Plot Intro
New York City, the 1840s. Wealthy heiress Catherine Sloper (Olivia de Havilland) is a delicate, innocent little thing with a good heart but her widowed father (Ralph Richardson) finds her tedious, unremarkable, and a mere shadow of her mother, whom he idolises. With the encouragement of her gossipy Aunt (Miriam Hopkins), Catherine makes a connection with an exceedingly dishy young man called Morris Townsend (Montgomery Clift). Townsend is infatuated with her and declares very quickly that he wants to marry her. But when Catherine’s father interviews Townsend, he discovers that Townsend is penniless but evidently enjoys the finer things in life. Her father becomes convinced Townsend is only after Catherine’s substantial dowry and sets out to protect her from him. But is he correct? Or is he underestimating Catherine’s appeal? And will Catherine submit to him or rebel against him?
Do you know what? I sat down to watch this, slightly dreading it. The blurb on the back of the DVD suggested another Gaslight, full of abuse and crushed women, and I’m just sick of films showing women being destroyed by men. But we are loyal to the project and so we watched it.
And reader, it was brilliant. It’s almost a stage play in how subtle and without major plot points it is. In fact throughout, very slight things happen but the impact of them is conveyed by a uniformly excellent cast and wonderfully under-written scenes. Having watched florid melodramas several times during this project, coming to a piece that felt modern in writing and performance was a real treat.
It’s also one of the few so far in which I felt deeply for the lead female character. Catherine Sloper (de Havilland) is so cripplingly shy that her father (besotted with the memory of his dead wife) openly dismisses her as unattractive and dull to other people and in one horrendous scene to Catherine herself. Her much nicer aunt Lavinia still shoves her towards the handsome suitor Morris without any sense of danger. Everyone around Catherine has a view on her, and it’s only part of the way in that we realise we don’t really know what Catherine thinks about herself. And then the suitor reveals himself as a fortune hunter…
This film raises so many questions - about parental responsibility and one’s own freedom to navigate life as one chooses. Throughout, Catherine grows stronger culminating in a climax that is also the end of the film. Not to spoil, but a moment when Morris is howling and bashing at the door left me completely elated. It’s the catharsis that Gaslight denied us.
And it’s a full on triumph for de Havilland herself. Coming from To Each His Own, de Havilland impresses straight away with her sheer versatility as the two films require completely different performances from her. It’s her utter control over her body language that left me in awe - with a beautifully sparse script, she’s given the opportunity to show you how Catherine feels rather than tell you with turgid speeches. The way she leans, terrified but fascinated, away from the courting Morris captivated me - and then the way she replicates that movement with entirely different feelings of disgust later on shows that de Havilland was very clever. She has several moments of mirroring throughout the film (including the two scenes when she ascends the stairs) when it’s through her body language and ability that we read very different feelings. In an early scene, she stares at her lover from the top deck of her ship and I realised with a jolt that her back was to camera and we could barely see any of her - and yet I knew exactly how she was feeling. That’s a sign of extraordinary talent, and this film, coupled with her performance in To Each His Own elevates de Havilland in my mind to one of the best actresses of her time.
A word on the other performances too - there’s not a single dropping of the ball. The eminent British actor Ralph Richardson as Catherine’s domineering father knows exactly what he’s doing - and his scenes with Catherine are captivating, especially the last scene where she spectacularly calls his bluff. Likewise, Montgomery Clift as the erstwhile Morris plays it very well, so we are never sure whether he is a simple fortune-hunter or not, even in his final scene. Props too to Miriam Hopkins as Lavinia who reminded me of Helen Hayes in her naturalistic, thoughtful performance that never rang false. Even the small parts of the maid Maria (Vanessa Brown) and Mrs Montgomery (Betty Linley) are elegantly performed with truthfulness and a refusal to overact in the style of the time.
We’re left too, with the uncertainty of what actually happened. Does Morris care on any level for Catherine? Will Catherine be happy in her future? But these questions left unanswered only strengthen it. All we see is a woman who has in her own words been taught cruelty, shrug off the controlling hands of the men around her and make her own decisions - triumphantly ascending the stairs. For me, this is the best film I’ve seen since watching Parasite last year. I finished it exhilarated.
Olivia de Havilland is extraordinary - as Catherine shifts and evolves, she is utterly believable at every stage. She’s backed up by a flawless script and fellow cast - and I love that she picked the director William Wyler, because she clearly chose someone who understood what she and the film needed. She’s joined Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn in my personal list of favourite ‘Golden Age’ actresses from this film alone.
Nothing. This is a remarkable gem in Hollywood’s history.
