Stella Dallas.In the final scene of Stella Dallas (1925), the title character stands in a dark city street in the rain, peering through a window at her daughter’s wedding. This famous image inescapably suggests a viewer gazing at a movie screen: the lighted square of the window, framed by lace-trimmed drapes, even closely matches the aspect ratio of films from the time. This resemblance adds a subtle element of self-commentary to the scene, in which Stella is both punished and exalted. Having exiled herself from her child’s life so as not to hold her back, she gets to witness the fruit of her sacrifice while paying the bitter price, as a policeman curtly orders the bedraggled woman to move along.When I saw Stella Dallas, newly restored by the Museum of Modern Art, at Il Cinema Ritrovato 2023 in Bologna, I responded to this scene exactly as I was...
- 9/20/2023
- MUBI
It ends with one of cinema’s most quotable lines of dialogue, as a chain-smoking Bette Davis slyly slows a Paul Henreid in his lukewarm wish to pursue a tenuous romance with her Charlotte Vale exclaiming, “Oh Jerry, don’t let’s ask for the moon. We have the stars.” The film, is of course, Now, Voyager (1942), borrowing its title from the Walt Whitman poem “The Untold Want” and adapted from a novel by Olive Higgins Prouty. It is, perhaps, the most quintessential of Bette Davis’ women’s pictures of her studio era days. If Joan Crawford was the star of melodramas as the woman from the wrong side of the tracks, Davis’ early days as leading lady tended towards women who transformed from ugly ducklings to elegant, ‘party favor’ swans (that is before 1950’s All About Eve would resurrect and revamp her screen image forever, equaled perhaps only by...
- 12/11/2019
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
This must be an official Bette Davis month… Criterion has two vintage Davis pictures on offer, and TCM is devoted to a roundup of the actress’s work as well. This one qualifies as the all-time champion Women’s Weepie, but one that holds up as a great picture on all levels. Director Irving Rapper guided this best-ever drama, in which a put-upon Ugly Duckling throws off oppressive familial chains and blossoms into a woman of the world. She then makes choices of personal nobility and selflessness, that will challenge anybody’s notions of saint-like deportment. It’s the kind of show normally gets discussed over coffee, not by film critics, so the extras on this one are especially interesting.
Now, Voyager
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 10004
1942 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 117 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date November 26, 2019 / 39.95
Starring: Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Gladys Cooper, Bonita Granville.
Now, Voyager
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 10004
1942 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 117 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date November 26, 2019 / 39.95
Starring: Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Gladys Cooper, Bonita Granville.
- 11/23/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Paul Henreid: From lighting two cigarettes and blowing smoke onto Bette Davis’ face to lighting two cigarettes while directing twin Bette Davises Paul Henreid is back as Turner Classic Movies’ Star of the Month of July 2013. TCM will be showing four movies featuring Henreid (Now, Voyager; Deception; The Madwoman of Chaillot; The Spanish Main) and one directed by him (Dead Ringer). (Photo: Paul Henreid lights two cigarettes on the set of Dead Ringer, while Bette Davis remembers the good old days.) (See also: “Paul Henreid Actor.”) Irving Rapper’s Now, Voyager (1942) was one of Bette Davis’ biggest hits, and it remains one of the best-remembered romantic movies of the studio era — a favorite among numerous women and some gay men. But why? Personally, I find Now, Voyager a major bore, made (barely) watchable only by a few of the supporting performances (Claude Rains, Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nominee...
- 7/10/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
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