Customer Reviews

Old Maid [VHS]

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Superlative soaper in which two cousins, Charlotte (Bette Davis) and Delia (miriam Hopkins) have the misfortune to love the same man, Clem (George Brent), with lifetime repercussions for both.

The film begins around the time of the Civil War. Clem returns home, only to find that the woman he loves, Delia, is getting married that same day. She is marrying a rich banker and, though she loves Clem, a ne'er do well, she wants security, so she goes through with the marriage. Seeing and seizing an opportunity, Charlotte declares herself to Clem, telling him how she has always loved him, as he goes off to fight in the war.

Duting the war, Charlotte manages to hook up with Clem long enough to get pregnant. While away, ostensibly to recover from an illness, she has Clem's out of wedlock baby, unbeknownst to the very married Delia. Clem, in the meantime is killed in action. When Charlotte returns home, she converts her stables into a foundling home for war orphans. Among them is a special favorite named Tina.

Charlotte decides to marry her cousin's brother-in-law. On the day of her wedding, Charlotte confesses to Delia what happened between her and Clem and tells her the truth about Tina. Delia, insanely jealous over this, puts a crimp in Charlotte's wedding plans. and the wedding never takes place.

Charlotte remains single and becomes a bitter and formidable woman whom Tina knows as Aunt Charlotte. Delia, meanwhile, has Tina call her "Mummy", much to Charlotte's chagrin. Delia is having the ultimate revenge, as she has never forgiven Charlotte for her amatory trespass. As Tina grows into womanhood, she speaks disparagingly to Charlotte, saving her love and adoration for "Mummy". As Tina approaches the age at which young women marry, Charlotte makes the ultimate sacrifice for her daughter. It is a sacrific that Tina will never know, but one that will allow Tina to have the hapiness that Charlotte never had.

Miriam Hopkins and Bette Davis give wonderful performances, each compelling in its own way. Charlotte's appearance toward the end of the film is a caricature of the proverbial old maid, while Delia remains youthful and vibrant. Undoubtedly, Charlotte's appearance is a result of her suffering, knowing that her own flesh and blood loves another, as a child love's its mother. This is a film that will long be remembered by the viewer for the performances given by these two divas.

I often think that "The Old Maid" has been unfairly forgotten by film historians and tends to get overshadowed by the other famous Davis vechicles of this time like "Dark Victory", "Now Voyager" and "The Letter".

Bette Davis has never been better than in the role of Charlotte Lovell a young lady who by one indiscretion is doomed to spend her life as a bitter old maid not being able to be a real mother to her daughter who turns to others for affection and guidance.

The film is justly famous as the first of two on screen teamings of Davis and Miriam Hopkins which resulted in fireworks on a daily basis as the two locked horns on every aspect of the production making it a nightmare assignment for talented director Edmund Goulding. The behind the scenes story of this production makes very amusing reading as two notorius scene stealers and grand dames went into daily war with each other. Amazingly this terrible tension however never shows on screen and the two women have a terrific screen chemistry that glows in one scene after another.

"The Old Maid" is a beautiful story that is nevertheless one full of tragedy, regret and pent up emotions. Davis's character has a brief affair with George Brent's character after Hopkins character passes him over to marry into money. The result is a child which Miriam Hopkins adapts and raises as her own . "Tina" the child, spends her youth calling Davis "Aunt Charlotte" and never does find out the truth about who her mother actually is. It is the stuff that great soaps are made of but the two actresses here carry it off beautifully and raise the story to great art.

George Brent, so often a co star in Davis vechicles here plays Clem Spencer, the object of both women's affection who is killed in the civil war. Brent's character dies less than half way through the film but his presence remains front and centre for the rest of the film and largely controls the lives of both women. He is very effective in his role and appears less stiff than he does in alot of Warner Bros 1940's vechicles. The great character actor Donald Crisp lends his usual dignified presence to this production. Crisp, an exceptional actor, I dont think ever gave a bad performance and here plays the family Doctor who witnesses over a number of years all the tragedy and heartbreak experienced by the two women and is the only one , with the exception of Hopkins's Delia, who knows Tina's real parentage.

The overraul look of the film is lavish and I feel it resembles an MGM production in some ways more than a Warner Bros one. Attention to sets and in particular costumnes and lighting is first class and in reality Bette Davis, long thought of as no great beauty in Hollywood here looks terrific and in the scene where she is in her own Wedding dress for her marriage which doesn't take place, she looks stunning.

"The Old Maid" has so many wonderfully touching moments and the one that never fails to move me is the concluding moment of the film after Tina's own wedding has taken place and where finally Delia and Charlotte are able to unite and put aside past grievances and regrets and walk arm in arm back through the front door which closes behind them. Never fails to bring great emotion forward!!!

