201 reviews
This film tugs on a few different heartstrings, with themes of a domineering mother, being an awkward, depressed young person, finding a deep connection and love with someone who can't be yours, and then personally evolving to the point of being able to transcend all of that, and finding one's path. It's really quite a touching film, and Bette Davis turns in another brilliant performance. The supporting cast around her is strong as well, and features Gladys Cooper (her mother), Paul Henreid (her lover), Claude Rains (her wise doctor). And, how fascinating is it that both Henreid and Rains began filming Casalanca immediately afterwards; clearly a great year for them.
The film scores points for me for having its title come from a Walt Whitman line in 'Leaves of Grass': "The untold want by life and land ne'er granted; Now, Voyager sail thou forth, to seek and find," which is appropriate. The film speaks to being honest with oneself, to one's identity, as well as to the person you love, even if it's complicated. I loved the little touches of the inner voice that director Irving Rapper employs, which helps underscore this.
It's heartwarming to see how those in love make each other better people. She begins to bloom, and radiate confidence after receiving simple acts of kindness and appreciation. He returns to his passion, architecture, and is more empathetic and understanding of his troubled daughter. The scene where they meet by chance again at a party, and have a conversation interlaced with whispered remarks of tenderness (such as her saying to him she could "cry with pride" over him following his dream) is lovely.
At the same time, she's not defined by him, or dependent on him. In fact, the movie is a celebration of independence, and shows how it can be done gracefully and with class. Her strength come through in so many ways: in standing up to her mother, determining her path with another suitor, asserting herself with her old doctor, and ultimately deciding the terms she'll have her relationship with Henreid on. While she admits that "I've just been a big sentimental fool. It's a tendency I have," she also calmly says "Please let me go" when a big romantic moment threatens to sweep her away.
The story about his child was touching, as we see Davis help her, as she was once helped, but I thought this part dragged on too long, and needed tightening up. It felt overly melodramatic and false; for one thing, where was the mother? There was a much earlier scene with a Brazilian taxi driver that got silly, and should have been left on the cutting room floor as well. On the other hand, I loved those last lines. He asks her, "And will you be happy, Charlotte?" And she responds "Oh Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars." How brilliant that line is; there is something larger than ourselves, larger than what others consider happiness.
The film scores points for me for having its title come from a Walt Whitman line in 'Leaves of Grass': "The untold want by life and land ne'er granted; Now, Voyager sail thou forth, to seek and find," which is appropriate. The film speaks to being honest with oneself, to one's identity, as well as to the person you love, even if it's complicated. I loved the little touches of the inner voice that director Irving Rapper employs, which helps underscore this.
It's heartwarming to see how those in love make each other better people. She begins to bloom, and radiate confidence after receiving simple acts of kindness and appreciation. He returns to his passion, architecture, and is more empathetic and understanding of his troubled daughter. The scene where they meet by chance again at a party, and have a conversation interlaced with whispered remarks of tenderness (such as her saying to him she could "cry with pride" over him following his dream) is lovely.
At the same time, she's not defined by him, or dependent on him. In fact, the movie is a celebration of independence, and shows how it can be done gracefully and with class. Her strength come through in so many ways: in standing up to her mother, determining her path with another suitor, asserting herself with her old doctor, and ultimately deciding the terms she'll have her relationship with Henreid on. While she admits that "I've just been a big sentimental fool. It's a tendency I have," she also calmly says "Please let me go" when a big romantic moment threatens to sweep her away.
The story about his child was touching, as we see Davis help her, as she was once helped, but I thought this part dragged on too long, and needed tightening up. It felt overly melodramatic and false; for one thing, where was the mother? There was a much earlier scene with a Brazilian taxi driver that got silly, and should have been left on the cutting room floor as well. On the other hand, I loved those last lines. He asks her, "And will you be happy, Charlotte?" And she responds "Oh Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars." How brilliant that line is; there is something larger than ourselves, larger than what others consider happiness.
- gbill-74877
- Mar 29, 2018
- Permalink
This was surprisingly good. I say "surprising" because I am not a man who likes soap operas and that's what I expected here from everything I had read about this film. The only reason I obtained it was that it was part of a 3-pack Bette Davis collection and I wanted a DVD of "The Letter."
Well, this turned out to be a very interesting and gratifying story. No, I still didn't like the corny - and adulterous (which Hollywood loves to glamorize) - love affair between Davis and married man Paul Henreid. However, I did enjoy the ugly duckling-turned-beauty story that featured Davis tolerating her nasty mother and then using her experiences to help another young lady who was suffering from a similar inferiority complex.
Gladys Cooper was outstanding as the irritating, brutal mother. Janis Wilson was the young girl helped in the end by Davis. Wilson overacts something fierce but the message is so nice and the sentimentality so caring that you put up with the kid's performance.
Claude Raines also was likable as the psychologist. He had a number of good lines in this film. The movie was nicely filmed and looks particularly good on the DVD transfer with attractive grays completing the black-and-white.
Well, this turned out to be a very interesting and gratifying story. No, I still didn't like the corny - and adulterous (which Hollywood loves to glamorize) - love affair between Davis and married man Paul Henreid. However, I did enjoy the ugly duckling-turned-beauty story that featured Davis tolerating her nasty mother and then using her experiences to help another young lady who was suffering from a similar inferiority complex.
Gladys Cooper was outstanding as the irritating, brutal mother. Janis Wilson was the young girl helped in the end by Davis. Wilson overacts something fierce but the message is so nice and the sentimentality so caring that you put up with the kid's performance.
Claude Raines also was likable as the psychologist. He had a number of good lines in this film. The movie was nicely filmed and looks particularly good on the DVD transfer with attractive grays completing the black-and-white.
- ccthemovieman-1
- Nov 13, 2005
- Permalink
- waelkatkhuda
- Feb 1, 2013
- Permalink
At the height of WWII, Hollywood produced a lot of excellent melodramas. These were the vehicles the studios created for its stars of that era. It was either a Joan Crawford picture, or a Barbara Stanwyck, or a Bette Davis one, since their presence, bigger than life, was the only reason to bring these stories to the big screen.
Take this one, for instance, under the direction of Irving Rapper. It had all the right elements, yet it was chaste enough to pass the censor. Undoubtedly, this movie owes a lot to the fantastic score by the talented Max Steiner who was a genius. Mr. Steiner's music plays the haunting melodies with such flair, we feel we are listening to a great symphonic work.
The story, by today's standards wouldn't raise an eyebrow. At the time it came out, it was a different thing. After all, Jerry was a married man with a daughter and a situation that had no easy solution then. That makes Charlotte Vale suffer after she found her soul mate aboard the ship that served to free herself from a despotic mother.
Bette Davis plays Charlotte to perfection. Her scenes with Paul Hendried lighting the two cigarettes is something to cherish by film fans. The chemistry that Bette Davis shared with her leading men was no small accomplishment. She was an actress that knew how to pull the heart strings of the general public. She had such a charisma and power to lose herself in all those strong women she played through the years. The transformation of the plain Charlotte to the smart woman, who embarks on a tour to begin a new life, is something out of a fairy tale, but Ms. Davis pulls it with great panache.
The rest of the cast was excellent. Claude Rains, Gladys Cooper, Bonita Granville, Ilka Chase! They only come once in a lifetime. No one in present day Hollywood comes near to that. It was perfection.
Take this one, for instance, under the direction of Irving Rapper. It had all the right elements, yet it was chaste enough to pass the censor. Undoubtedly, this movie owes a lot to the fantastic score by the talented Max Steiner who was a genius. Mr. Steiner's music plays the haunting melodies with such flair, we feel we are listening to a great symphonic work.
The story, by today's standards wouldn't raise an eyebrow. At the time it came out, it was a different thing. After all, Jerry was a married man with a daughter and a situation that had no easy solution then. That makes Charlotte Vale suffer after she found her soul mate aboard the ship that served to free herself from a despotic mother.
Bette Davis plays Charlotte to perfection. Her scenes with Paul Hendried lighting the two cigarettes is something to cherish by film fans. The chemistry that Bette Davis shared with her leading men was no small accomplishment. She was an actress that knew how to pull the heart strings of the general public. She had such a charisma and power to lose herself in all those strong women she played through the years. The transformation of the plain Charlotte to the smart woman, who embarks on a tour to begin a new life, is something out of a fairy tale, but Ms. Davis pulls it with great panache.
The rest of the cast was excellent. Claude Rains, Gladys Cooper, Bonita Granville, Ilka Chase! They only come once in a lifetime. No one in present day Hollywood comes near to that. It was perfection.
Look. I *love* "Now Voyager." I don't love it as a guilty pleasure, or as camp, or as an example of film-making from the Golden Age of Hollywood. I don't love it as a soap opera or as example of the long lost genre, the theatrical-release, big budget, "woman's picture." I love "Now Voyager" as a movie. "Now Voyager"'s quality could stand comparison with any great film out there.
Plot: Charlotte Vale (Bette Davis), the psychologically abused child of a sadistic iceberg of a wealthy, Boston Brahmin mother (Gladys Cooper), thanks to the intervention of a compassionate sister-in-law (Ilka Chase) is packed off to a posh asylum, where Dr. Jaquith (Claude Rains) restores her to well being.
Charlotte loses weight, loses her glasses, and receives tutoring in how to dress and carry herself. Superficially quite the glamor puss, she goes on a cruise and charms Jerry Durrance (Paul Henreid) an unhappily married architect.
Circumstance intervenes and Jerry and Charlotte enjoy a brief affair. As time goes on, they make some heart-wrenching decisions about how to handle their adulterous love; along the way, Charlotte forms an important bond with Tina, Jerry's daughter, whose mother does not love her.
The screen is full of women's bodies, women's voices, women's choices, and women's lives. There are old women, middle aged women, and young women. There are good and bad women in every class. For example, while Tina is the sweet but unattractive and lost young woman, Bonita Granville, as June Vale, is a pretty, blonde, young b----. The scenes in which June, without censure from any quarter, uses her youth and prettiness to torment her pathetic spinster aunt are terrific, honest, and cruel.
The plot is built around the issues of which women's lives are built: their relationships with their mothers, or mother figures, both good and evil; how the world treats women based on how women look; women's competitions with, and support of, other women; what women do to survive economically and emotionally.
The scenes between Charlotte and Tina are stunning in their sensuality. Tina, the daughter-surrogate, and Charlotte, the mother-figure, cling to each other in bed at night, and while sleeping under the stars on a camping trip; Tina sobs tears that wet her face; Charlotte strokes Tina's hair, and Tina clings to Charlotte's bosom.
The simple message here is how incredibly important parenting is in the lives of both children and mothers, and how a person who has suffered -- Charlotte -- can often be a better person than those who have had it easier -- Mrs. Vale and June, and how having been handed a life that denies you love doesn't make it impossible for you to go out and find love on your own, to create your own family.
Mrs. Vale is one of the most naked depictions of a child abusing mother ever committed to the screen. No, there are no graphic scenes of abuse, but the film never lets you believe that this woman is anything but a nightmare who damaged her child for life while the world let her get away with it because of her money.
Again, the abuse is not graphic, but it is made certain. In one brilliant scene, Charlotte has returned to her mother's house after being out in the world and, for the first time in her life, experiencing some affection, joy, and confidence.
Charlotte speaks in her new voice, a voice of self possession. But she is trying to be nice to her mother, and her voice quavers a bit, without losing its ground.
Charlotte is out of camera range; we hear her, but do not see her. Her mother's back is to the camera. She is motionless -- except for her bejeweled, claw-like hand, which taps rhythmically against a carved bed post. One thinks of a cat waiting to pounce. One realizes that all that is going through Mrs. Vale's head is, "How do I destroy her this time?" That motion alone renders the scene both chilling and telling.
