The Heiress - the movie.

Clift and de Havilland in The Heiress.

Of course. Everyone here has seen it. It's a great movie.

BOLT the Door!

Miriam Hopkins who attempts to have her niece's best interests at heart.

The movie is going to released on Criterion blu-ray soon and I am looking forward to picking it up.

Montgomery Clift - a stunner, even in the rain.

R3 Yup, she did bolt the door.

Loved the play with Cherry Jones. My neighbor gave me the DVD, but haven't watched it yet.

"He came back with the same lies."

Olivia at her peak. Clift at his most beautiful. Hopkins at her most fussy.

Someone frequently posts this photo of de Havilland as a prudish woman, so here it is again.

The greatest scene is Catherine's big showdown with her father that begins with her saying, "Morris deserted me," and ends a few minutes later with her saying, "That's right, Father--you'll never know, will you?"

Her revenge on Morris at the end is nothing compared to that scene. Her father was her real formidable enemy: Morris was just small potatoes.

R9 Yes, Clift was very beautiful.

Gold digger or not, don't let that gorgeous man get away!

I saw this on Broadway with Jeasica Chastain...if was a'right

What a great cast.

"The Lady Heir"

I always thought Clift was miscast in this one - I'm not sure what Morris is supposed to look like in the original play but I think babyfaced Clift wasn't right for the role - I think someone a bit more mature-looking would be better for that role.

Clift is perfect actually. He has a nice bad boy aspect to him that makes Morris more interesting.

Glad someone mentioned Cherry Jones. She's the best Catherine I've ever seen, even better than deHavilland who I find a bit affected in her acting in general.

Chastain was a disaster. She should be banned from the stage for that performance. Dan Stevens as Morris was just dull (and he was pudgy).

There's another film version of this story, using the title of James' novella Washington Square, with a badly miscast Jennifer Jason Leigh as Catherine. Ben Chaplin as Morris was pretty good though.

A slightly younger Armie Hammer could have been a good Morris, I think.

It's a brilliant film. Every modulation and development in her character (and the plot) is just pitched so precisely. I was never a huge de Havilland fan but this is one of the most 'well-measured' performances, and certainly one of the best to win Best Actress. From her vulnerable, childlike aura at the dance towards the beginning of the film, to her cold, jaded, unmerciful stares at the end. Also that slow walk back up the staircase the night he doesn't meet her is *painful*.

The rest of the cast is great too (I loved Hopkins), and there's a very heavy, almost noirish feel to the film even though it doesn't rely on style or tropes. Just an underlying darkness.

*"Yes, I can be very cruel... I have been taught by masters."*

"The Heiress" is an excellent stage play. If you get a chance to see it in a theater, buy a ticket. The ending, when seen live is so powerful and yet, very sad.

I feel the same way about "The Little Foxes". It's an excellent adaptation of a play (although the ending was made a bit more "Hollywood"). I saw a stage production of TLF with Stockard Channing as Regina and man did the show pack a punch.

I'll bet Cherry Jones was great. As noted above, OD had her best moment when finally confronting the father. My favorite RR lines: "But, Catherine, your mother was fair...she dominated the color." "She embroiders neatly."

But Armie Hammer?!

Great, great film. Have seen it several times over the years and can't wait to purchase the Criterion Blu Ray. Also think this is Olivia's best performance.

As R18 mentioned above, there's a remake (called Washington Square), although I liked Jennifer Jason Leigh much more than he did. Plus it had Albert Finney & Maggie Smith in it.

Good movie, but “iconic”?

She ghosted him. I approve.

Saw the play with Jessica Chastain and whatsisname from that show (Dan Stevens).

[quote] Also that slow walk back up the staircase the night he doesn't meet her is *painful*.

I read that they put weights in de Havilland's dress to make the walk up the stairs even more ponderous.

I've had this debate before with other fans of the movie - so here's my take....

I think having Morris return at the end and where he appears to even now "want her love" has finally freed Catherine from not just Morris but from her dead father's cruelty as well.

The scene before the return of Morris, where she is with her cousin (who was engaged at the beginning of the film) and the cousin's children, indicates that once again Catherine has refused their offer of a visit and that Catherine never leaves the house on the square.

