214. The Heiress (1949)

Directed By William Wyler

Synopsis

Catherine is a very plain girl who has some problems socializing in the complicated system of New York 19th century high-class. She gets accosted by a very pretty guy who is basically gold-digging, she falls for it and when he realises she is losing her inheritance by eloping with him gives her the cold shoulder. 7 years later he comes back after her father has died and left her the inheritance she pretends to go along with him only to give him the cold shoulder. Hah!

Review

Olivia De Havilland always plays great damaged women whether in Gone With the Wind, The Snakepit or here. And it is just a joy to watch the evolution of her character to innocent and awkward to bitter and ruthless.

The acting is helped by amazing art direction reconstruction 19th century New York in a great way, the houses are full of stuff, it looks lived in. And then there's Aaron Copland's score, who being one of the best American composers of all time does not let the film down.

There is not much wrong with the fim, it is extremely well paced sweeping you along with it, all in all a pretty nifty film and if you like costume dramas it is definitely one to see.

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

In his review in the New York Times, Bosley Crowther said the film "crackles with allusive life and fire in its tender and agonized telling of an extraordinarily characterful tale" and added, "Mr. Wyler . . . has given this somewhat austere drama an absorbing intimacy and a warming illusion of nearness that it did not have on the stage. He has brought the full-bodied people very closely and vividly to view, while maintaining the clarity and sharpness of their personalities, their emotions and their styles . . . The Heiress is one of the handsome, intense and adult dramas of the year."

TV Guide rates the film five out of a possible five stars and adds, "This powerful and compelling drama . . . owes its triumph to the deft hand of director William Wyler and a remarkable lead performance by Olivia de Havilland.

Time Out London calls the film "typically plush, painstaking and cold. . . . highly professional and heartless."

Channel 4 says of the performances, "de Havilland's portrayal . . . is spine-chilling . . . Clift brings a subtle ambiguity to one of his least interesting roles, and Richardson is also excellent."


The whole film is online, here's part 1: