Customer Reviews

Winter Meeting [VHS]

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

 

 

I hadn't seen this movie in years since it used to play on Tv quite often. When the NY Times would give their one-line reviews in the TV listings they'd describe it as "talk, talk, talk..." Indeed it is a chatty film, if not slightly slow and a bit plodding. And the story is highly unfathomable.

Basically Bette plays a very soigne spinster living in an extremely stylish Manhattan brownstone beautifully furnished with family heirlooms. She's a poetess and works part-time in a publishing house, just to pass the time between stylish dinners in which she's dressed in severe black sequined evening clothes that scream softly with high style. Her famous Davis diction is the best ever, with perfect WASP yankee stage speech coating every word. Some of the dialogue is fabulous.

This repressed but awfully stylish spinster falls for a gorgeous hunk of a war hero who in the middle of their romance reveals that he's always wanted to be a priest! This scene allows Davis to deliver what must be a classic of a sexually repressed female who's suddenly been awakened to fall back into the lonely snakepit of her life.The look on her face and the clenching of her hands is high melodrama that would make Joan Crawford look like Betty Boop. It's not a great film by any means; but for Davis fans it's a forgotten vehicle that should be seen.

This is a largely mediocre film with a story that is somewhat implausible. Bette Davis stars as Susan Grieve, a well to do poetess living in a very plush townhouse in New York City. She dresses divinely in black for all her social engagements and is articulate and low key in demeanor. She is a single woman in an era when such were called spinsters. She leads a well ordered life devoid of any romantic interests.

Enter a romantic war hero with the improbable name of Slick Novak, played by the boyishly good looking and earnest James Davis. It seems that our hero is invited out to dinner by an upper crust friend of Ms. Grieve named Stacey, wonderfully played by the urbane John Hoyt. Stacey also invites Ms. Grieve, as well as his secretary, played by the lusciously lovely Janis Paige. Stacey believes that Slick will fall for his secretary, when to his and everyone's surprise, Slick falls for the prim and proper Susan.

Susan awakens under the tender and romantic ministrations of Slick and finds herself falling in love. She is brought up short, however, when he discloses that he always wanted to be a priest and appears to be in some personal turmoil over it. Shortly after his disclosure, he suddenly pulls the rug out from under Susan. What follows is somewhat difficult to fathom and the movie, which had started out promisingly, begins to collapse. The only thing that saves the film are the wonderful performances by the cast.

Ms. Davis gives a memorable performance as a woman who comes out of her shell and becomes more three dimensional. James Davis is credible as an angst ridden war hero who falls in love with the reluctant Susan, who, as the viewer discovers, has her own secret, inner turmoil. John Hoyt is delightful as Susan's well to do, dapper and socially prominent confidant and friend. Janis Paige, as a young working woman on the make, succeeds in her role. Unfortunately, the screen play misses its mark and, what could have been a great movie, is merely mediocre, worthy only for the notable performances given by the cast. The performance by Ms. Davis, in particular, makes the film worth watching, despite the somewhat plodding script.

Winter Meeting is a film unlike any you have every seen with Miss Davis. it is the story of an introverted New England poetess who meets a Navy hero at a dinner in New York. Despite their obvious differences, something clicks and they gravitate towards each other, more out of loneliness than anything else, atleast at first. Miss Davis is just superb in a very different and difficult role and James Davis is also just fine as the lonely and confused young man. Their many scenes together are talky and perhaps boring to some, but these 2 people are reaching out for something that even they are not sure of. The only sure thing is their own unhappiness, despite their apparent successes in their chosen field. The rest of the cast is quite insignificant, except for John Hoyt, who is quite entertaining in a Clifton Webb-type role. Janis Paige and Florence Bates, two wonderful supporting players, are pretty much wasted. This film, though, is way ahead of its time in its honest examination of relationships between 2 very ordinary souls. An added bonus is a beautiful Max Steiner score. This one is well worth watching.

I cannot add anything to the plot synopses detailed here by other reviewers. All I have to say about this film is that it is indeed worth a look, if simply to see Bette Davis past her prime years at Warner Bros.

The film is talky and if you can sit through it all in one sitting without snoozing from time to time....(I had to watch it four times before I could see it all .....)....you are a great Bette Davis fan and my hat is off to you!

This film does have its memorable moments and it is interesting to watch Davis subdued and restrained. The last shot of the film is particularly moving.

It is no surprise that this film did not do well at the box office when it was released in 1948. Jack Warner, head of production at Warners was tired of Bette at this point and it would only take two more films before he was rid of her. Studio politics were rampant in Hollywood and forgetting all the millions she made for the studio in the past, relegated her to mediocrity in films like Winter Meeting.

However, the film does have its merits....the acting is good (Davis pulls it up to her level and Jim Davis is properly convincing as a war hero torn between a vocation for marriage and a vocation to the priesthood.)

Davis made far worse debacles in her career and this film is different because it features Bette in a 'quiet' role for a change.......not one full of hammy mannerisms that tended to taint a lot of her other performances. But as she once said, "MY acting hammy is what the public expects". It is interesting to see a different side of her.

Based upon a novel by Ethel Vance, this movie has long been hailed as a "turkey" and the "talkiest piece of 1948". WINTER MEETING however, if anything, confirmed Davis as the best actress of her time. In her imperious moments, she is mannered, but in her quieter moments, there is no one as relaxed or able to suggest a "thinking woman". She plays a spinster publisher involved with a naval hero (Jim Davis, later known as Jock Ewing on TV's DALLAS), a relationship likely to be futile, since he wants to become a priest. This actor's lumbering integrity is quite convincing, but at the time, he shared in the opprobrium cast upon the film by reviewers, possibly bewildered by a SUGGESTION of depth and an almost complete lack of melodrama. The ending is trite, but under Bretaigne Windust's (what a name!) direction, the film is sharp on certain strata of New York society, and Catherine Turney's dialogue, if anything, avoids cliches. In other words, it's a rather implausible and mediocre curiousity for those in the mood to listen to some very classy (albeit very twenties - almost Noel Cowardish) dialogue eloquently spoken by La Davis.

A note to the Studios - Please release this Bette Davis film on DVD. My VHS copy is unplayable after watching it repeatedly over the years. I love this flick. It's not the usual Bette Davis film which makes it very, very, special. Fine performances by everyone.

The plot synopsis and excellence of acting is mentioned in other reviews.

However, the psychological crises depicted in this story are dramatic and timeless. An adapted screenplay, I wonder how much of the book was unable to translate to film. I imagine the book probed far deeper into the main characters, Susan Grieve and Slick Novak.

I don't think it's an accident the author chose the last name "Grieve", as the character is still in grief from her father's death. This character wearing mostly black clothing stood out especially in the beginning of the movie, I wondered "who died?". She is troubled on a deep level regarding her mother. Her mother left the house while she was quite young and was, apparently, responsible for her father's (a pastor) broken heart and ultimate demise just five years before this story plays out.

Novak is a troubled war hero, who shuns the newspaper headlines of his return home and the hometown parade in his honor. Instead, we find him seemingly an alcoholic who doesn't care a bit about his "hero" status. The revelation of why he shuns this status is believable, the submarine from which he saved a few lives was later torpedoed and all were killed. Hollywood's grand portrayals of war often omit the trauma which some soldiers experience, something now called Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSS).

Bette Davis and Jim Davis do an excellent job of delivering the subtle nuances of these troubled characters, despite a lackluster script. Yet, the overarching theme of this story is of forgiveness. In Grieve's case, forgiving Novak and then her mother, mostly due to Novak's intervention. In Novak's case, I believe he forgives himself for the pride bestowed upon a hero. He comes to terms with his past and sees hope in fulfilling his dream of becoming a priest. Despite the many flaws of this film, this theme is delivered forcefully. Forgiveness is a complex emotional journey, this is one of the best films I've seen about it. The character development happens near the end of the film, climaxing in the final scene. It brought me to tears.

I'm a huge Bette Davis fan but definately not blind to her bad movies.
I think she's horrible in The Star, pointless in Mr. Skeffington and wasted in June Bride and boring in A Stolen Life. Having said that she's quite good in this film and not too mannered. Nice to have religion thrown in the mix and forgiveness. I didn't like this movie when I was younger because it is so talky but as an older adult I can now appreciate the themes. And fashion being my primary love...well, the clothes are quite nice and I don't think the movie said who designed them.
Oh, and a quirky note. I think Bette is GREAT in Beyond the Forest----and I don't mean campy great either. I thought her anger and frustration were dead on.