I think that the look on Catherine's face as she goes upstairs at the end means also that she is now free of both of those men and she is no longer tethered to that house as there is no more unfinished business.

As for the remake - it was ridiculous with Catherine running a day care for working mothers. (No, I am not kidding).

I was shocked and disappointed to read the Henry James novella Washington Square, on which the play and screenplay are based, to find the source material not nearly as strong as the adaptations. The husband and wife writing team of Ruth and Augustus Goetz wrote both play and screen adaptations.

The original film is certainly one of director William Wyler's best efforts. Olivia is magnificent in her slow and gradual realization of self-knowledge and Clift couldn't be more perfect as Morris.....even knowing he's a scoundrel, we as the audience root for him. And Ralph Richardson and Miriam Hopkins create incredibly complex characters.

There are no villains and no heroes in this story.

I believe it was not Olivia's dress that was weighted down in that scene of her trudging up the staircase after Morris has jilted her, but the suitcases that she carried. Apparently, Wyler made her do the scene 40+ times to get the take he wanted.

A lovely early and revealing scene in the film is Richardson as Dr. Sloper (the father) with the housemaid Mariah, where we see he has more comfort and ease with her than the next scene he plays with his awkward daughter.

And then there's the brilliant scene late in the film where Dr. Sloper is confronted by Morris' elder sister, in which he learns so much.

[quote]Olivia de Havilland won the Oscar for her portrayal of a timid, dowdy, insecure spinster

Hardly a stretch for her.

I saw it on stage with Richard Chamberlain, Heather Tom, and Julia Duffy. (And "That's So Raven's" Anneliese Van Der Pol!)

ROP I would disagree with you about the father being well-meaning. He is cruel and unloving, a master of cruelty.

R28 Yes, the original book is a drag. If I remember correctly, the two best scenes in the film (waiting for the carriage to arrive and the ending) are not from James at all, but were invented for the play.

Wow, it didn't take much to make her ugly, did it? Just scrape the make-up off.

In the beginning she is initially awkward and frightened of her handsome suitor's advances.

Nice to see you youngsters , still enjoy my magnificent tour de force .

I have not seen this, so I searched the TCM films on demand site, and it's not there. Found it at this location:

https://archive.org/details/TheHeiress

Next time you watch the movie, pay attention to Olivia's voice. In the beginning it is high, light, girlish. As the movie progresses her voice gets deeper, slower, and dark. It's subtle but a great performance by her.

[quote] I was shocked and disappointed to read the Henry James novella Washington Square, on which the play and screenplay are based, to find the source material not nearly as strong as the adaptations.

The play is much more melodramatic than the book, but the novel has a much more intelligent (and finer) sense of ethics and of human character. The play is about the joys of seeking revenge; the novel is about transcending the need for revenge.

OK, Prof! Whatever. You keep Henry James.

I'll take the Goetzes.

A great example of why period hairstyles are not usually employed in Hollywood costume dramas. All of Catherine's severe hairstyles are accurate to the period. They used them in this movie specifically because they are ugly and unflattering to modern eyes.

I think the film is a masterpiece. Great performances all round. Olivia could match that performance against a lot of actresses these days and still come out on top. I think the father is a cruel,unfeeling asshole. What surprises Olivia's character is that, like Morris, she assumed he loved her. He loved her mother but not the child. It is the discovery of his lack of real love that changes the light in Olivia's face- only great actresses can make you see a million emotions at once. She realizes that she has lived a with lie with her father. That is what makes her grow cold. She is cold because her father has trapped her due to his money not for her welfare. He has trapped her because he assumed the rest of the world would find her ugly as well. When she states " Bolt the Door" to me she is bolting her heart from the hypocrisy of men. Oddly she is physically cold in face in the beginning and yet internally cold in the end. She doesn't even trust the maid's compliment. Beautiful but cold. The irony is so well done.

Trivia: William Wyler had more actors win Oscars or get nominations under his watch than any other director

I always had the feeling that toward the end of the movie Olivia was playing herself.

Remind me, please: Did Catherine's mother die in childbirth? Does that have a lot to do with her father's resentment of her?

Richardson did not understand Clift's acting style and the two clashed, according to the TCM write-up for the movie.

I agree, R37. I have noticed that as well. By the end, her voice is not only colder but deeper, practically stentorian. It's a great effect. And she looks great in that final outfit. I agree it is her best role; far better, than GWTW. Montgomery is perfectly suited for the role.

But her coldness in the end is not complete.

The scene with her cousin and her cousin's children before Morris returns shows a lovely Catherine because she knows that the cousin and the children really love her for herself.

I think this scene is important not just because it shows the passage of time and the fact that Catherine never leaves the house on the square but that she still thinks about Morris. Note how she behaves as she walks back through the passage (after bidding farewell to her cousin) when she slows as she passes the place where she had met with Morris. It's been a while since I've seen it, but I seem to remember the music here is reminiscent of the "romance" with Morris.

I think that her finally bolting the door and locking Morris out permanently is an action to finally frees her from both her father and Morris.

I like to think that she may eventually accept her cousin's invitation and leave that house.

I was never really a fan of Olivia's, but she won me over with this film, which I saw about a month ago. She is wonderful throughout, but really captures the painfully awkward girl of the film's beginning.

R43 Yes, she died giving birth to Catherine.

Cherry Jones was indeed wonderful in it. Saw her at the Ahmanson.

[quote]There's another film version of this story, using the title of James' novella Washington Square, with a badly miscast Jennifer Jason Leigh as Catherine.

Hated it too, she almost acted physically disabled like she'd had a stroke or something

Believe it or not, a number of years ago Tom Cruise and a Hollywood producer were thinking of remaking The Heiress with Tom being the handsome gold digger. After viewing the movie they decided it was complete and couldn't be improved on. Good! If they had carried on it would simply have turned into another Tom Cruise starring vehicle with him getting many of the scenes and the female lead being chopped down. Don't mess with perfection!

I saw Jessica Chastain on Broadway, what a horrible performance and production! Later i saw Cherry Jones perform the role and she was amazing. I think the movie is impeccably cast. Thanks for the posting

I love the movie.

By the end of the movie Catherine has wised up to Morris and does exactly to him what he did to her a few years earlier.

The novel and the play both work well on their own terms. A solitary reader can appreciate the subtlety of the book but a live audience needs the red meat of revenge that Catherine so deliciously doles out on her father and on Morris. The only other option an audience would tolerate would be a happy reunion between a now truly-in-love couple, just as Aunt Penniman desired. How much worse a betrayal of Henry James would that be!

The play makes many significant changes from the novel not the least of which is truncating the action. This adds a neat layer to the doctor's decision to take Catherine to Europe. In the play and movie, his sudden illness upon their return suggests that the trip itself has compromised his health. In spitefully ruining Catherine's life, he has inadvertently shortened his own.

In the novel, he does not fall ill and die until many years after Catherine is jilted. The only spiteful revenge she takes upon him there is to not promise to never seek out Morris after the doctor has died. She remains otherwise dutiful to him, right up until his death. He cuts her out of his will anyway, apart from allowing her the lifetime tenancy of the house.

By the time Morris returns in the novel, he is fat and bald and bearded in middle age. There is no pretense of any further romance for him and Catherine. It's all much more sensible and believable than Catherine's becoming as cold and calculating as her tormentors. But of course it's nowhere near as fun as watching her turn the tables on those assholes the way she does in the play and movie.

A seldom mentioned minor but important part of this film is the Academy Award winning score by Aaron Copeland. Copeland did very few film scores but they are all considered classics.

[quote] The play is about the joys of seeking revenge

And we all know where that leads.

[quote]Copeland. Copeland

Copland. Copland

Thank you for that great piece of trivia, R56!

I always thought Angela Lansbury would have been wonderful in this role

In an interview Olivia bitches about Richardson as an upstager, flapping gloves and fiddling with buttons etc, Wyler assured her his antics were out of shot. On stage Richardson liked to have the first and last line of any scene , if this wasn't scripted he would add an 'aaaah' or 'hmmmm'.