Charlotte's love affair with Jerry Durrance is equally complex. This is no "soap opera" as some reviews here dismiss it as. Viewers are so caught up with Jerry's (Henreid's) trick of lighting two cigarettes at once that they miss the depth, power, and complexity of this relationship.
"Now Voyager" gives us a terribly convincing portrait of two people who really love each other, and whose love is apparently doomed. Jerry is a superficially charming, nice guy whose unhappy marriage has given him reason to see beneath the surfaces of life; he's no rocket scientist, though, so he's not as smart as he could be. He is attracted to a superficially glamorous woman whose secret past as an ugly duckling and abused child gives her a hidden side. For both, society demands that they present a pleasant facade, but pain has caused them to develop in ways that many people never do. Their love is real.
Jerry is deep enough to be attracted, but not deep enough to realize, as soon as he might, how much his acting on his attraction could potentially devastate Charlotte, a woman whose hold on her life is tenuous, at best.
Whether their love can ever be realized, or whether it would continue to grow outside of the confines of an adulterous affair begun on a cruise ship and consummated after the most outlandish interventions of fate on a mountain road, is a question viewers can still debate to this day. What is clear is that this love is real, and its stakes are terribly high. Charlotte's whole life hangs in the balance here, no less so than a Scorcese hero's life hangs in the balance given how he handles his weapon.
Claude Rains is solid as Charlotte's best hope at the beginning, and, perhaps, also at the end of the movie..
Plot: Charlotte Vale (Bette Davis), the psychologically abused child of a sadistic iceberg of a wealthy, Boston Brahmin mother (Gladys Cooper), thanks to the intervention of a compassionate sister-in-law (Ilka Chase) is packed off to a posh asylum, where Dr. Jaquith (Claude Rains) restores her to well being.
Charlotte loses weight, loses her glasses, and receives tutoring in how to dress and carry herself. Superficially quite the glamor puss, she goes on a cruise and charms Jerry Durrance (Paul Henreid) an unhappily married architect.
Circumstance intervenes and Jerry and Charlotte enjoy a brief affair. As time goes on, they make some heart-wrenching decisions about how to handle their adulterous love; along the way, Charlotte forms an important bond with Tina, Jerry's daughter, whose mother does not love her.
The screen is full of women's bodies, women's voices, women's choices, and women's lives. There are old women, middle aged women, and young women. There are good and bad women in every class. For example, while Tina is the sweet but unattractive and lost young woman, Bonita Granville, as June Vale, is a pretty, blonde, young b----. The scenes in which June, without censure from any quarter, uses her youth and prettiness to torment her pathetic spinster aunt are terrific, honest, and cruel.
The plot is built around the issues of which women's lives are built: their relationships with their mothers, or mother figures, both good and evil; how the world treats women based on how women look; women's competitions with, and support of, other women; what women do to survive economically and emotionally.
The scenes between Charlotte and Tina are stunning in their sensuality. Tina, the daughter-surrogate, and Charlotte, the mother-figure, cling to each other in bed at night, and while sleeping under the stars on a camping trip; Tina sobs tears that wet her face; Charlotte strokes Tina's hair, and Tina clings to Charlotte's bosom.
The simple message here is how incredibly important parenting is in the lives of both children and mothers, and how a person who has suffered -- Charlotte -- can often be a better person than those who have had it easier -- Mrs. Vale and June, and how having been handed a life that denies you love doesn't make it impossible for you to go out and find love on your own, to create your own family.
Mrs. Vale is one of the most naked depictions of a child abusing mother ever committed to the screen. No, there are no graphic scenes of abuse, but the film never lets you believe that this woman is anything but a nightmare who damaged her child for life while the world let her get away with it because of her money.
Again, the abuse is not graphic, but it is made certain. In one brilliant scene, Charlotte has returned to her mother's house after being out in the world and, for the first time in her life, experiencing some affection, joy, and confidence.
Charlotte speaks in her new voice, a voice of self possession. But she is trying to be nice to her mother, and her voice quavers a bit, without losing its ground.
Charlotte is out of camera range; we hear her, but do not see her. Her mother's back is to the camera. She is motionless -- except for her bejeweled, claw-like hand, which taps rhythmically against a carved bed post. One thinks of a cat waiting to pounce. One realizes that all that is going through Mrs. Vale's head is, "How do I destroy her this time?" That motion alone renders the scene both chilling and telling.
Charlotte's love affair with Jerry Durrance is equally complex. This is no "soap opera" as some reviews here dismiss it as. Viewers are so caught up with Jerry's (Henreid's) trick of lighting two cigarettes at once that they miss the depth, power, and complexity of this relationship.
"Now Voyager" gives us a terribly convincing portrait of two people who really love each other, and whose love is apparently doomed. Jerry is a superficially charming, nice guy whose unhappy marriage has given him reason to see beneath the surfaces of life; he's no rocket scientist, though, so he's not as smart as he could be. He is attracted to a superficially glamorous woman whose secret past as an ugly duckling and abused child gives her a hidden side. For both, society demands that they present a pleasant facade, but pain has caused them to develop in ways that many people never do. Their love is real.
Jerry is deep enough to be attracted, but not deep enough to realize, as soon as he might, how much his acting on his attraction could potentially devastate Charlotte, a woman whose hold on her life is tenuous, at best.
Whether their love can ever be realized, or whether it would continue to grow outside of the confines of an adulterous affair begun on a cruise ship and consummated after the most outlandish interventions of fate on a mountain road, is a question viewers can still debate to this day. What is clear is that this love is real, and its stakes are terribly high. Charlotte's whole life hangs in the balance here, no less so than a Scorcese hero's life hangs in the balance given how he handles his weapon.
Claude Rains is solid as Charlotte's best hope at the beginning, and, perhaps, also at the end of the movie..
- Danusha_Goska
- Nov 26, 2006
- Permalink
After seeing this great film, I realized that not every mother wants the best for her children.
