Rating: 
Summary: A real Masterpiece
Review: Olivia has never been better casted than here. Her change from a shy to a hardened woman is so well managed than only an actress of her stature could have played. But, of course, she's had the great luck of having played with Ralph Richardson in what's been his best performance, and directed by Wyler in a constant state of grace. A little theatrical the movie, maybe, but never to an extent to be too heavy. Scenery, costumes, art direction... everything to serve to an screenplay skillfully developed and never as reasons themselves to create a picture. A must. Then, now and forever.
Rating:
Summary: "I Can Be Very Cruel--I Have Been Taught by Masters"
Review: One of the best lines in this adaptation of Henry James's novella, "Washington Square", uttered by Catherine (Olivia de Havilland) to her Aunt Lavinia (Miriam Hopkins). And the master in question is her father Dr. Sloper (Ralph Richardson). Olivia de Havilland won an Oscar for her portrayal of the plain, painfully shy Catherine Sloper, an heiress being courted by handsome and charming Morris Townsend (Montgomery Clift), who may or may not be a fortune hunter. At least that's the contention of Dr. Sloper, who has a considerable fortune and a stately home on Washington Square. Dr. Sloper has everything, it seems, except compassion for his daughter, the daughter he holds to blame for his beautiful wife's childbed death. The daughter is the antithesis of the graceful woman he describes to his sisters. Things come to a head when Catherine and Morris announce their engagement, with heartbreaking results. Oscar notwithstanding, I think Olivia de Havilland's Catherine is much better in the first half of the film, before the Great Turning Point that defines the rest of her life. After that, I found her turnabout to have little relation to the preceding characterization--I could not see this as the logical outgrowth from that personality. Montgomery Clift is very good as the clever Morris--one really can't make up one's mind about him until the climax of the film. Miriam Hopkins does a good job as the romantically inclined Aunt Lavinia who is enjoying Morris's courtship of Catherine vicariously. But for my money, the best performance in the whole piece is Sir Ralph Richardson's Dr. Sloper, who fairly drips with poorly concealed contempt for his inadequate daughter. When I watch this movie--and I have, several times--it is always for him. My favorite scene is one in which he doesn't even talk; it's when he has just learned of the engagement, and he sits alone in the parlor, contemplating what action to take. It shows the psychological complexity of the doctor, who is not merely a hating machine, but capable of some despair. Don't wait for your inheritance to come through to watch "The Heiress"--make it your business to do so today.
Rating:
Summary: "I Can Be Very Cruel--I Have Been Taught by Masters"
Review: One of the best lines in this adaptation of Henry James's novella, "Washington Square", uttered by Catherine (Olivia de Havilland) to her Aunt Lavinia (Miriam Hopkins). And the master in question is her father Dr. Sloper (Ralph Richardson). Olivia de Havilland won an Oscar for her portrayal of the plain, painfully shy Catherine Sloper, an heiress being courted by handsome and charming Morris Townsend (Montgomery Clift), who may or may not be a fortune hunter. At least that's the contention of Dr. Sloper, who has a considerable fortune and a stately home on Washington Square. Dr. Sloper has everything, it seems, except compassion for his daughter, the daughter he holds to blame for his beautiful wife's childbed death. The daughter is the antithesis of the graceful woman he describes to his sisters. Things come to a head when Catherine and Morris announce their engagement, with heartbreaking results. Oscar notwithstanding, I think Olivia de Havilland's Catherine is much better in the first half of the film, before the Great Turning Point that defines the rest of her life. After that, I found her turnabout to have little relation to the preceding characterization--I could not see this as the logical outgrowth from that personality. Montgomery Clift is very good as the clever Morris--one really can't make up one's mind about him until the climax of the film. Miriam Hopkins does a good job as the romantically inclined Aunt Lavinia who is enjoying Morris's courtship of Catherine vicariously. But for my money, the best performance in the whole piece is Sir Ralph Richardson's Dr. Sloper, who fairly drips with poorly concealed contempt for his inadequate daughter. When I watch this movie--and I have, several times--it is always for him. My favorite scene is one in which he doesn't even talk; it's when he has just learned of the engagement, and he sits alone in the parlor, contemplating what action to take. It shows the psychological complexity of the doctor, who is not merely a hating machine, but capable of some despair. Don't wait for your inheritance to come through to watch "The Heiress"--make it your business to do so today.
Rating:
Summary: 'Bolt the Door, Maria!'