R21, I think Hammer is a better actor than most here. Also, he could play a callow opportunist quite well. God knows he'd be better than Dan Stevens was in the last misbegotten Broadway revival.

R52, not sure how you could have seen Cherry Jones "later" than Chastain. Jones did the play in 1995 and Chastain did it in 2012.

Joan tried out for the role and had everyone was in stitches at her performance - she so bad. She may have been a big star but she lacked the depth needed by an accomplished actress to play the crucial scene necessary in The Heiress that only the likes of Olivia could have played.

Thank you, Bette dear—I was taught by masters.

Hopkins must have been a challenge. You can see she wants to steal every scene she's in and Wyler needing to beat that impulse out of her.

Monty is perfect.

Fun fact: Richardson was only 13 years older than deHavilland.

But the character Miriam Hopkins plays, Aunt Lavinia Penniman, also wants to steal every scene she's in, so it's really brilliant casting. She thinks it's all about her all the time.

R68 The End.

[QUOTE]I saw Jessica Chastain on Broadway, what a horrible performance and production! Later i saw Cherry Jones perform the role and she was amazing. I think the movie is impeccably cast. Thanks for the posting

Are you a time traveler?

Or else Jessica is, r70.

i love Cherry Jones but I disagree on why the father hates his daughter.

DL-fave Princess Tinymeat never looked better on film.

[quote]I always thought Angela Lansbury would have been wonderful in this role.

Indeed and years later she would have been an inspired Aunt Penniman.

I don't think there is a Dem candidate that can unite all Dem voters.

Ooops!

I like old movies, too.

In the movie they toned down how evil and calculating Montgomery Clift's character was.

Clift watching his own performance on screen.

It's been a while since I read Washington Square but I don't remember Henry James painting Morris as evil, r77. Calculating, yes.

But that's what's really so much more brilliant about the film in Clift's performance and the directing and writing. Morris comes off more complex and sympathetic and his motives are more ambiguous. I think he makes you believe he really cares for Catherine and could offer her a happier life.

Turning on the charm.

Mr. Handsome could even play the piano.

Kisses her hand a temporary goodbye while a disapproving Dad looks on.

I like the ending of the novel, with Catherine in the parlor picking up her fancy-work "for life, as it were".

Who played Morris in the Cherry Jones production? And Dr. Sloper in that and the Chastain productions? Hard to imagine anyone being better than Richardson.

R84, Jon Tenney played Morris in the revival with Cherry Jones. He was fine (heaps better than Dan Stevens), but he was no Clift. The late Philip Bosco was Dr. Sloper - excellent, but not quite on Richardson's level.

David Strathairn, an actor I usually like a lot, was Sloper in the revival with Chastain. He clearly wanted to do a different take on the character, but he wasn't nearly intimidating enough to make the central plot line work. A totally misconceived performance, but Stevens and especially Chastain were so much worse, he didn't come off as badly on a superficial level.

The director of the revival with Jones was Gerald Gutierrez, a generally fine director. The far less talented Moises Kaufman directed the Chastain disaster.

R11 ITA on the riveting takedown of her father. That's when the drama heightens and the chemistry between the actors really cooks. Forget de Havilland and Clift; it's all about de Havilland and Richardson. I could watch that scene again and again and never tire of it.

We shouldn't forget the difference in ages between Clift and Olivia- which makes the relationship so much more complicated. It's also the first film that really uses Clift's looks against him because we see that is all he really is playing with.

Monty and Livy were only 4 years apart, but they seem like they're from two different showbiz generations.

Yes, Livy was already a screen legend as far back as the mid '30s having starred in blockbusters like Captain Blood, the Adventures of Robin Hood and GWTW. Monty was a totally new face in the late 40's.

Morris plays "Plaisir d'amour", and Elvis' "Can't Help Falling In Love With You" is in fact a modern English version.

Montgomery Clift had a lot more going for him than just fantastic looks.

R91 I agree. What Clift manages to do so deftly is keep us guessing about his character's motivation to the end. He beautifully conveys an unsettling ambiguity underneath that charm, as if he could go in any direction at any time. He also does it with a light touch, letting de Havilland commands the lead. Can you imagine another actor of that era doing a better job? I'm truly asking because I'm not able to think of anyone else.