Gladys Cooper gave a brilliant performance as the outrageously domineering mother. Her best supporting actress nomination was well deserved. It's a pity she lost the coveted award to Teresa Wright, the tragic daughter-in-law in "Mrs. Miniver." Obviously, Oscar voters could not bring themselves to vote for such a wicked mother that Cooper portrayed. (The following year Cooper gave another brilliant performance as the wretched nun in "Song of Bernadette." She lost the Oscar because who would vote for a vicious nun?)
No words are adequate to describe the outstanding Bette Davis performance in this film. Sorry, Greer Garson, Bette deserved this Oscar as she did so many. Her change from a hopelessly-drawn spinster to a ravishing beauty with all its torment can never be forgotten.
Thank you Claude Rains for your excellent portrayal of the psychiatrist.
Gladys Cooper gave a brilliant performance as the outrageously domineering mother. Her best supporting actress nomination was well deserved. It's a pity she lost the coveted award to Teresa Wright, the tragic daughter-in-law in "Mrs. Miniver." Obviously, Oscar voters could not bring themselves to vote for such a wicked mother that Cooper portrayed. (The following year Cooper gave another brilliant performance as the wretched nun in "Song of Bernadette." She lost the Oscar because who would vote for a vicious nun?)
No words are adequate to describe the outstanding Bette Davis performance in this film. Sorry, Greer Garson, Bette deserved this Oscar as she did so many. Her change from a hopelessly-drawn spinster to a ravishing beauty with all its torment can never be forgotten.
Thank you Claude Rains for your excellent portrayal of the psychiatrist.
Bette Davis plays Charlotte Vale, an unmarried and very unhappy plain-Jane who lives with, and is under the emotional control of, her wealthy, domineering, matriarchal mother (Gladys Cooper). Help for Charlotte arrives in the person of Dr. Jaquith (Claude Rains), who suggests a different living environment, and eventually a new direction in life. Charlotte thus sets out on a voyage of discovery, or quest, to find herself and her potential for happiness and love.
The film starts off Gothic, but gradually translates to a love story with lots of twists and turns. The underlying premise is sound, but the plot is overwrought, drawn out, and talky. Small sections of the film's middle section could have been expunged, to tighten the plot. And the dialogue could have been reduced in places, which would have rendered a film of even greater impact. Nevertheless, the film still tells a great story.
The B&W cinematography ranges from good to excellent. In one scene, special effects create an image wherein Charlotte's eyes overlap her mother's face. It is a visually stunning image, and it wonderfully captures the film's timeless theme, the painful process whereby a grown child must confront an overbearing parent, if that child is to grow and gain adult independence.
The film's costumes are interesting. And Max Steiner's original score adds emotional texture to the story. But it is the acting that really makes this film a classic. Except for her work in "All About Eve", Bette Davis gives as good a performance here as in any film of hers that I have seen. Claude Rains and Paul Henreid are good in support roles. And the never smiling Gladys Cooper is stunningly effective as the matron saint of outdated Victorian Puritanism.
Despite its cryptic title, taken from a poem by Walt Whitman, this film presents viewers with a story that most people can identify with, in one way or another. "Now, Voyager" transcends its hyperbolic working script, and compels attention through its cinematography, its music, and especially the acting of Gladys Cooper and Bette Davis.
The film starts off Gothic, but gradually translates to a love story with lots of twists and turns. The underlying premise is sound, but the plot is overwrought, drawn out, and talky. Small sections of the film's middle section could have been expunged, to tighten the plot. And the dialogue could have been reduced in places, which would have rendered a film of even greater impact. Nevertheless, the film still tells a great story.
The B&W cinematography ranges from good to excellent. In one scene, special effects create an image wherein Charlotte's eyes overlap her mother's face. It is a visually stunning image, and it wonderfully captures the film's timeless theme, the painful process whereby a grown child must confront an overbearing parent, if that child is to grow and gain adult independence.
The film's costumes are interesting. And Max Steiner's original score adds emotional texture to the story. But it is the acting that really makes this film a classic. Except for her work in "All About Eve", Bette Davis gives as good a performance here as in any film of hers that I have seen. Claude Rains and Paul Henreid are good in support roles. And the never smiling Gladys Cooper is stunningly effective as the matron saint of outdated Victorian Puritanism.
Despite its cryptic title, taken from a poem by Walt Whitman, this film presents viewers with a story that most people can identify with, in one way or another. "Now, Voyager" transcends its hyperbolic working script, and compels attention through its cinematography, its music, and especially the acting of Gladys Cooper and Bette Davis.
- Lechuguilla
- May 21, 2006
- Permalink
From frumpy momma's unwanted adult child to liberated raving beauty, Davis is in her element in every scene. With Paul Henreid & Claude Rains, Gladys Cooper & a spot-on supporting cast, "Voyager..." is, hands down, best love story I believe I've ever seen.
Of course, taste in romances has everything to do with what a viewer finds great. I don't like phony, fantasy, goofy romantic shows at all. "Voyager..." has a gritty plot that reveals the kind of love between unrequited lovers that's worth sacrificing oneself for.
Davis' wardrobe is as fabulous in this movie as it is in "Deception," (also co-starring Claude Rains & Paul Henreid). Perhaps having both of them in both shows is what produced the mastery of all the elements in both movies. Though "Deception" is also a love story, Claude Rains coming seriously close to stealing the show from Davis.
In "Voyager..." the characters are much more egalitarian. The balance of love & despise is what makes the movies so intriguing. Davis should have taken an Oscar home for her leading role.
Of course, taste in romances has everything to do with what a viewer finds great. I don't like phony, fantasy, goofy romantic shows at all. "Voyager..." has a gritty plot that reveals the kind of love between unrequited lovers that's worth sacrificing oneself for.
Davis' wardrobe is as fabulous in this movie as it is in "Deception," (also co-starring Claude Rains & Paul Henreid). Perhaps having both of them in both shows is what produced the mastery of all the elements in both movies. Though "Deception" is also a love story, Claude Rains coming seriously close to stealing the show from Davis.
