1949 Directed by William Wyler
Dull and plain Catherine lives with her emotionally distant father, Dr. Sloper, in 1840s New York. Her days are empty — filled with little more than needlepoint. Enter handsome Morris Townsend, a dashing social climber with his eye on the spinster's heart and substantial inheritance.
Olivia de Havilland Montgomery Clift Ralph Richardson Miriam Hopkins Vanessa Brown Mona Freeman Ray Collins Betty Linley Selena Royle Paul Lees Harry Antrim Russ Conway David Thursby Nan Boardman Loulette Sablon Jack Chefe Ray De Ravenne Marcel De La Brosse Albert Pollet Arthur Dulac Lester Dorr Franklyn Farnum Louise Lorimer Sam Harris Donald Kerr Ralph Sanford Douglas Spencer Dorothy Vernon
L'Ereditiera, 사랑아 나는 통곡한다, 상속녀, Наследницата, L'hereva, Dědička, Die Erbin, Η Κληρονόμος, La heredera, Perijätär, L'Héritière, L'ereditiera, 女相続人, Dziedziczka, Tarde Demais, Moștenitoarea, Наследница, Arvtagerskan, Спадкоємниця, 女继承人
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I love the slow subtlety of Olivia de Havilland’s character arc in The Heiress, particularly in the way she changes her voice in the progression of the film. Her high, shy delivery slowly shifts into something lower, more purposeful, more confident. The mistreatment of her character is maddening in so many ways, even more so because of the fact that so many viewers see themselves in her, myself included. She’s awkward, imperfect, and her worth is wholly underestimated by everyone, but that makes her eventual transformation all the more gratifying. Olivia’s Academy Award was so well-deserved.
(This is a random observation, but another thing I like about this film is how it doesn’t glam up its stars with heavy, 40s makeup. No dark lipstick. No big eyelashes. And you can actually see Olivia’s dark circles come through. So many Old Hollywood period pieces just stick with modern makeup trends with no consideration of the time period or the characters.)
3.8/5
Wow. Went in to the Stanford Theatre expecting nothing more than a classic Hollywood romance starring Olivia De Havilland. Came out, my soul thoroughly licked from the beating William Wyler gave it, my brain dazzled by both the film's sharp critique of the patriarchy and its humane understanding of people's knotty intentions. No one in a Wyler film is a villain; they all have their faults. And yet De Havilland as Henry James’s Catherine may play the most wrongfully wronged woman that classical cinema has ever conjured up, just as Monty Clift may be one of the most ambiguous chestnuts—tough to crack, a mystery unto himself.
I cried during the scene where Liv and Monty have a jig at Liv's…
New York, 1840. Catherine Sloper, bland, shy and repressed heiress, is courted by a handsome young man who intends to marry her. Her tyrannical father, who considers the suitor just a fortune hunter, strongly opposes the relationship. William Wyler realizes, with the help of screenwriters Ruth and Augustus Goetz, a superb adaptation of Henry James' famous novel, where the scenes - exemplary in precision and accuracy - follow one another with fluidity, elegance and narrative effectiveness. The meticulous reconstruction of the image that characterizes The Heiress, in fact, is always functional to represent the multiple psychological nuances of the protagonists, played by a trio of actors in a state of grace. Olivia de Havilland, Oscar winner for this role, is…
80/100
Second viewing, last seen 1995. Man, this is just brutal—arguably more so than its source (meaning James, not the play; I know only the former), which concludes with polite resolve rather than ice-cold retribution. "How is it possible to protect such a willing victim?" Dr. Sloper wonders aloud at one point, ultimately deciding that only an act of deliberate cruelty will suffice; Richardson does a magnificent job of subtly delineating the difference between love and respect, creating a portrait of a man who genuinely and correctly seeks to protect his daughter but can't perceive that the cure will be more destructive than the ostensible disease. (Crucially, Aunt Lavinia is under no illusions about Townsend's character but supports the marriage…
Olivia’s voice drops six octaves in the last half hour and never turns back it’s called ACTINg
"Wouldn't the position of husband-to-defenseless-young-girl-with-a large-fortune suit him to perfection?"
Fussy perfectionist extraordinaire William Wyler proved well-matched at adapting master pedant Henry James' Washington Square to the screen by way of husband-and-wife team Ruth & Augustus Goetz's stage adaptation, The Heiress.
The scenario—unfolding in mid-nineteenth century New York City—tells of the doomed romance between the supposedly unprepossessing Catherine Sloper (Olivia de Havilland) and the undeniably statuesque Morris Townshend (Montgomery Clift). The guileless Catherine and her treacly aunt Lavinia (Miriam Hopkins) are all in a flutter when the insolvent Morris "comes a-courting", but soon enough Catherine's unsentimental father—the illustrious Dr. Austin Sloper (Ralph Richardson)—throws cold water on the budding courtship. Austin regards Catherine as an "entirely mediocre and defenseless creature with not…
William Wyler is one of the most efficient filmmakers who ever lived. Not only did he make a ton of successful and highly rated films, but all of his works have something in common. He is able to get a lot done. Whether he directs a character-driven film (like Roman Holiday) or an event-driven film, (like Ben-Hur) a lot of excellent storytelling is happening. While the story here may not take place over a lot of time, feature many characters, or be centered around many different locations, a lot of excellent character development takes place throughout. We see a lot of tension between Catherine (Olivia de Havilland) and her father (Ralph Richardson). Catherine meets Morris (Montgomery Clift) and they love…
SOME SPOILERS AHEAD
There’s something so incredibly atmospheric about The Heiress in how it captures the emotions of its characters; director William Wyler has a real eye for getting most out of the affluent 19th Century New York setting here, able to transfer the original play onto the screen while still keeping its intimacy, using high contrasts to make for rich shadows and probing spotlights that add an almost gothic tinge to this story of a shy young woman, the upwardly mobile suitor she falls in love with and the cold father who tries to split them apart.
This effect is helped enormously by the filmmaker’s knack for…