Mark
10/10
After the hit-and-miss movies of the '30s, we end an astounding decade of Best Actress winners having been treated to works such as Gaslight, Mildred Pierce and the surprising gem, The Farmer’s Daughter. Even the just-under-8-out-of-10 movies such as Johnny Belinda and The Song of Bernadette boasted many highlights. But we end with another absolute gem, and evidence that Olivia de Havilland’s death in July this year truly was a tragedy as one of the last big stars of this era slips away, taking first-hand memories with her.
This was her fourth and last Oscar nomination, and her second win. She also nabbed a Golden Globe and a New York Film Critics Circle Award for this movie too. It’s completely deserved. As Doug says, her body language is so controlled as is her line delivery and the evolution of her character. She’s amusing and charming to begin with and ends up furious, assertive and vengeful but without the more extreme movements of Joan Crawford or the lugubriousness of Ingrid Bergman.
The plot of this may be simple but the character work is complex. Catherine’s father is understandably protective of her and his earned fortune (she’s due to inherit $30,000 dollars a year which, according to IMDB, nowadays equates to nearly $1 million a year), however he is reprehensible in the way he talks down to her, dismisses her talents and makes decisions about her life for her. Townsend is also a very suspicious character. In fact, the film hangs on whether he’s a fortune hunter or genuinely in love with Catherine and Clift’s performance is so good that it’s impossible to tell until all is revealed. It seems crazy to me that Clift didn’t like his performance at all.
Even Catherine, a shining beacon at the centre, evokes mixed feelings. We’re put right by her side from the beginning as de Havilland emphasises Catherine’s good nature but also her comedic timing too. Her innocence isn’t annoying at all, it makes you want good things for her. But her unquestioning infatuation with Townsend makes her very vulnerable and she could have perhaps questioned him a bit more about his life and financial situation. Hell, just a “what do you want to do with your life?” would have sufficed.
The film addresses many hard-to-answer questions. Should we let people make life choices even if it’s a bad choice? Should we spend our fortunes enjoying life or should we be more careful? Who is the real victim - Catherine who has been so sheltered, or Townsend who has evidently not had much guidance in deciding his future? There’s no easy solution presented. No character is fully right or wrong, good or bad. But as audience we are invited to analyse and decide for ourselves, and the ending is, as Doug says, far more cathartic and realistic than the more lauded Gaslight.
The Heiress became the last in Olivia’s long stream of critically acclaimed movies and performances. The same year, she gave birth to her son and took some time off. But her returns to the screen in the '50s and '60s never quite achieved the same success. Her final leading roles were in 1964 in Baby Jane-type psychological thrillers Lady in a Cage (a brilliantly tacky work about a woman stuck in a house elevator while her home is ransacked by criminals) and Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte with Bette Davis. She dabbled in television for some years before retiring but remained recognised and present at award ceremonies. She gained a standing ovation at the 75th Academy Awards in 2003 and became a CBE in 2017.
We have addressed Olivia’s rivalry with her sister Joan Fontaine both in our blog post about Joan and in our blog post about Olivia’s first win. The rumours of this antagonism may be a bit exaggerated (they are siblings after all, it’s not always a warm relationship). However, we do know that there was some rivalry over who wins an Oscar first (Joan won that challenge although Olivia superseded her by winning two). We also know that there was an estrangement for a few years in the late '40s when Joan trash-talked Olivia’s husband to the press. There may even have been an estrangement between Joan and her daughters, who maintained a relationship with their aunt.
But allegedly one of the most damaging moments was in 1975 upon the death of their ambitious mother. She was dying of cancer and Olivia apparently wanted to explore various types of surgery and healthcare but Joan disagreed. Joan claimed that upon the death of their mother, Olivia didn’t tell her (although Olivia had sent a telegram which took two weeks to arrive because Joan was touring with a play). The sense is that animosity remained between the two of them as a result until Joan’s death in 2013.
Never one to shy away from a court case even after her 100th birthday, one of Olivia’s last public actions was a lawsuit against producer Ryan Murphy for her depiction in his series about Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. Olivia claimed it was an inaccurate portrayal and she had not given permission. She wasn’t successful, however, as the court ruled that TV series can embellish historical fact if they wish.
Olivia died in July this year at the incredible age of 104, making her the second longest-lived Best Actress winner after Luise Rainer who also died at 104. She very nearly became our first winner who was still alive, but that title now passes to Joanne Woodward who won in 1957.
There’s a lot to choose from. The themes, the writing, the overall storytelling, the atmosphere. But the film hangs upon strong performances and everyone is giving both nuance and enthusiasm.
For some people the lack of what you might call “action” could be detracting, especially if you prefer the melodrama of Gaslight. This isn’t so much a lowlight, more a warning that this film is heavy on dialogue and character as opposed to shock and twists.
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