In "Voyager..." the characters are much more egalitarian. The balance of love & despise is what makes the movies so intriguing. Davis should have taken an Oscar home for her leading role.
In Boston, the fat spinster Charlotte Vale (Bette Davis) is a repressed woman without self-esteem and completely dominated by her wealthy mother Mrs. Henry Vale (Gladys Cooper). When her sister-in-law Lisa Vale (Ilka Chase) brings the renowned psychiatrist Dr. Jaquith (Claude Rains), who is her friend, to visit Charlotte, he invites her to spend sometime in his sanatorium.
Soon Charlotte transforms in a sophisticated and confident woman and travels in a cruise to South America. She meets the architect Jerry Durrance (Paul Henreid), who is married, and they have a love affair in Rio de Janeiro. Six months later, she returns home and confronts his mother with her independence and own free will. One day, Charlotte has an argument with her mother and she dies of a heart attack. Charlotte becomes the heir of the Vale's fortune but she feels guilty for the death of her mother.
She decides to return to Dr. Jaquith's sanatorium where she befriends Tina (Janis Wilson), who is the twelve-year-old daughter of Jerry rejected by her mother. She brings the girl to her house in Boston and one day, Jerry visits Tina and Charlotte with Dr. Jaquith.
"Now, Voyager" is a melodrama with the story of a repressed spinster that become self-confident after a medical treatment and finds love with a married man in a travel to South America. The plot is a soap-opera, supported by magnificent performances, great quotes and wonderful music score. The "Brazilian" taxi driver speaking "Portuguese" is a funny Hollywood stereotype. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): Not Available
Soon Charlotte transforms in a sophisticated and confident woman and travels in a cruise to South America. She meets the architect Jerry Durrance (Paul Henreid), who is married, and they have a love affair in Rio de Janeiro. Six months later, she returns home and confronts his mother with her independence and own free will. One day, Charlotte has an argument with her mother and she dies of a heart attack. Charlotte becomes the heir of the Vale's fortune but she feels guilty for the death of her mother.
She decides to return to Dr. Jaquith's sanatorium where she befriends Tina (Janis Wilson), who is the twelve-year-old daughter of Jerry rejected by her mother. She brings the girl to her house in Boston and one day, Jerry visits Tina and Charlotte with Dr. Jaquith.
"Now, Voyager" is a melodrama with the story of a repressed spinster that become self-confident after a medical treatment and finds love with a married man in a travel to South America. The plot is a soap-opera, supported by magnificent performances, great quotes and wonderful music score. The "Brazilian" taxi driver speaking "Portuguese" is a funny Hollywood stereotype. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): Not Available
- claudio_carvalho
- Dec 30, 2012
- Permalink
Now Voyager is always cited as one of the best romantic dramas ever done on the screen. That it is, but I think the reason for its continuing popularity and that it's almost always listed in Bette Davis's top five by any of her fans is that it shows her growth as a human being over the course of the film.
It's not that they ugly Davis up in makeup when we first meet her as spinster Charlotte Vale. Some costuming and maybe some padding, but the rest is her ability as a performer. She was a daughter born late in life to mother Gladys Cooper who hadn't expected, hadn't wanted her. My guess is that she felt after having three sons, Cooper expected to be a full time society grand dame and the new baby cramped her style. In any event Davis grows up totally under Cooper's thumb as an unloved spinster.
A wise and perceptive sister-in-law in the person of Ilka Chase has her meet psychiatrist Claude Rains who sees a breakdown coming. She spends some time in his sanitarium and under his tutelage, Davis emerges from her shell. She even takes an ocean cruise where the new and attractive Davis meets the unhappily married Paul Henreid and they have an affair.
It's unfortunate that war time restrictions being what they were that the only recreation of Brazil, specifically Rio De Janeiro is on the Warner Brothers back lot. Still with newsreel establishing shots, director Irving Rapper does bring it off.
When she returns home Davis is in a whole new dimension of a relationship with Cooper and the rest of her family and friends. She even meets Henreid's daughter whose own mother has turned her into a creature like Davis used to be.
My favorite part of Now Voyager has always been Bette's scenes with young Janis Wilson. They are beautifully played the new swan trying to bring another ugly duckling to crack the shell. I think more than the romance they were responsible for getting Bette an Oscar nomination.
Gladys Cooper got one also in the Supporting Actress category. Unfortunately both Davis and Cooper ran into actresses from Mrs. Miniver that year who won in the persons of Greer Garson and Teresa Wright. However Max Steiner's musical score, one of his best, took home Now Voyager's only Oscar.
Other people to note in the cast are John Loder as a man entranced by Bette's blossoming who offers to marry her and Mary Wickes who plays a most practical nurse for Gladys Cooper. After dealing with Monty Woolley in The Man Who Came To Dinner, I think Wickes was ready for anything.
I also think that Now Voyager's message of how love can come to anyone has made this film a timeless classic. In fact that same moon and stars are still there that Davis and Henreid talked about. And the film will be as popular as long as they are there.
It's not that they ugly Davis up in makeup when we first meet her as spinster Charlotte Vale. Some costuming and maybe some padding, but the rest is her ability as a performer. She was a daughter born late in life to mother Gladys Cooper who hadn't expected, hadn't wanted her. My guess is that she felt after having three sons, Cooper expected to be a full time society grand dame and the new baby cramped her style. In any event Davis grows up totally under Cooper's thumb as an unloved spinster.
A wise and perceptive sister-in-law in the person of Ilka Chase has her meet psychiatrist Claude Rains who sees a breakdown coming. She spends some time in his sanitarium and under his tutelage, Davis emerges from her shell. She even takes an ocean cruise where the new and attractive Davis meets the unhappily married Paul Henreid and they have an affair.
It's unfortunate that war time restrictions being what they were that the only recreation of Brazil, specifically Rio De Janeiro is on the Warner Brothers back lot. Still with newsreel establishing shots, director Irving Rapper does bring it off.
