Now, Voyager

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.

On paper, the plot of "Now, Voyager" sounds too ridiculous to be played straight. And yet, despite its soap opera origins, this is a work of beauty and artistry: largely because of the magnificent lead performance by Bette Davis, but also because of Irving Rapper's sensitive direction and the first class production values. Even just twenty years later, the same material would come out as hopelessly camp (imagine, if you will, what would have happened if this had been shot in lurid 1959 Technicolor, starring Susan Hayward or, worse yet, Lana Turner). POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN PLOT SUMMARY: Davis is Charlotte Vale, a repressed Boston spinster ("MISS Charlotte Vale," as her hellish mother would sneer) under the complete control of her iron-fisted mother (Gladys Cooper in an unforgettable performance). With the aid of a renowned psychiatrist, Dr. Jacquith (Claude Rains), Charlotte transforms into a sophisticated-looking woman, but she remains insecure and shy. Jacquith sends her off on a restorative cruise to Brazil with an admonition from Walt Whitman: "Now, voyager...set ye forth to seek and find." What she finds is unconditional love in the form of a married man, Jerry (Paul Henreid), who is touched by Charlotte's plight and helps her to blossom even further. Knowing their love affair is impossible, Charlotte and Jerry vow to never see or speak to each other again once their vacation is over. At last having known what it is to love and be loved, Charlotte returns home and, for the first time, stands up to her mother and begins creating a new life for herself. Some time later, she accidentally meets Jerry's adolescent daughter Tina (the excellent Janis Wilson), who is the very picture of a 13-year-old, frightened, repressed Charlotte Vale. Charlotte then finds a new purpose in life: helping Tina out of her shell, just as Jerry had helped Charlotte. END SUMMARY/SPOILERS. Clearly, the plot teetered dangerously close to bathos. And, in today's quest for "realism," this film could never survive a contemporary telling. But the actors so believe in it, so does the audience. In spite of the properly lush Max Steiner score, in spite of the grand Hollywood style, in spite of the operatic silliness of some of the plot devices, the end result is never less than convincing. At the heart of it, of course, is Bette Davis, in perhaps her finest, most restrained performance ever. Never once does she "ham it up"; and the material practically invites overacting. Yes, the performances and dialogue are stylized, but this is what MOVIES are all about. It treads a fine line between fantasy and honesty; you never once forget that you're watching a movie (which is a high compliment in my book), and it's all so artfully done, you believe (wish?) that real life is truly like it. Even in 1942, that was a rare feat--and impossible today.

Sometimes I pull this disc out of my collection and start watching it, since I've forgotten what it's about. It's not long before I find myself transfixed by Bette Davis's hairy eyebrows. Then there are the fairly dreadful age lines all over Gladys Cooper's face. Serious make-up fails. I don't think I've ever managed to complete this voyage to the bitter end, although I've fast forwarded sufficiently to get the closing lines, and pieced together most of the story by reading the comments on this site, and elsewhere. It's all very painful and agonising. Miss Davis definitely has cinematic presence, but I don't think I've ever liked any of the characters she's played. To be honest, I believe she repels me. She's of her time, that's for sure. Today, the whole narrative, the dialogue, the motivations of the characters, seem pre-historic, but the fact is that there were people who lived these sorts of lives during the 1920s and 1930s. I am personally aware of a woman who ruled two of her daughters with a rod of iron; forced them to serve her hand and foot until the day she died, and forbade them from marrying. One of them did actually have a suitor. It is not an edifying experience to re-visit this world of totalitarian domestic horror. I do not recommend it. Miss Davis seems bitter and unfulfilled in many of her film roles as well as in her own private life.

source: Now, Voyager

Trailer—Now, Voyager

Now, Voyager

That a piece of film can have such an overwhelming affect, nearly 80 years after its release and be so resonant, alive and relevant - can only be attributed to the power of Bette Davies in full speed emotion.

I haven't seen every Bette Davis film, but I find it hard to believe anything can top this one! Beautifully shot, wonderfully romantic score, interesting story, well-acted and Davis is breathtakingly beautiful! She's never looked better! It's one of the most romantic movies I've ever seen (shipboard romance, TWO goodbyes at airports, everybody looks so handsome or glamorous), and has three classic sequences--Davis telling a man she can't marry him by saying, "Let's not dwell on it."; Paul Henreid lighting two cigarettes in his mouth (romantic, but they both smoke WAY too much!); and Davis' line, "Let's not wish for the moon, when we have the stars". A great movie all the way. Not to be missed!

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.

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.