The Heiress (Universal Cinema Classics)
List Price:
Our Price: $10.49
You Save: $4.49 (30%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $5.95 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Miriam Hopkins, Montgomery Clift, Olivia de Havilland, Ralph RichardsonBrand: Universal
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: Portuguese (Original Language); French (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, Dolby, Full Screen, NTSC, Original recording remastered, Restored
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 116 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: An Heiress of Her Own
Summary: 5 Stars
If there was ever a film dealing with cruelty in its most subtle form, then you have The Heiress. Olivia de Havilland and Montgomery Clift give some of the best performances as a couple who meet and decide to marry; Ok. but here's the hitch; de Havilland is the daughter of a doctor who is well off, Clift is a penniless man; Her father, played to crisp perfection by Ralph Richardson. When he proposes, the father smelled a rat, and tried to stop the show by talking to his sister and going to Europe for some months. When that didn't stop them, he threatens to take the fortune he plans to give her, De Havilland tells him and he doesn't show up at the appointed time for their elopement. Now on first thought, one may feel that Clift's character is mercenery, heartless and cruel; On second thought, Richardson's assessment of the situation could be an extention of his further cruelty to his docile daughter.That is the question that isn't fully explored; By the end though, the daughter gets back on her own. Great character study.
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
Art House & International DVD Video
DVD Video
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness & Yoga
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Movies most talked about in If I Were the Academy for the Previous 40 Years (Part I: 1937-1956)
Written on the Wind - Criterion CollectionImage Entertainment; Release date: 2001-06-19; DVD
Best price: $19.77
Price in other shops:
The Ten Commandments (50th Anniversary Collection)Paramount; Release date: 2006-03-21; DVD
Best price: $15.74
Price in other shops:
TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Romantic Dramas (East of Eden / Cat on a Hot Tin Roof / A Streetcar Named Desire / Rebel Without a Cause)Turner; Release date: 2009-02-03; DVD
Best price: $15.90
Price in other shops:
Marty (1954)Release date: 2001-06-19; DVD
Best price: $6.39
Price in other shops:
Brando 3-Pack (On the Waterfront / The Wild One / The Freshman)Sony; Release date: 2004-09-28; DVD
Best price: $29.37
Price in other shops:
On the Waterfront (Special Edition)Sony; Release date: 2001-10-23; DVD
Best price: $10.79
Price in other shops:
Stalag 17 (Special Collector's Edition)PARAMOUNT PICTURES; Release date: 2006-03-21; DVD
Best price: $9.66
Price in other shops:
From Here to EternityColumbia Pictures; Release date: 2001-10-23; DVD
Best price: $5.89
Price in other shops:
The Greatest Show on EarthParamount; Release date: 2004-04-06; DVD
Best price: $4.53
Price in other shops:
High Noon (Two-Disc Ultimate Collector's Edition)HIGH NOON - WS (DVD MOVIE); Release date: 2008-06-10; DVD
Best price: $11.63
Price in other shops:
Similar DVD Movies
The Picture of Dorian GrayWarner Brothers; Release date: 2008-10-07; DVD
Best price: $11.77
Price in other shops:
GaslightWarner Brothers; Release date: 2004-02-03; DVD
Best price: $9.55
Price in other shops:
The Women (Keepcase)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2005-06-14; DVD
Best price: $12.45
Price in other shops:
Portrait In Black / Madame X (Double Feature)Universal; Release date: 2008-02-05; DVD
Best price: $7.33
Price in other shops:
Midnight (Universal Cinema Classics)Universal; Release date: 2008-04-22; DVD
Best price: $6.42
Price in other shops:
All About Eve (Two-Disc Special Edition)TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2008-04-08; DVD
Best price: $6.48
Price in other shops:
A Place in the SunParamount; Release date: 2001-08-21; DVD
Best price: $4.49
Price in other shops:
The Little FoxesRelease date: 2001-09-18; DVD
Best price: $6.00
Price in other shops:
RebeccaRelease date: 2008-10-14; DVD
Best price: $11.71
Price in other shops:
Jane EyreTWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2007-04-24; DVD
Best price: $10.49
Price in other shops: