Now, Voyager

Now, Voyager

Even in the 21st century, very few film stars create and define their own genre--and certainly not in the complete way Bette Davis did. The Bette Davis Collection gives an exceptionally good survey of essential Bette, with four of the five films absolute knock-down classics from her long reign at Warner Bros. Davis's personality was so strong that she tended to overpower her directors, but William Wyler was one of the few to maintain his own distinctive style with her, and The Letter (1940) is a triumph for both of them. At a humid Malaysian plantation, Davis kills a man in the brilliant opening sequence, and the remainder is a darkly suggestive unraveling of the complicated explanation. Dark Victory (1939) and Now, Voyager (1942) would be on anybody's list of most representative Davis pictures. In the former, she's a doomed heiress nobly losing her eyesight, a multiple-handkerchief situation that proved one of her biggest hits. Voyager allows Davis one of her favored techniques (appearing frumpy for at least part of her performance) as a mother-dominated spinster who comes out of her shell. Her match with Paul Henreid--and the music of Max Steiner--turns this into one luscious melodrama. If Mr. Skeffington (1944) is not as celebrated as those films, it is nevertheless a characteristic Warners work-out. Davis wasn't shy about playing unsympathetic roles, and Fanny Skeffington--vain, selfish, married for practicality--is an exasperating tour de force. She gets good support from Claude Rains as the sensible, adoring husband. The Star (1952) is no classic, but its Pirandellian aspects will appeal to the actress's fans: Bette plays a washed-up Oscar-winning star desperate to get herself back in the public eye (think if it as a less witty postscript to All About Eve). There's some hint the main character is modeled more on Joan Crawford than Bette herself, in which case Davis must have loved playing it. Extras are modest, with short featurettes giving background on three of the discs, and director Vincent Sherman providing commentary for Mr. Skeffington. But the films themselves, and their neurotically intense star, are quite capable of standing alone. --Robert Horton

Genre: Drama, Romance
Director(s): Irving Rapper
Production: MGM Home Entertainment
  Won 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 2 nominations.
 
IMDB:
8.0
Rotten Tomatoes:
91%
NR (Not Rated)
Year:
1942
117
3,107 Views
IN THE Arms OF ANOTHER WOMAN'S MAN...SHE FINDS Her MAN!
Today Her Greatest! For a woman there's always an excuse . . .
I'm the maiden aunt. Every family has one you know.

Jerry:
[as Charlotte tries to leave] Please, don't yet.

Charlotte:
Well, I'm not going to struggle with you.

Jerry:
That's right. No telling what sort of primitive instincts you might arouse. Isn't it beautiful? [He puts two cigarettes in his mouth, lights them both and then hands one to Charlotte.] Do you believe in immortality?

Charlotte:
I don't know. Do you?

Jerry:
I want to believe that there's a chance for such happiness to be carried on somehow somewhere.

Charlotte:
Are you so happy then?

Jerry:
Close to it. Getting warmer and warmer as we used to say as kids. Remember?

Charlotte:
Look out or you'll get burned we used to say.

Jerry:
Are you afraid of getting burnt if you get too close to happiness?

Charlotte:
Mercy, no. I'm immune to happiness and therefore to burns.

Jerry:
You weren't immune that night on the mountain.

Charlotte:
Do you call that happiness?

Jerry:
Only a small part. There are other kinds.

Charlotte:
Such as?

Jerry:
Having fun together, getting a kick out of simple little things, out of beauty like this. Sharing confidences we wouldn't share with anybody else in all the world. Charlotte, won't you be honest and tell me if you are happy too? Since the night on the boat when you told me about your illness, I-I can't get you out of my mind - or out of my heart either. If I were free, there would be only one thing I want to do - prove you're not immune to happiness. Would you want me to prove it Charlotte? Tell me you would. Then I'll go. [She turns toward him and buries her head in his chest.] Why darling, you are crying.

Charlotte:
I'm such a fool, such an old fool. These are only tears of gratitude - an old maid's gratitude for the crumbs offered.

Jerry:
Don't talk like that.