As a less well known film of Bette Davis I know you will be very moved by this excellent production which I would rate among her top 5 performances.

This melodrama / tearjerker is fairly typical of Hollywood from the 1930s to the 1960s - a basically decent woman breaks the moral code of her day and pays dearly for it. The story is interesting, but its biggest asset is Bette Davis' rather subdued performance as Charlotte Lovell, the woman who pays the price. Made in 1939, the film is from Davis' golden period. She was nominated for an Academy Award every year from 1939 to 1943. While her work here is strong, she received no special acclaim for it, possibly because the role is so similar to the one she played in the superior "Jezebel", for which she won an Oscar in 1939.

The movie begins during the Civil War. Socialite Delia Lovell [Miriam Hopkins] is about to be wed, and her cousin Charlotte is in attendance. When Delia learns that the man she promised to marry two years earlier is in town, she sends Charlotte to beg him not to make a scene. The guy is one Charlotte is secretly in love with, and she winds up consoling him in a very intimate fashion. Several years pass. The man has been killed in the war, and Charlotte is running a home for war orphans. When Delia learns that one of the children is actually one Charlotte had out of wedlock and that the father was the dead soldier, she destroys Charlotte's chance to marry a very prominent man. In a cruel twist of fate, Charlotte's daughter grows up in Delia's home and is led to believe that her mother is her aunt.

Bette Davis was a rather unusual star for her time because she was also a consummate actress. As such, she demanded roles in which glamour and beauty were often cast aside. Stunningly pretty in the first part of the movie, she spends the rest of it heavily made up to look like a dowdy old maid aunt. It's a startling transformation. By contrast, her co-star, Ms. Hopkins, typical of female stars at the time, barely ages at all. Hopkins actually gives a sensitive, studied performance, but, because of her determination to portray her character as realistically as possible, Davis totally dominates the picture.

The photography and the sets are first-rate. The script seems a little truncated, and I wonder if the print we have today is an edited one that the studio made for second run engagements. [This was a common practice in those days.] The score by Max Steiner is not one of his best and relies heavily on stock music, such as Old My Darling Clementine and Wagner's Wedding March. But when would he have had the time to compose one of his full, lush scores for the movie? He worked on at least a dozen movies that year. One of those was "Gone With the Wind".

The long-standing rivalry between Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins makes this movie pop off the screen. Miriam is the beautiful cousin who has it all while Bette walks in the shadows. When Bette confesses that her illegitimate child was fathered by Miriam's old flame, Miriam seeks revenge. One of the most profitable films of 1939, this film has been well-preserved and still packs a thundering punch as one of the greatest cat fights of the silver screen.

Bette Davis stars as an unmarried mother in 1870's America who allows her wealthier, widowed cousin Miriam Hopkins to raise her daughter, thus saving the child and herself from any scandal. The child's father, George Brent, was Hopkins' former fiance, and was killed in the Civil War. Needless to say, it's a painful thing to watch her daughter calling another woman Mother. Davis gives a sympathetic, tightly controlled performance that anchors the film. Hopkins' character isn't well defined, although she manages to give the character some dimension. Brent, in the presence of these two actresses staking their territories, is his customary non-presence. Jane Bryan, as the grown up daughter, again shows that it is too bad her career in Hollywood didn't last more than a few years. She's excellent as the spoiled, headstrong girl. The film has a number of quiet, moving moments, although I found the pacing a little slow. Of course, this isn't the ideal subject matter for me in a film, but I do recognize the quality of the film. I think fans of melodrama and Davis will certainly want to make a point of seeing this movie. I think there are other better unwed mother films, but this one also delivers.

What could possible be better than watching a great Bette Davis movie on a cold and rainy day. Watching "The Old Maid" starring Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins on a cold and rainy day. Put a little brandy in that hot chocolate and sit back and enjoy the fine performances of these two wonderful actresses. Bette Davis is in top form as the victim in this "in the name of love" story. Whats also surprising and most enjoyable is Miriam Hopkins ability to not let Bette steal the whole show. Hopkins gives every line thought and timing and manages to have you figuring out just who Deliah really is. The story of two cousins and their unique relationship. Take another sip, relax...

A beautiful and touching story with Bette Davis, as a young lady who sees her cousin Delia get all the luck, when Margaret starts a home for abandoned children and also her illigimate daughter. But after her foundation is closed she moves in with her Cousin who infatuates the child.

The 31 year old Bette Davis ages thirty years in the part of Charlotte Lowell, an unwed mother who bears a daughter soon after the father is killed in the Civl War. Taken away by Charlotte's treacherous cousin Delia, the child's misguided devotion is won by Delia, while the once lovely Charlotte deteriorates into a sever tight lipped sour old maid.