Livvie nailed that emotion during that scene, R90. She's flattered, embarrassed, thrilled. What a performance.

I loved it!

[quote] ... Forget de Havilland and Clift; it's all about de Havilland and Richardson. I could watch that scene again and again and never tire of it.

R86, I never tire of watching Ralph Richardson do anything. He wasn't handsome and didn't have a mesmerizing voice like Richard Burton or riveting eyes like Claude Rains, but there was always something about him that drew all of my attention.

A fantastic work of art.

So many moments to savor:

Catharine's aversion to the beheading of the fish bookended with her gloating final snip of the thread of her completed sampler as she symbolically castrates Morris---and all men---and retreats from society...

….their magnificent reunion in the rain, which wouldn't work anywhere near as well without the frantic ostinato of the violins in Copland's magnificent (if bowdlerized) score....

...Dr Sloper's cool and totally condescending manner, born of pain and loss, when addressing his daughter...

...the swooningly romantic scene when Morris serenades Catharine with Martini's Plaisir de Amour...

….the terrifying yet pitiable moment when Catharine, realizing she has been stood up, tears off her traveling cloak and paces the room, lamenting, "Morris! Morris! Morris!"

I could go on and on....

An amazing movie, that cast, that music!

And a nuance few see: later Catherine in her bitterness is more attractive (and Olivia wears better makeup). Her traumatic liaison with Morris left her calloused, but mature and aroused.

One favorite scene moment (among dozens), when Morris's sister meets Catherine, and suddenly realizes that Morris is probably a cad.

Here's Pauline Kael:

The Heiress US (1949): Drama 115 min, No rating, Black & White, Available on videocassette This William Wyler production is very likely the best film adaptation of Henry James, with the possible exception of THE INNOCENTS. The screenplay, by Ruth and Augustus Goetz, is based on their stage version of James's Washington Square, and at first the period settings and clothes may make the movie seem a little heavy and stagey, but then Wyler's mastery of the psychological nuances can have you drawing deep breaths. It's a peerless, super-controlled movie, in the same mode as Wyler's 1952 CARRIE, though more fully sustained. Wyler's greatness here is that he can hold the elements of the film in his palm without constricting the actors. He frees them. Montgomery Clift is just about perfect as James's fortune hunter Morris Townsend and Olivia De Havilland does her finest work ever as the heiress Catherine Sloper. With Ralph Richardson, Miriam Hopkins, Vanessa Brown, Betty Linley, Ray Collins, Selena Royle, and Mona Freeman. Music by Aaron Copland; art direction by John Meehan and Harry Horner. Academy Award for Best Actress (De Havilland). Paramount.

"With Ralph Richardson", he deserves more comment than that!

R100 Bloody well right!

I'm a little sad that some people don;t seem to care for the book. IMO, "Washington Square" is one of James' greatest works. The most horrifying aspect is the way that Dr, Sloper, although he has his daughter's best interests genuinely at heart (or so he thinks), cannot help but injure her with every single thing he says. It's a nightmare of toxic parenting that is deftly sympathetic to both sides. A scene where he teases Catherine for a pretentious gown she is wearing at a party is like seeing two people try to pin down a butterfly from the butterfly's point of view.

The film is wonderful. But I really love the potential crackle of live performances.

Although the Broadway production did not quite reach the heights of the film, Cherry Jones was so goddam good, I wanted to see every show she did thereafter.

The townhouse was perfection.

[quote]The townhouse was perfection.

The north side of Washington Square. Those townhouses are still there and are wonderful.

And yes, I realize the interiors were all done on Hollywood sets,

[R56]: Aaron Copland’s score was indeed “bowdlerized.” His original score was darker, with no orchestral version of “Plaisir d’Amour.” After test screenings, Paramount executives influenced Wyler to remove Catherine’s Theme from both the main title and the reunion in the rain scene, in order to punch up the romance.

Needless to say, Copland was livid, but had a kind of bittersweet payoff when he won the Oscar for best Score. Still, after what he felt was a betrayal, he never wanted to work in Hollywood again. And he never allowed any recordings of this music to be released.