Charlotte:
You see, no one ever called me darling before. [they kiss]

Mrs. Vale:
And you expect me to pay for articles charged to me of which I do not approve?

Charlotte:
Well, I could pay for it myself. I have saved quite a little money. I have about five thousand dollars.

Mrs. Vale:
Five thousand dollars won't last very long, especially if your monthly allowance were to be discontinued.

Charlotte:
Oh. Mother, I want to ask you something. When father set up the trust for the two boys, why didn't he make one for me too?

Mrs. Vale:
Because you were a mere child and he wisely left your affairs to my own better judgment. I'm sure you've always had everything in the world you want.

Charlotte:
I haven't had independence.

Mrs. Vale:
That's it. That's what I want to talk about - independence. To buy what you choose, to wear what you choose, sleep where you choose, independence. That's what you mean by it, isn't it?

Charlotte:
Dr. Jaquith says that - that independence is reliance upon one's own will and judgment.

Mrs. Vale:
I make the decisions here, Charlotte. I'm willing you should occupy your own room until I dismiss the nurse. She will occupy your father's room for the time being, and will perform a daughter's duties as well as a nurse's. That will give you a good chance to think over what I've said. I'm very glad to give a devoted daughter a home under my roof, and pay all her expenses, but not if she scorns my authority.

Charlotte:
Well, I could earn my own living, Mother. As a matter of fact, I've often thought about it. I'd make a very good head waitress in a restaurant or...

Mrs. Vale:
You may think that very funny, but I guess you'll be laughing out of the other side of your face if I did carry out my suggestion.

Charlotte:
I don't think I would. I'm not afraid, Mother. (in close-up) I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid, Mother.

Mrs. Vale:
Charlotte, sit down. I want you to know something I've never told you before. It's about my will. You'll be the most powerful and wealthy member of the Vale family - if I don't change my mind. I advise you to think it over.

Charlotte:
Some man who'll make me happy? Oh, so that's it. So that's it. Well, I've certainly made a great mistake. Here I have been laboring under the delusion that you and I were so in sympathy - so one - that you'd know without being asked what would make me happy. And you come up here to talk about some man. Apparently, you haven't the slightest conception of what torture it is to love a man and to be shut out, barred out, to be always an outsider, an extra.

Jerry:
Charlotte, let me -

Charlotte:
Why, when Tina said she wanted to come home and stay with me - well, it was like a miracle happening. Like having your child, a part of you. And I even allowed myself to indulge in the fantasy that both of us loving her and doing what was best for her together would make her seem actually like our child after a while. But I see no such fantasy has occurred to you. Again, I've been just a big sentimental fool. It's a tendency I have.

Jerry:
Wait a minute. I was afraid you were keeping Tina out of pity. But there was no note of pity in your ridicule of me just now. Now I know you still love me, and it won't die, what's between us. Do what we will - ignore it, neglect it, starve it - it's stronger than both of us together.

Charlotte:
Please, let me go.

Jerry:
Charlotte -

Charlotte:
Please, let me go. Jerry, Dr. Jaquith knows about us. When he said I could take Tina, he said, "You're on probation." Do you know what that means? It means that I'm on probation because of you and me. He allowed this visit as a test, and if I can't stand such tests, I'll lose Tina, and we'll lose each other. Jerry, please help me.

Jerry:
Shall we just have a cigarette on it?

Charlotte:
Yes.

Jerry:
May I sometimes come here?...

Charlotte:
Whenever you like; it's your home too. There are people here who love you.

Jerry:
...and look at you and Tina? Share with you peace and contentment?

Charlotte:
Of course, and just think, it won't be for this time only. That is, if you will help me keep what we have, if we both try hard to protect that little strip of territory that's ours. We can talk about your child -

Jerry:
Our child.

Charlotte:
Thank you.

Jerry:
And will you be happy, Charlotte?

Charlotte:
Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars. Note: bolded line is ranked #46 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema.


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1 Comment
  • Tom Farruggella
    Tom Farruggella
    Charlotte: "I'll get a cat and a bird and live a life of single blessedness."
    LikeReply4 years ago

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