In 1840s New York, the uneventful and boring days of the daughter of a wealthy doctor come to an end when she meets a dashing poorer man — who may or may not be after her inheritance.
Trailer
Reviews
CinemaSerf
7
By CinemaSerf
There are three really strong performances here, but for my money it is Sir Ralph Richardson who stands out. "Sloper" is a wealthy surgeon, a widower and father to the naive young "Catherine". She (Olivia de Havilland) is shy and usually quite happy doing her embroidery quietly at home. Then her well meaning aunt "Lavinia" (Miriam Hopkins) comes to stay and her father thinks that perhaps she can help bring his daughter a little out of her shell. One of the results of this change is a meeting with "Morris" (Montgomery Clift). Now whilst he's not exactly penniless, he hasn't anything remotely like her $30,000 a year. She falls completely for his simple charms and swiftly they are talking marriage. Not unreasonably, her father thinks this is all moving far too fast and so suggests a trip to Europe to see if she can get him out of her system. When that doesn't quite work, the father starts to show his true colours and that's just the start of things unravelling for the young woman who is about to be given some very harsh lessons on life. It's a sumptuous looking drama, this, with a fantastically toxic storyline that pits love and affection against selfishness and jealousy - but it does it in a painfully and politely ambiguous fashion. There are so many assumptions being made about what people here think. Not just by the three characters, but by the audience too as we must assess the motives of each. All three have a point to make, valid questions to raise and flaws in their character and that's bound to sow seeds for misunderstandings and mistrust. The novel that underpins this story is one that cleverly looks at the roles of men and women in a society where there wasn't an hint of equality - even when the woman has the cash, but where there was also evidence of decency and pride - good and bad. The denouement is entirely fitting but I felt rather an unsympathetic and condemnatory one that left me feeling sorry for just about everyone left alive. It's a sad film populated with real characters, a dynamic drama and is William Wyler at his best.