For years, Copland’s original music was almost mythically talked about by soundtrack collectors. At one point, I managed to get a recording of the original tracks, with scratchy, “archival” sound. His original concept was definitely darker, and closer to Wyler’s presentation, but not IMO as empathic as the soaring use of “Plaisir d’Amour” for Catherine’s romantic expectations.

Finally, Good News!, the complete original music tracks were released on CD a few years ago, and are still available. The sound has been considerably cleaned up, and, as a bonus, the film’s Main Title, with the interpolated “Plaisir” has been included. Well worth getting!

I’m sorry I missed the Cherry Jones production. Her performance is rapidly achieving legendary status.

We travel in the same aural circles, r 106.

All of Copland's Americana scores are superb: OUR TOWN, OF MICE AND MEN, THE RED PONY...

Here's the absolutely glorious "Morning On The Ranch" from the latter....

...and "Threshing Machines" from OF MICE AND MEN...

[R106] Where can I find this soundtrack?

R105, the square in The Heiress was filmed in Baltimore.

Unfortunately, it's oop, r109 (copies are going for $45 on Amazon). But you can hear the original "scratchy" acetate version below...

Wendy Hiller and Basil Rathbone were in the original Broadway production, Richradson and Peggy Ashcoft in London . I suppose Basil wasn't as classy as Ralph for the movie version. Can imagine both those ladies being great, and being naturally plainer would have had more understanding of the part, even though glamorpusses uglied up for a part always get praise .

Do I have a false memory or does Jennifer Jason Leigh even pee on the carpet in the film remake?

The Baltimore location was used for the 1997 remake, WASHINGTON SQUARE, r110.

R112 Imagine if Wendy Hiller and Ralph Richardson had been paired for the Broadway production. That would have been the ultimate.

Dang! Looks like the soundtrack release has gone out of print. It also included the tracks for The Red Pony. Fiund 2 copies on Amazon, each for about $50. Yikes!

But well worth it.

[R112]: Reportedly, Hiller’s cri de coeur when she realizes Morris isn’t showing was much praised at the time.

Curiously cris de coeur seem to have been rather fashionable in theatre on Broadway in the late 40’s. Olivier had one in the title role of his Oedipus, when he realizes he’s killed his own daddy and gone and married his mum. And Judith Anderson had a similar moment in her Medea, when revealing the bodies of her sons she’s just killed, out of revenge on her ex-bf.

I suppose the cri de coeur is quite passe’ now, bordering on quaint, a relic from a style of drama too deep for today's audiences. Only effective if done from deep feeling; otherwise it could seem only comic. Or camp.

[quote]I suppose the cri de coeur is quite passe’ now

R117 Nah, it's still around; it just takes other forms.

I watched Cicely Tyson deliver her cri de coeur to mark the end of the first act in TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL:

"Bountiful! Bountiful!" It was heartbreaking.

Hard to believe but The Academy did not award an Oscar for Costume Design until 1949 and this was the film that won it, designed by Edith Head when she was really paying attention.

Not having to glam up Livvie, Edith was really able to create authentic period clothing, unlike most of the other dreck she produced in her long career.

R120 Agreed. For her un-Hollywoodlike restraint, I like to think Edith Head tapped into the lesbionic subtext of the character.

Tell me more about this lesbonic subtext.

I am not a fan of Olivia but I think the credit for her performance goes to Wyler. She apparently told him at the start of shooting to tell her how to do everything. Bette Davis recalled Wyler telling another actor that he did not run an acting class, but it seems he did with Olivia.

[quote]Tell me more about this lesbonic subtext.

R122 If you remove the heteronormative overlay it becomes a story about Catherine trying to escape her cold, resentful father. It less about romance and more about the yearning for appreciation and respect. Only when Morris betrays her does she ultimately find her own inner strength and self-esteem. She doesn't bow to the conventions of the era that assume men are more entitled. She judges him by his character, not his charm. A lesbian would be more immune.

Bravo, r125.

It's a masterpiece pure and simple. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a moron.