When she returns home Davis is in a whole new dimension of a relationship with Cooper and the rest of her family and friends. She even meets Henreid's daughter whose own mother has turned her into a creature like Davis used to be.
My favorite part of Now Voyager has always been Bette's scenes with young Janis Wilson. They are beautifully played the new swan trying to bring another ugly duckling to crack the shell. I think more than the romance they were responsible for getting Bette an Oscar nomination.
Gladys Cooper got one also in the Supporting Actress category. Unfortunately both Davis and Cooper ran into actresses from Mrs. Miniver that year who won in the persons of Greer Garson and Teresa Wright. However Max Steiner's musical score, one of his best, took home Now Voyager's only Oscar.
Other people to note in the cast are John Loder as a man entranced by Bette's blossoming who offers to marry her and Mary Wickes who plays a most practical nurse for Gladys Cooper. After dealing with Monty Woolley in The Man Who Came To Dinner, I think Wickes was ready for anything.
I also think that Now Voyager's message of how love can come to anyone has made this film a timeless classic. In fact that same moon and stars are still there that Davis and Henreid talked about. And the film will be as popular as long as they are there.
- bkoganbing
- Aug 5, 2008
- Permalink
This is Bette Davis' highest grossing movie, but I'd say it's not nearly as good as All About Eve, The Little Foxes, Dark Victory and Of Human Bondage. Davis' acting is great as usual as are Paul Henreid's, Claude Rains' and Gladys Cooper's.
The plot is somewhat odd and reflects the moral standards time period it is set in. I applaud that the author Olive Higgins Prouty looked for a way to have a tragic love story without morally compromised characters. Henreid was also on leg of the love triangle in Casablanca, making his role here comparable though not exactly the same.
Before I go on too long criticizing the movie, it is still well directed, well written, well acted and certainly worth watching.
The plot is somewhat odd and reflects the moral standards time period it is set in. I applaud that the author Olive Higgins Prouty looked for a way to have a tragic love story without morally compromised characters. Henreid was also on leg of the love triangle in Casablanca, making his role here comparable though not exactly the same.
Before I go on too long criticizing the movie, it is still well directed, well written, well acted and certainly worth watching.
- cmayerle-41064
- Jul 6, 2018
- Permalink
Olive Higgins Prouty's novel becomes near-classic Bette Davis vehicle about a dowdy, unloved spinster in Boston who finds enlightenment through psychology (and, naturally, a way to make herself more attractive through this newfound wisdom), but that true love still alludes her. Davis' Charlotte Vale is one of her best celluloid creations: an impossibly patient, but incredibly aware and forthright woman who falls in love with a married man and realizes you have to be happy with what you've got, not for what lingers above. It's a classic piece of grand, romantic storytelling--and yet with an ending that isn't quite so rosy. Charlotte's dreams are not completely delivered to her, but she has fulfillment within. It's a gusty soaper, yes, and it does take its time getting started; however, director Irving Rapper turns out to be shrewd with his pacing, and the screenplay digs a bit deeper than most genre films of this era. Besides that, Davis is impeccable. *** from ****
- moonspinner55
- Oct 24, 2007
- Permalink
I first saw this wonderful film in the early 1960's on television - made in 1941 is seemed old fashioned, slightly stilted and truly from another time.
Later on in the seventies and eighties I'd watch the occasional late nite re-run on TV and it just seemed camp.
In the nineties I bought the video - something to keep. A little bit of cinema history.
Last week I bought "Now Voyager" on DVD and was completely blown away!
Perhaps it's because I know the story so well, but I was able to appreciate the movie on several different levels such as cinematography, direction and editing.
Bette Davis was always the prime reason for watching but I never realized what a fine naturalistic actor Claude Raines was. His scenes with Bette Davis exude intelligence and warmth.
I stopped to consider what a 2004 remake might look like - who could play the leads? Who would direct? What would the score be like?
With no disrespect to anyone in the movie industry, I don't think a remake would ever be possible.
The actors and technicians on this movie were truly masters of their craft.
I defy anyone who watches the first ten minutes not to be hooked until the closing credits.
Later on in the seventies and eighties I'd watch the occasional late nite re-run on TV and it just seemed camp.
In the nineties I bought the video - something to keep. A little bit of cinema history.
Last week I bought "Now Voyager" on DVD and was completely blown away!
Perhaps it's because I know the story so well, but I was able to appreciate the movie on several different levels such as cinematography, direction and editing.
Bette Davis was always the prime reason for watching but I never realized what a fine naturalistic actor Claude Raines was. His scenes with Bette Davis exude intelligence and warmth.
I stopped to consider what a 2004 remake might look like - who could play the leads? Who would direct? What would the score be like?
With no disrespect to anyone in the movie industry, I don't think a remake would ever be possible.
The actors and technicians on this movie were truly masters of their craft.
I defy anyone who watches the first ten minutes not to be hooked until the closing credits.
This film is an excellant Bette Davis film, it puts the term vehicle beyond the normal usage of the term. Bette shines as both the repressed and neurotic spinster and the worldly sophisticated woman she then becomes. It is a film that transgresses the decades since it was made and speaks to women of all ages.
My favourate quote of Paul Heinreid (he looks like his idea of fun would be to find a nice damp grave and sit in it) is turned around and he actually portrays a sympathetic character.
Claude Rains is a sexy (yes thats right I do find the guy sexy) psychiatrist who puts her back together again.
the plot is great the dialogue excellant and my favourite last line is the message on my mobile (slightly changed to fit the letters allowed).
It is a film for all to watch when stressed or depressed, it also works great with chocolates wine and tissues.
Watch this and enjoy.
My favourate quote of Paul Heinreid (he looks like his idea of fun would be to find a nice damp grave and sit in it) is turned around and he actually portrays a sympathetic character.
Claude Rains is a sexy (yes thats right I do find the guy sexy) psychiatrist who puts her back together again.
the plot is great the dialogue excellant and my favourite last line is the message on my mobile (slightly changed to fit the letters allowed).
