The Heiress (Universal Cinema Classics)
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Miriam Hopkins, Montgomery Clift, Olivia de Havilland, Ralph RichardsonBrand: NBC Universal
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; French (Subtitled); Portuguese (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, Dolby, Full Screen, NTSC, Original recording remastered, Restored
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 115 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-02-06
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Universal Studios
Movie Reviews of The Heiress (Universal Cinema Classics)
Movie Review: "No, No, Morris must take hold of me! Morris will love me for all those who didn't!"
Summary: 5 Stars
Since playing Melanie Hamilton in "Gone With the Wind" in 1939, Olivia de Havilland had been steadily burnishing her craft through the 1940's in such films as "Hold Back the Dawn", "To Each His Own", "The Dark Mirror" and "The Snake Pit". With her portrayal of Catherine Sloper in "The Heiress", she reached the pinnacle of her career, graduating to a cinema actress of the highest caliber right up there with Hepburn, Leigh, Davis and Bergman. She deservedly won the Oscar, NY Film Critics Award and Golden Globe as Best Actress of 1949, and this is the performance for which she should be remembered.
The story takes place circa 1850 within the handsome townhouse of eminent Doctor Austin Sloper (Ralph Richardson) located on fashionable Washington Square in New York City. Dr. Sloper is a middle-aged widower obsessed with the memory of his beautiful, accomplished wife who died in childbirth of their only child Catherine (Olivia de Havilland). Now a young woman in her early twenties, Catherine though sweet natured, is plain in appearance, and timid and gauche in public. This is a direct result of her father's continuously holding up the impossible standard of her mother in unfavorable comparison. Although an heiress, with $10,000 per year inheritance from her mother, plus another $20,000 per year upon her father's death, she seems destined for spinsterhood. Then at her cousin's engagement party she is introduced by her well meaning Aunt Lavinia (Miriam Hopkins) to a handsome, young gentleman with a charming manner, Morris Townsend (Montgomery Clift). Over the next several days, he begins an ardent courtship of Catherine; she quickly falls deeply in love with him. However when Morris asks her father for her hand in marriage he refuses. Despite his accomplishments, Morris is poor, without any immediate prospects of employment, and Dr. Sloper suspects him of being a fortune hunter. Catherine with newfound courage refuses to give Morris up, so Dr. Sloper tries delay, taking her on an extended trip to Europe, hoping the separation will cause either Catherine or Morris to change their mind. It doesn't, upon their return, Catherine gently tells her father they will be married soon. Dr. Sloper cruelly tells Catherine what he perceives to be the truth, the only thing she has to offer to Morris is her fortune she has nothing else. Aghast by her father's spite, Catherine realizes he has never even liked her, much less loved her, and her feelings towards him change swiftly to anger and dislike. She plans to elope with Morris that evening, but she tells Morris she will never reconcile with her father, therefore losing the potential inheritance from him, though she still has the annual inheritance from her mother. Catherine is eagerly ready at the appointed time; Morris never shows up, he has jilted her, and she is shattered. However is it because he's indeed mercenary, or he doesn't want to be the cause of her disinheritance, as he tells her years later when he reappears after her father's death?
This is one of director William Wyler's masterpieces; he orchestrates all the various components, acting, writing, cinematography, music, sets and costumes to create a work of screen art. Husband and wife team Ruth and Augustus Goetz adapted the screenplay from their stage play of the same name; it is extremely well written, improving on the source material the Henry James novella "Washington Square." The black and white cinematography by Leo Tover is a subtle rendering of light and shadows, reminiscent of the old Victorian daguerreotypes. John Meehan, Harry Horner and Emile Kuri collaborated on the art and set direction, being very true to the era particularly in the Sloper home which is elegantly but lifelessly furnished and appointed, there is very little warmth, accurately reflecting the austere, dominating nature of Dr. Sloper. The lyrical and poignant musical score by renowned composer Aaron Copland effectively heightens the emotions of the story. Finally, the costumes designed by Edith Head are not just faithful to the period, but in Catherine's case pivotal to her character. All of the above were nominated for Oscars with Copland, Head, Meehan et al winning in their categories.
Besides master director William Wyler's guidance, Ms. de Havilland was assisted in creating her portrait of Catherine by Edith Head for costumes and Wally Westmore for makeup. Her natural prettiness was well disguised, and the severe tight hairstyles tell much about Catherine's repressed nature. Catherine's gowns while well made and of fine materials, silks and satins, are just slightly off and unflattering to her. For example the cherry red dress she wears to the engagement party is fussily trimmed and overly opulent; another dress is cut very tightly in the bodice as if emphasizing how uncomfortable she is with herself. Only after her father's death does Catherine physical appearance soften, ironically as her character has hardened, she becomes more attractive, as if she is finally free to become her own woman. Ms. De Havilland taps the rich vein of her talent in her dramatic journey from the naive ugly duckling to the coolly self-possessed dignified woman by the film's end. Her voice modulation from the light uncertain treble that reflects Catherine's insecurity to the lower harsh tones colored with bitterness after she has been doubly betrayed is skillfully executed. She breaks your heart in the scene where she is waiting for a Morris who will never arrive, since Catherine at this time is so emotionally vulnerable like a bud that has just started to open it's petals only to be killed by a frost. The title line of this review is an anguished cry from her heart, and the scene where she haltingly climbs the stairs back to the prison of her room Ms. De Havilland makes unforgettable. She brings such depth to Catherine showing the lovely generous nature that is within her, and that she tries to express, since she has been emotionally starved for love since birth. The viewer is saddened by her transformation to the glacial, scarred woman who has a terrible strength since she has survived the worst that could happen to her. Her famous line so memorably rendered is completely understandable, "Yes, I can be very cruel. I have been taught by masters!"