The remake is spoiled by Jennifer Jason Leigh at her 90s mannered, self-indulgent worst. That said, Albert Finney and Maggie Smith are wonderful and the young Ben Chaplin is GORGEOUS as Morris.

R125, that's more a feminist subtext than a lesbian one!

Because I don't call it "lesbian subtext" unless there's some attraction to women or a woman or at least a preference for the company of women, even heterosexual women chafe under the ridiculous restrictions placed on them in patriarchal cultures. And Catherine is quite obviously into men.

"She doesn't bow to the conventions of the era that assume men are more entitled."

Catherine has been psychologically crippled and will live out the rest of her life, like Lavinia in MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA, as a shut-in and recluse. Some inner strength and self-esteem. Hardly the poster girl for feminist or even lesbionicalistic empowerment.

How old is Catherine supposed to be?

R130 Olivia was in her early 30's when she played Catherine.

R131 I'm not sure how old Catherine was years later when she rejected Morris.

In the novel she's 21 when she meets Morris.

Was Olivia actually still in her teens when she played opposite Errol Flynn? I guess she was born in 1917/18 if she's 100+ now.

Not that it matters. She looks perfect at all times in The Heiress.

R134 Olivia was born in 1916, and her sibling Joan Fontaine was born the following year in 1917.

I looked perfect in all of my Oscar-winning roles, r134.

The play was given a happy ending during tryouts in Boston, at the producers' insistence. By the time it got to Broadway, the original ending was restored.

Tie-in soap ad for the 1947 Broadway run. Wendy did have lovely skin.

R134 Yes, Olivia was 19 in Captain Blood (1935), her first film with Errol Flynn. Flynn was 26.

Wyler originally thought of having Errol as Morris.

I love this film but sometimes feel because of the disparate acting styles all four leads are in 4 different film versions.

I'm not a huge fan of Montgomery Clift but I think he was perfect for this part.

Doco on 'Willie' Wyler (part 1)...

Doco on 'Willie' Wyler (part 2)...

I think this movie is excellent. However i think Clift and Richardson are the strongest performances. Olivia is good, but she is very wooden in the last scene.

As she should be. She embraces her fate with an almost robotic zeal, she's the walking dead. To my mind, THE HEIRESS is about soul-murder.

R146. Yes I suppose. Her dad and Morris both kill her from within.

She looks so youthful, here!

Where?

R129 I respectfully disagree. I think don't think that Catherine is a shut in or a mental cripple. I don't believe that she is soul murdered either R146. She is awake for the first time in her life. She is distrustful in a way that a woman , not a girl, needs to be to survive in the world. Whether she leaves her home to explore is not decided in the end. What she does by bolting the door is to bolt the falseness, and disrespect out of her life. That's why there is a feminist/ lesbian vibe that people see. But you don't have to be either one to cut out disrespect. And if she chooses to live alone at that point she has made the choice- not her cruel father or her deceitful lover. That tells us that she will not be a victim of her womanhood any longer. She is emboldened.

R150. I totally agree. Btw what is your favourite scene? Mine is the bit where Maurice tells Catharine he loves her after a very short time. The way she accepts this as true is heart breaking. Tears come to her eyes because she thinks Maurice will give her all the affection she's lacked.

One if the greatest movies ever. The acting is superior, the dialogue is brilliant, the denouement is extraordinarily poignant while cathartic.

Apparently Jessica Chastain was quite poor on Broadway.

I don't understand about the Copeland score. A lot of it is still in the movies soundtrack?

Yes, the only substantial excision of the Copland score is in the Main Title, which was replaced by the tune Plaisir de L'amour, and other isolated moments in the movie (the reunion in the rain, for example). My question is, did Copland harmonize/orchestrate the Martini along with the rest of his score, or did someone else do it at Wyler's behest? I don't remember.

"That's why there is a feminist/lesbian vibe that people see...She is emboldened."

And what a trite reading of the film that would be.

Copland sent the score to Paramount, where it was orchestrated.

What are people's favourite scenes?

I watched the movie quite a few times and it’s brilliant. It’s one of my favorite movies.