It is a film for all to watch when stressed or depressed, it also works great with chocolates wine and tissues.
Watch this and enjoy.
One of the all time great classics. I would place the quality of this movie on the same level as Casablanca and gone with the wind. I loved Greer Garson in Ms. Miniver, But Bette Davis probably should have garnered the academy award for best actress. She was convincing and sympathetic in her role. You vicariously felt the characters pain.
I would recommend this movie to anyone who struggles with low self-esteem and self-doubt. No matter what trauma or bad experience you have had, you can still be the person you want to be when you receive Love and friendship. Just as Charlotte Vale found a sense of belonging in helping Jerry's daughter, we all can find permanence when we show compassion to distressed people.
I am finding out more of the prodigious talents that Max Steiner possessed. The musical score in this movie was outstanding. To those who dismiss black and white movies as obsolete, you definitely need to see Now Voyager to find out why the Golden age of Hollywood is far superior to movie-making today.
I would recommend this movie to anyone who struggles with low self-esteem and self-doubt. No matter what trauma or bad experience you have had, you can still be the person you want to be when you receive Love and friendship. Just as Charlotte Vale found a sense of belonging in helping Jerry's daughter, we all can find permanence when we show compassion to distressed people.
I am finding out more of the prodigious talents that Max Steiner possessed. The musical score in this movie was outstanding. To those who dismiss black and white movies as obsolete, you definitely need to see Now Voyager to find out why the Golden age of Hollywood is far superior to movie-making today.
- godsnewworldiscoming-1
- Nov 12, 2006
- Permalink
This is what great film making is all about. Everything comes together in this classic movie, and Bette never looked more beautiful decked out in fabulous 1940's clothes designed by Orry-Kelly. Most everyone can relate to the downtrodden Charlotte Vale under the viscous thumb of her selfish mother. And who doesn't stand up and cheer when Charlotte defies her mother, finds love and starts to live her own life? Bette's performance is subdued, and there's no chewing up the scenery here because it's a great script that needs little enhancement. Filled with great lines and classic scenes, this is one film that every true classic film lover needs in their collection.
"Now, Voyager" is, perhaps, the 'perfect' soap opera, an "Ugly Duckling" romantic drama offering full measures of heart and heartbreak, joy and unrequited yet spiritually satisfying love. It is my favorite Bette Davis film, as it exemplifies her classic '40s persona; initially fragile but ready to bloom, she, is, ultimately, a survivor who, facing her destiny, embraces it with courage and confidence.
It's hard to believe that Davis, Warner's biggest female star, had to fight for the role of Charlotte Vale, but Olive Higgins Prouty's best-selling novel was such a strong potential star vehicle that a wide array of actresses, from Irene Dunne to Ginger Rogers, campaigned for the part. Davis was undaunted, however, and after meetings with producer Hal Wallis, succeeded in winning him over, then pressured the studio into borrowing Paul Henreid from RKO, as her leading man. The potent chemistry between the pair is a highlight of the film; who can forget the scenes of his lighting two cigarettes in his mouth, then handing one to Bette?
As brilliant as her performance is (earning her an Oscar nomination), the rest of the cast is equally good. Headed by Oscar nominee Gladys Cooper, as her selfish, dominating mother, and Claude Rains, as the brilliant, yet down-to-earth psychiatrist who turns the frumpy Vale into a radiant beauty, the characters mesh together seamlessly. Two supporting characters deserve special attention; Janis Wilson, as Henreid's love-starved daughter, succeeds as a younger variation of Davis; and young Mary Wickes, great fun as a plain-speaking, wise nurse, unafraid of the Dowager mother.
This is a film to cherish, from director Irving Rapper's masterful use of voice-over 'thoughts' of Vale, to Max Steiner's famous, wildly romantic score.
While "Now, Voyager" is, unabashedly, a 'Chick Flick', don't be surprised, female viewers, if the guy in your life becomes as big a fan of the film as you...Davis is the kind of heroine EVERYONE can cheer for!
It's hard to believe that Davis, Warner's biggest female star, had to fight for the role of Charlotte Vale, but Olive Higgins Prouty's best-selling novel was such a strong potential star vehicle that a wide array of actresses, from Irene Dunne to Ginger Rogers, campaigned for the part. Davis was undaunted, however, and after meetings with producer Hal Wallis, succeeded in winning him over, then pressured the studio into borrowing Paul Henreid from RKO, as her leading man. The potent chemistry between the pair is a highlight of the film; who can forget the scenes of his lighting two cigarettes in his mouth, then handing one to Bette?
As brilliant as her performance is (earning her an Oscar nomination), the rest of the cast is equally good. Headed by Oscar nominee Gladys Cooper, as her selfish, dominating mother, and Claude Rains, as the brilliant, yet down-to-earth psychiatrist who turns the frumpy Vale into a radiant beauty, the characters mesh together seamlessly. Two supporting characters deserve special attention; Janis Wilson, as Henreid's love-starved daughter, succeeds as a younger variation of Davis; and young Mary Wickes, great fun as a plain-speaking, wise nurse, unafraid of the Dowager mother.
This is a film to cherish, from director Irving Rapper's masterful use of voice-over 'thoughts' of Vale, to Max Steiner's famous, wildly romantic score.
While "Now, Voyager" is, unabashedly, a 'Chick Flick', don't be surprised, female viewers, if the guy in your life becomes as big a fan of the film as you...Davis is the kind of heroine EVERYONE can cheer for!
- onepotato2
- Aug 27, 2010
- Permalink
Now, Voyager is a brilliant film in every area, one where I am still trying to figure out why it took me so long to see it as a fan of classic film and as someone who considers All About Eve as one of her all-time favourites and Bette Davis' performance in it one of the all-time greats. Now, Voyager is beautifully produced, with each scene lushly photographed and with the costumes and sets very sumptuous, particularly striking at the end which has a real magical touch. There is also Irving Rapper's grand direction, which shows a director in command of what he wants, and an intelligent script that is sharp and provides a good amount of emotional impact(Davis' final line really resonated with me) without resorting to soap-opera-quality. The story is never dull and very poignant with a subtly gritty edge, the ending being romance at its absolute finest, with two scenes that have rightly gone down in cinematic history. One being Paul Henreid's lighting of two cigarettes and the other being Davis' speech which is a genuine tear-jerker. The ugly-duckling-turned-into-a-swan theme is a potentially hackneyed one but Now, Voyager is one of those rarities that does something truly special with it. Henreid is the personification of suave, Gladys Cooper is outstandingly formidable as the annoying over-bearing mother figure and Claude Rains, one of those rare actors who I've never seen a bad performance from, is beautifully sympathetic. The two best things about Now, Voyager are Bette Davis and Max Steiner's score. Davis is just fantastic in one of her greatest performances, a very close second to her iconic performance in All About Eve, she's never looked lovelier too. And Steiner's score is haunting, swells with emotion and romance and sounds in places almost symphonic, it's quite possibly his best score and Steiner penned some great ones. To conclude, a brilliant classic film that has nothing ugly about it, not even Janis Wilson's oft-criticised performance as Tina(which while she does overdo it a little I didn't have a problem with personally, there was a lot of heart to her role). 10/10 Bethany Cox
- TheLittleSongbird
- Aug 28, 2014
- Permalink
Let's face it - this 1942 Warner Bros film classic is a hoot. Directed by journeyman studio veteran Irving Rapper, it's an unabashed, only-in-Hollywood soap opera with Bette Davis at the peak of her popularity as she evolves from a distraught, overweight spinster to a glamorous Boston society social maven in about ten minutes. Probably to Tom Cruise's horror, it's also a big valentine to the positive effects of psychoanalysis, a "new" science which must have been viewed with a great deal of skepticism at the time. Yet for all its plot contrivances - and there are quite a few - this is ultimately sublime entertainment thanks mainly to the stellar performances and the simple fact that the story is never dull.
The plot focuses on heiress Charlotte Vale, a walking disaster of sheltered neurosis in sensible shoes and a virtual slave to one of the most dominating mothers in screen history. Charlotte's concerned sister-in-law Lisa brings Dr. Jaquith to the Vale mansion where he convinces Charlotte to seek psychiatric treatment at a posh sanitarium. Although still insecure after she leaves on a life-altering pleasure cruise, she finds inevitable romance with architect Jerry Durrance, who of course is married to an unstable woman. Overcome with guilt and breaking an engagement to an available prospect, Charlotte returns to the sanitarium, where she meets troubled young Tina, who of course turns out to be Jerry's daughter. From this ultimate contrivance, plot threads get sewn together in short order, cigarettes lit under the moonlight and Davis coos her big line, "Don't let's ask for the moon; we have the stars." In what amounts to a showcase for her versatility, Davis is superb in both before and after modes, even playing a romantic shipboard teenager with sincerity in a flashback sequence. Paul Henried plays Jerry with requisite Continental charm, but he is truly overmatched by Davis in their scenes together. Claude Rains fares better in the pivotal role of Dr. Jaquith providing his medical advice with convincing paternal authority and genuine warmth. Gladys Cooper - who would play the far warmer mother of Henry Higgins in "My Fair Lady" two decades later - portrays Charlotte's iron-willed mother in a sharply uncompromising manner befitting the intimidating stature she holds in the family. Broadway luminary Ilka Chase is fine in one of her few screen appearances as sympathetic Lisa, and Bonita Granville - grown-up since her sinister turn as the rumor-mongering child in William Wyler's "These Three" seven years earlier - plays the bratty niece June with enthusiasm. The print condition on the DVD is excellent, though there are no other extras included.
The plot focuses on heiress Charlotte Vale, a walking disaster of sheltered neurosis in sensible shoes and a virtual slave to one of the most dominating mothers in screen history. Charlotte's concerned sister-in-law Lisa brings Dr. Jaquith to the Vale mansion where he convinces Charlotte to seek psychiatric treatment at a posh sanitarium. Although still insecure after she leaves on a life-altering pleasure cruise, she finds inevitable romance with architect Jerry Durrance, who of course is married to an unstable woman. Overcome with guilt and breaking an engagement to an available prospect, Charlotte returns to the sanitarium, where she meets troubled young Tina, who of course turns out to be Jerry's daughter. From this ultimate contrivance, plot threads get sewn together in short order, cigarettes lit under the moonlight and Davis coos her big line, "Don't let's ask for the moon; we have the stars." In what amounts to a showcase for her versatility, Davis is superb in both before and after modes, even playing a romantic shipboard teenager with sincerity in a flashback sequence. Paul Henried plays Jerry with requisite Continental charm, but he is truly overmatched by Davis in their scenes together. Claude Rains fares better in the pivotal role of Dr. Jaquith providing his medical advice with convincing paternal authority and genuine warmth. Gladys Cooper - who would play the far warmer mother of Henry Higgins in "My Fair Lady" two decades later - portrays Charlotte's iron-willed mother in a sharply uncompromising manner befitting the intimidating stature she holds in the family. Broadway luminary Ilka Chase is fine in one of her few screen appearances as sympathetic Lisa, and Bonita Granville - grown-up since her sinister turn as the rumor-mongering child in William Wyler's "These Three" seven years earlier - plays the bratty niece June with enthusiasm. The print condition on the DVD is excellent, though there are no other extras included.
Though I haven't seen many of her movies, this is one of the better Bette roles I have seen so far. She was definitely at the height of her craft in the 1940's, and she handles the quite wordy dialogue in this movie like the true pro she was. I'm too young to know much about the era, but two things struck me about this movie. One is the running time - I was amazed to see a 2 hour movie coming out of 1942. But that definitely wasn't a drawback at all in this case. And two is the movie's almost sad ending. Without giving anything away, I'll just say that this movie must have been one of the first to end on an "almost but not quite" happily-ever-after note.
- Red-Barracuda
- Mar 27, 2011
- Permalink