Ralph Richardson as the icy, detached Dr. Sloper is superb. He shows the unhealthy fixation Dr. Sloper has with his dead wife that has ruined his and Catherine's chances for happiness. There is the barely hidden dislike and resentment he feels for poor Catherine who he sees as robbing him of this treasure, that finally issues forth when he maliciously tells Catherine his true opinion of her. His total contempt for her is expressed in the line "...You embroider neatly", where he distastefully curdles the syllables in "embroider". Yet this is not a stock character of a villain, and Mr. Richardson brings many shades into this complex individual. Mr. Richardson even evokes pity for this man who tries too late when he is dying to gain his daughter's affections, and comes to the awful realization of the monster he has created when Catherine ruthlessly rebuffs him, and dispassionately severs any hope of a reconciliation.
Some said Montgomery Clift was too modern for Morris Townsend, I don't think so, but he does seem a little young for Catherine. Still, he does have the requisite comeliness and charisma to dazzle Catherine, and he is very adept in suggesting the ambiguity in Morris, is he really a fortune hunter or does he truly care for Catherine? The viewer is left to draw his own conclusions.
Brief nods of approval to Miriam Hopkins as Aunt Lavinia Penniman, Dr. Sloper's widowed sister, who is very superficial yet does truly care for Catherine and want her happiness, Betty Linley who has a qentle dignity as Morris' widowed older sister, Mrs. Montgomery, and Selena Royle as Elizabeth Almond, Dr. Sloper's other sister who tries to help both Dr. Sloper and Catherine with sensible advice. Lastly I don't want to forget Vanessa Brown as Maria, the young tenderhearted Irish maid who seems truly bewildered by this dysfunctional family.
In other reviews the movie has been lauded as one of the best movies about revenge for spurned love. While true, I think the importance of "The Heiress" is this is a cautionary tale of the irreparable damage that can happen in a family as a result of emotional abuse, and a lesson that can never be emphasized enough.
Summary of The Heiress (Universal Cinema Classics)
Academy Award winner Olivia De Havilland and Montgomery Clift light up the screen in this spellbinding, landmark drama. De Havilland is Catherine Sloper, an aristocratic young woman living under the scrutiny of her malevolent father. When a handsome but penniless suitor proposes, her father believes he could only be after her vast estate and threatens disinheritance. Can she be rich in love and money? Based on the stage version of Henry James' renowned novel Washington Square, this is the "****" (Leonard Maltin) winner of four Academy Awards, featuring an all-new, digitally remastered picture. A masterpiece of love, deception and betrayal, The Heiress remains a shining example of a true cinematic achievement.Olivia de Havilland's Oscar®-winning performance in The Heiress is so good that even hard-to-please critic Pauline Kael hailed it as de Havilland's "finest work ever." Like director William Wyler's previous masterpiece The Best Years of Our Lives, this tightly controlled drama is an all-time classic (it was added to the Library of Congress's National Film Registry in 1996), and as Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne observes in his DVD introduction, its reputation has steadily improved with the passage of time. It was de Havilland who sought the services of director William Wyler for this superlative film adaptation of Henry James' 1881 novel Washington Square, after director Lewis Milestone urged her to see the acclaimed stage adaptation by married playwrights Ruth and Augustus Goetz. De Havilland had already won her first Oscar (for her role in the 1946 drama To Each His Own), and recognized a prestigious opportunity when she saw one. Wyler enthusiastically agreed, and The Heiress was fast-tracked for production in early 1949. Released on October 6 of that year, the film eventually earned eight Academy Award nominations, winning the Oscar® for Best Actress, Art Direction, Costume Design, and Music (the last for Aaron Copland's splendid score). When Martin Scorsese was preparing to film The Age of Innocence in 1992, he cited Wyler's film as a primary influence. (Washington Square was filmed again in 1997, with its original title and Jennifer Jason Leigh as Catherine.)
De Havilland is heartbreaking, docile, victimized, and ultimately cruel as Catherine Sloper, a plain-looking aristocrat who stands to inherit a fortune from her ailing physician father (Ralph Richardson), as well as his well-meaning but cold-hearted demeanor. Dr. Sloper disapproves of Catherine's passionate suitor Morris Townsend (Montgomery Clift, perfectly cast), certain that the penniless young man has proposed marriage to win Catherine's inheritance. Catherine's too much in love to consider this potential betrayal, and when circumstances lead her to misinterpret Morris's intentions, The Heiress reaches an unforgettable conclusion that brilliantly supports the richly psychological nuance that Wyler brings to the preceding romance. Universal's "Cinema Classics" DVD is skimpy on extras, but Osborne's introduction is informative (as always), and despite a grainy quality of some scenes (typical with films of this vintage), the DVD transfer impeccably captures the mood-setting excellence of Leo Tover's flawless cinematography. The film's original theatrical trailer is also included. --Jeff Shannon
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