikov makes a compelling case that despite her stylized mannerisms and clipped diction, Davis was an actress of genius in a way other stars such as Joan Crawford never were.

Sikov is particularly perceptive in detailing how Davis' focus on her career and her ferocious hunger for good parts put her in constant, exhausting conflict with Hollywood's male producers and directors.

He admires her ferocity. Davis' refusal to shoehorn herself into traditional, socially sanctioned female roles on screen is why she became such an icon for gay men, Sikov says.

He writes, "She had, more than any other performer I have ever studied, a blazing ability to imprint herself onto every character she ever played — to make me believe in those fictive characters while never letting me forget that I was watching 'her,' a calculating actress, an intuitive star."

Film buffs, this one's for you.