Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful
Review: Life is full of good moments, and two of them are the pleasure of reading a good book and watching a good movie. This happens to be fulfilled in one story. The movie is superbly directed, acted and true to the original Henry James novel. It's good to know, in this day of high tech. movies, of which I enjoy as much as anyone else, you can still enjoy a film simply because it's an enthralling tale of love, life and human nature. A definite movie for an enjoyable Sunday afternoon.
Rating: 
Summary: Motivations not so cut and dried.
Review: Maybe much said at all about this film should bear a SPOILER ALERT. See the movie, which is EXCELLENT first, then read my comments.For me, the heart of the experience of viewing this film has always been understanding that you will not understand all you think you do about the characters. Comments on this film often speak of the plot in terms of Catherine's vengence, and of Morris Townsend as a simple gold digger. But I think Wyler's version is the far better of the two films of this story precisely for leaving Morris' motivation and character ambivelant. Yes, you can read it as a simple tale of comeuppance. --But you can also see it as a "mischancing of human affairs" in which everyone loses something that will destroy them in some way. --In fact, I have always thought the title, The Heiress, refers to the real legacy, which is a hardening of her humanity, Catherine Sloper is clearly seen to have received from her father. --In the end, she takes the same misdirected pride her father seemed to in the souring of his attitude toward everything. Like him, she may or may not, by the final reel, mistake an acid tongue for a clever mind, and bitterness for wisdom. --But isn't it likely this is just another in a probable string of mistakes and blind chance spelling the end of the Sloper line? I see the end as a tragedy, moreso for Catherine than Morris.
Rating:
Summary: Character motivations not at all cut & dried.
Review: Maybe much said at all about this film should bear a SPOILER ALERT. See the movie, which is EXCELLENT, first, then read my comments. For me, the heart of the experience of viewing this film has always been understanding that you will not understand all you think you do about the characters. Comments on this film often speak of the plot in terms of Catherine's vengence, and of Morris Townsend as a simple gold digger. But I think Wyler's version is the far better of the two films of this story precisely for leaving Morris' motivation and character ambivelant. Yes, you can read it as a simple tale of comeuppance. --But you can also see it as a "mischancing of human affairs" in which everyone loses something essential to them, that will destroy them in some way. --In fact, I have always thought the title, The Heiress, refers to the real legacy, which is a hardening of her humanity, Catherine Sloper is clearly seen to have received from her father. --In the end, she takes the same misdirected egotistical pride her father seemed to in the souring of his attitude toward everything. By the final reel, she may, like him, mistake an acid tongue for wit, and cynicism for wisdom. --But isn't it likely this is just another in a string of mistakes that will spell the end the Sloper line? I think it is clear that the end is a tragedy more so for Catherine than Morris. Catherine loses her humanity and capacity for hope; Morris loses only an anticipated windfall and a bit of his no doubt resiliant self-respect in the process.
Rating:
Summary: Very gppd film
Review: Miss Olivia de Havilland is wonderful in this films. "The Heiress," is wonderful and a ery romantic and entertaining film. Mongomery Cliff is ownderufl in it to It's well worth seeing and a real classic.
Rating:
Summary: Very gppd film
Review: Miss Olivia de Havilland is wonderful in this films. "The Heiress," is wonderful and a ery romantic and entertaining film. Mongomery Cliff is ownderufl in it to It's well worth seeing and a real classic.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful
Review: Olivia de Havilland gives a great performance as Catherine, a young, naive, trusting, love-hungry heiress. She meets Morris, a good-looking young fellow who seems to be enamored of her. Catherine's father doesn't believe Morris's feelings are genuine and talks Catherine into a trip to Europe to forget him. It doesn't work and they return home. Her father threatens to disinherit her if she marries Morris. Catherine basically tells him to stuff it. She'll marry who she pleases and she doesn't want anything more to do with him. Unfortunately, she told Morris she was cutting her father out of her life, and didn't want his money. Morris takes off for parts unknown leaving Catherine waiting up all night for him to wisk her off to be married. Did Morris really love Catherine and ran away because he didn't want her to disinherit herself? Or, was he really a gold-digger out for her money? Catherine grows to hate her father after Morris runs out on her. What her father told her had come true, or seemed to. She hated him for that. And she hated Morris for validating what her father had told her. Catherine develops a hardness. She has become wiser, but not happier. She is no longer anyone's fool. Great ending.