Great film for the bette Davis fan.

Lush and yet beautifully quiet, `The Old Maid' is one of those films that you may never see because its stars went on to make more noted films, but that's what makes discovering this beautiful film all the more exciting. With stellar performances by the entire cast (especially a young and remarkably mature Bette Davis) and a script that will leave you in tears, `The Old Maid' is the definition of a hidden gem.

Coming out in the year of all years (1939), it is easy to see how a film like `The Old Maid' could be overlooked with sweeping Hollywood epics and starry-eyed fairytales devouring the critical bests of the year. Bette Davis herself starred in a slew of films this very year, and wound up Oscar nominated for her turn in `Dark Victory'. Despite that, it is a shame that `The Old Maid' walked away without a mere mention at the Academy Awards, for it is a beautifully told and crafted film about love, life and sacrifice.

Charlotte and Delia are cousins. On the outset of the film, the wealthy and rather spoiled Delia is getting married, only to find that her lover, Clem, has finally returned from war to make her his bride. She maintains composure and goes through with her wedding, while Charlotte confesses her love for Clem and soon finds herself pregnant with his child, only to hear of his death overseas. Instead of acknowledge her child, Charlotte lives as if Clementina is just an orphan staying in the orphanage she helps manage. When Charlotte is about to wed Delia's brother-in-law her secret is revealed and her life is thrust into turmoil. In order to care for her daughter the best way possible, Charlotte winds up moving in with Delia and soon finds that her own daughter starts gravitating towards Delia and considers her, her mother.

Thus, Charlotte becomes nothing but an old maid.

Davis is spectacular here, for she really understands the heartbreak that her character is undergoing. She emulates that sheltered love very well, wearing a mask of harshness that is lifted ever so lightly by the devastation and pain in her eyes. Miriam Hopkins is also quite good here (she reminds me a lot of Lana Turner in her roles in films like `Imitation of Life'), but Davis acts circles around her (Davis does have the meatier role). I also really adored Donald Crisp here (such a standout supporting player he was) and Jane Bryan's frustrated tantrums were effectively handled without ever straying into that `actorly' territory.

In the end I really, really must recommend this film. It is such a beautiful portrayal of parental love and sacrifice. The pre-wedding night scene, where Charlotte enters her daughter's room, is just so heart-swelling; and that final kiss carries such emotional weight. This film captures the true meaning of parenthood, even if this extreme case is one that hopefully we will never have to endure.

An understated Davis meets up with overcooked Hopkins resulting in a wonderful classic Warner's women's picture. Much has been written about the rivalry between Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins over the years since they worked together in several films. And each time I see one of their films I look for some hint that they hated each other. It cannot be found! These two were professional actress who never disappointed their fans or put anything above the story.

Hopkins seems to our modern movie going eyes to often be over wrought and stagy. But often that is in fact the character and not her. She seems to be over done here but is in fact quite wonderful. By the end of the film you are aware of her power as a screen actress. Her later work in such films as "The Children's Hour" shows that she was indeed a brilliant and subtle actress.

Bette Davis here gives one of her deepest and most restrained performances and is utterly winning from first frame to the heartbreaking last shot of the film. She shows us just how wide her range is and her understanding of film acting is as she goes from a gorgeous young girl tragically in love with George Brent to a repressed hard old maid who must bare her shame with steely resolve and solitude of soul.

A wonderful film well worth seeing time and again for in the end, it's all about the ladies!

"The Old Maid", based on an Edith Wharton play which was dated even in 1939, is a sturdy old warhorse about 2 cousins who both love George Brent. Miriam Hopkins rejects him for marriage to wealth and position and Bette Davis gives berth to his daughter out of wedlock. The film is a tour-de-force for Davis as she ages into a withered spinster, watching as Hopkins takes over the role of mother of her foundling. This is all pretty melodramatic stuff but Davis has the talent and skill to make her role very moving. Unfortunately, she is paired with that dreadful Miriam Hopkins, an actress who never missed an opportunity to gesture when it wasn't required and manages to foul up the bitterness between the 2 women by playing for sympathy and not ageing at all. No wonder Davis loathed her offscreen. The film is a sumptuous studio product and the DVD print is excellent.

The package comes with a comprehensive set of mainly mediocre extras, part of Warner's Night at the Movies, the best of which are the cartoons. The technicolour short on Abraham Lincoln may be a reasonable history lesson but it is artificial and dull. The trailer for "Confessions of a Nazi Spy", another Warner Brother's release of 1939, emphasises the studio's reputation for tackling topical issues.

The DVD is good value if purchased as part of the Davis Collection Volume 3.