I don’t see the lesbian aspects of Catherine Sloper’s character, though. Could someone elaborate? Catherine Sloper suffered the rejection of her father and suitor. As a result, she changed to a strong, independent woman, who didn’t want a marriage and children. She lived life on her own terms and would never be fooled again. She grew street wise and suspicious. In the end, she didn’t want romantic affection, from anyone. This doesn’t mean she was a lesbian or had lesbian tendencies.

I think in the novel the last line is the final bolt of cruelty towards her (the "work" in the sentence is sewing or lace-making): "...she picked up her bit of work, as it were, for life."

In other words that the bad treatment she has endured has shuttered her inwards and traps her in a joyless existence, even if she behaves as she believes she ought as a person genuinely concerned with morals. The film gives her a bit of a knife-thrust in her treatment of Morris, but this is nowhere evident in the book.

It is a very sad novel about a woman who was passed over at every stage, and is surprisingly (or not?) at odds with James' heavily nostalgic memories of the character and architecture of Washington Square at the book's opening. He seems to be saying to the reader: "Here is a district in Old New York where all is calm and seemly and truly gracious - except for the emotional and moral rot of everyone who ever lived there, of course".

R79, Are you kidding?! The Doc had Morris's number (how Morris drank the Doctor's liquor and made himself right at home, the well-appointed home); the Aunt had his number ("You didn't tell him?" That the heiress would be disinherited if she married Morris); and finally, Catherine had his number: "This time, he wants my love, too."

No, r79, there is nothing sympathetic or ambiguous about the conniving gold-digger who pounds on that door because he sees his fortune---HIS fortune---literally shut off to him.

Clift was chosen, IMHO, to make the audience wonder which path would ultimately have made Catherine happier.

R158, I think everyone would agree on the final scene.

I also love especially: "Can you be so cruel?"

"Yes, I can be very cruel; I have been taught by masters."

One of my favorite quotes, ever.

Mine, too, r162, and to this day, I imagine saying to MY parents.

In a later Village era, Catherine would have gone to Reno Sweeney a lot to hear Peter Allen.

Why did she choose to gift him with the rubies at the end?

It's an ironic sop to his greed (if you believe he was only after her money). Payment in full.

I like the way she waits in the square for her father to hurry up and die.

R165, to be rid of him finally, and completely.

I agree with R151 on favourite scene: there is no background score at all during their conversation, then after she haltingly says "I Love You" music begins to swell for deepest heartwarming effect

"Too late, Mariah." would be a good standard retort on this site.

I SO identified with the unattractive, unloved Miss Sloper in my formative years....

Jane Alexander had a short Broadway run as Catherine in 1976 with David Selby as Morris and Richard Kiley as Dr. Sloper.

The dramatic climax in that production, r172, was when Aunt Lavinia tells Catherine that she's soaking in it.

Richard Kiley played the Ralph Richardson role on stage? Inspired casting - great voices, actors!

I love when people use this pic when passing judgement. It's just so iconic and captures my disgust at certain topics or people discussed on DL

One of my TOP TEN FILMS.

I 've never seen the movie, but I had the good fortune of seeing a marvelous production with Miss Marilu Henner and Misters Parker Stevenson and Joseph Campanella at the Burt Reynolds Dinner Theater in Jupiter, Florida. Marilu was divine!

R177- " I missed Mr. Lee J. Cobbs In " Death of a Salesman". I missed Mr. Marlon Brando in " Streetcar". But I will be damned if I was going to miss Mr Joey Butkus in " Pal Joey"- Blanche Devereaux

r178 That's DICK Butkus, you fat stupid whore!

In 2012 a NYC high school teacher I know took his class to see the Broadway production. At one point, his kids starting yelling "Don't open the door, don't open the door."

We're all yelling that in our heads. lol

Dame Livvy talks about Richardson and Clift and the Heiress

R182 Great find.

It's a movie for the ages, plus R175 is right. There is nothing sweeter than passing judgement on you bitches with the blessing of Dame Olivia.

On William Wyler (Part 1)

On William Wyler (Part 2)

In Part 2 of the above linked doco, Sir Ralph talks about Wyler directing him in The Heiress @ 2:09.

The father was cold as ice but he had Morris's number from the beginning. Should he have not said anything to her?