The Heiress
Directed by:
William WylerCinematography:
Leo ToverComposer:
Aaron CoplandCast:
Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift, Ralph Richardson, Miriam Hopkins, Vanessa Brown, Ray Collins, Mona Freeman, Betty Linley, Selena Royle, Sam Harris (more)Plots(1)
Directed with a keen sense of ambiguity by William Wyler, this film based on a hit stage adaptation of Henry James’s Washington Square pivots on a question of motive. When shy, fragile Catherine Sloper (Olivia de Havilland, in a heartbreaking, Oscar-winning turn), the daughter of a wealthy New York doctor, begins to receive calls from the handsome spendthrift Morris Townsend (Montgomery Clift), she becomes possessed by the promise of romance. Are his smoldering professions of love sincere, as she believes they are? Or is Catherine’s calculating father (Ralph Richardson) correct in judging Morris a venal fortune seeker? A graceful drawing-room drama boasting Academy Award–winning costume design by Edith Head, The Heiress is also a piercing character study riven by emotional uncertainty and lacerating cruelty, in a triumph of classic Hollywood filmmaking at its most psychologically nuanced. (Criterion)
(more)Reviews (3)
At the beginning was Henry James' famous novel "Washington Square" (1881), which was followed by the Goetz play "The Heiress" (1947). The film is therefore the result of a careful selection of material and its examination over time. Olivia de Havilland made the most of the good material for her second Oscar and revisited it in a radio dramatization... As such, The Heiress is one of the influential classics that have been lucky enough not to age. Because profiteering, naivety, and condemnation have still not disappeared...
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All the while, one watches the seemingly forgettable story, which, of course, distinguishes from similar melodramas mainly through beautifully written and acted characters (all of them!)... And then comes the end, strong and courageous and righteous, and it is simply clear that The Heiress is a 100% gem. In addition, it will also put ideas into people’s heads, because you will ask yourself if the whole thing could have turned out differently and whether you would have done the same or not. And I like that.
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Olivia de Havilland delivers another captivating acting performance. She is a unique actress who is excellently supported by Montgomery Clift, a great actor of his generation, who may look like a fool but is able to portray great roles, as he already demonstrated in the film "Red River". I was a bit disappointed by the period setting, but it is true that it suits the story, at least in the style in which it was told.
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