Rating:
Summary: A Cinematic Masterpiece
Review: Olivia de Havilland gives a masterful, oscar winning performance as the wealthy spinster, Catherine, in William Wyler's well-crafted production of Henry James' celebrated novel, "Washington Square." Ralph Richardson is commanding as her stern and seemingly unfeeling father. As the only heir to the family fortune, Catherine attracts the attention of the dashing fortune hunter, Morris Townsend, convincingly played by Montgomery Clift. On learning that she plans to marry the young Morris, her father threatens to disinherit her. Learning of this, Morris deserts her on the eve of their planned elopement. Years later, Morris returns to a wiser and more calloused Catherine who is now sometimes sharp and tactless in her delivery. When asked how she can be so cruel, she answers with the movie's classic line, "I can be very cruel. I have been taught by masters." Strong dramatic performances, stunning period sets and costumes, a powerful, gripping dialogue and a fitting score by Aaron Copland make this a memorable film to enjoy through the years.
Rating:
Summary: A Cinematic Masterpiece
Review: Olivia de Havilland gives a masterful, oscar winning performance as the wealthy spinster, Catherine, in William Wyler's well-crafted production of Henry James' celebrated novel, "Washington Square." Ralph Richardson is commanding as her stern and seemingly unfeeling father. As the only heir to the family fortune, Catherine attracts the attention of the dashing fortune hunter, Morris Townsend, convincingly played by Montgomery Clift. On learning that she plans to marry the young Morris, her father threatens to disinherit her. Learning of this, Morris deserts her on the eve of their planned elopement. Years later, Morris returns to a wiser and more calloused Catherine who is now sometimes sharp and tactless in her delivery. When asked how she can be so cruel, she answers with the movie's classic line, "I can be very cruel. I have been taught by masters." Strong dramatic performances, stunning period sets and costumes, a powerful, gripping dialogue and a fitting score by Aaron Copland make this a memorable film to enjoy through the years.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: Olivia de Havilland perfectly captures the character of Catherine Sloper from Henry James' book Washington Square. Her performace, which garnered her an Academy Award, was one of the best I've seen. She carries the movie powerfully, and her transition from a wilting flower into a self-assured woman is mesmerizing. Her performance alone is worth buying the video, though the movie itself is a treasure in its adaptation of James' masterpiece and the twists and tricks of loyalty and love. It's become one of my favorite movies.
Rating:
Summary: Bravura Performance by de Havilland
Review: Olivia de Havilland plays Catherine, the plain, spinster daughter of a wealthy doctor in 1880's New York City. The doctor has always despised his daughter, because his wife died in childbirth and she believes herself worthless. Enter the dashing but penniless gold-digger Morris, played by Montgomery Clift. Morris learns that Catherine will be well-off as an heiress, and quickly woos her, much to her father's disgust. The two lovers plan to elope one night, and we watch Catherine wait by the window for her hero to come and take her away, but it is not to be. Morris has learned that she renounced her inheritance, and, caring nothing for her, has deserted her. Years pass, and Morris returns to propose again to Catherine, who is now a sadder but much wiser woman. De Havilland plays Catherine as two very different women: at first she is timid and clumsy; a wallflower who expects nothing from life. In the second half of the story, Catherine is mature, poised, and above all, in complete control of her life. The change can be seen in her posture and speech, as well as her hunger for revenge. She is wonderful, and truly deserved an Oscar. Clift, as the jigalo, is oily and deceitful; he's good, but a little wooden. Ralph Richardson, as Catherine's snooty father, is outstanding. This is a very powerful story of a woman scorned; the last moments of the film are magnificent.
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