Review: THE HEIRESS is a surprisingly complex drama of paternal brutality, starry-eyed love, and bitter revenge. Director William Wyler adapted Henry James' short novel WASHINGTON SQUARE and during the film's nearly two hours managed to convey the collision of conflicting dreams. Each of the three major characters: Ralph Richardson as Doctor Sloper, Olivia de Havilland as his dowdy daughter Catherine Sloper, and Montgomery Clift as the mercenary Morris Townsend all dance a three-partnered minuet in which emotional ties clasp and unclasp in ways that are suggested more by gentle innuendo than by overt deed. Doctor Sloper is a uncaring brute who rules his house with vicious wit and the threat of withheld inheritance. To him, there are two kinds of men: those who have already made their mark in the world (like him) and those who have not (like Morris) but seek to obtain it deceitfully through marriage to plain but rich women (like Catherine). The more Sloper puts Catherine down with harsh barbs, the more he increases the inevitability that Catherine will someday rebel by latching onto the first glib male golddigger, thereby proving himself right all along. Sloper's problem is that his paternal tunnel vision does not allow the possibility that Catherine might be more than a one-dimensional stick figure forever doomed to spinsterhood. For Catherine, life is a gilded cage, plenty of the physical necessities, but not a whit of the emotional ones. The more she is starved for affection, the more she will reach out even to those men like Morris who are likely mercenary. One of the film's bitter ironies is that her father's oft repeated warnings about Morris's motivations might yet be valid. When Morris promises to elope with her, then abruptly changes his mind after finding out that Catherine will be disinherited, his disappearance results in one of filmdom's most tragic of underplayed scenes--that of her waiting forelornly for a doorknock that does not come. For Morris, his motivation as a gigolo is not crystal clear. He may very well be as mercenary as Doctor Sloper accuses, or he may humanely have concluded that it is better to dump Catherine at the mock alter of the Sloper door than to risk leaving her destitute. THE HEIRESS is a movie of several memorable scenes, nearly all of which take place within the Sloper living room. When Morris fails to appear, Catherine expects a modicum of understanding from her father. Instead he delivers yet his most vicious of cutting remarks. Catherine replies that she would have married him anyway, knowing that he did not love her, if only he would have offered the illusion of warmth and human contact. The closing scene in which Catherine orders her maid 'Bolt the door, Maria,' shows that the passing of time has done more to harden her heart against a man who just may be as greedy as charged--or perhaps his earlier explanation that he wished not to impoverish her may be true. We never know his motivation, but THE HEIRESS makes clear hers. When she defends her decision to seek revenge against Morris, Catherine replies coldly, that of cruelty, 'I have been taught by masters.' The bolting of the door is the symbolic equivalent of the closing of her heart. It is no surprise that Morris's loud pounding on the Sloper door does not resonate with a heart that has learned only too well the lessons taught by Doctor Sloper.
Rating:
Summary: 'Bolt the Door, Maria!'
Review: THE HEIRESS is a surprisingly complex drama of paternal brutality, starry-eyed love, and bitter revenge. Director William Wyler adapted Henry James' short novel WASHINGTON SQUARE and during the film's nearly two hours managed to convey the collision of conflicting dreams. Each of the three major characters: Ralph Richardson as Doctor Sloper, Olivia de Havilland as his dowdy daughter Catherine Sloper, and Montgomery Clift as the mercenary Morris Townsend all dance a three-partnered minuet in which emotional ties clasp and unclasp in ways that are suggested more by gentle innuendo than by overt deed. Doctor Sloper is a uncaring brute who rules his house with vicious wit and the threat of withheld inheritance. To him, there are two kinds of men: those who have already made their mark in the world (like him) and those who have not (like Morris) but seek to obtain it deceitfully through marriage to plain but rich women (like Catherine). The more Sloper puts Catherine down with harsh barbs, the more he increases the inevitability that Catherine will someday rebel by latching onto the first glib male golddigger, thereby proving himself right all along. Sloper's problem is that his paternal tunnel vision does not allow the possibility that Catherine might be more than a one-dimensional stick figure forever doomed to spinsterhood. For Catherine, life is a gilded cage, plenty of the physical necessities, but not a whit of the emotional ones. The more she is starved for affection, the more she will reach out even to those men like Morris who are likely mercenary. One of the film's bitter ironies is that her father's oft repeated warnings about Morris's motivations might yet be valid. When Morris promises to elope with her, then abruptly changes his mind after finding out that Catherine will be disinherited, his disappearance results in one of filmdom's most tragic of underplayed scenes--that of her waiting forelornly for a doorknock that does not come. For Morris, his motivation as a gigolo is not crystal clear. He may very well be as mercenary as Doctor Sloper accuses, or he may humanely have concluded that it is better to dump Catherine at the mock alter of the Sloper door than to risk leaving her destitute. THE HEIRESS is a movie of several memorable scenes, nearly all of which take place within the Sloper living room. When Morris fails to appear, Catherine expects a modicum of understanding from her father. Instead he delivers yet his most vicious of cutting remarks. Catherine replies that she would have married him anyway, knowing that he did not love her, if only he would have offered the illusion of warmth and human contact. The closing scene in which Catherine orders her maid 'Bolt the door, Maria,' shows that the passing of time has done more to harden her heart against a man who just may be as greedy as charged--or perhaps his earlier explanation that he wished not to impoverish her may be true. We never know his motivation, but THE HEIRESS makes clear hers. When she defends her decision to seek revenge against Morris, Catherine replies coldly, that of cruelty, 'I have been taught by masters.' The bolting of the door is the symbolic equivalent of the closing of her heart. It is no surprise that Morris's loud pounding on the Sloper door does not resonate with a heart that has learned only too well the lessons taught by Doctor Sloper.
Rating:
Summary: Emotional Violence
Review: The Heiress is an excellent, detailed production which seems to be getting the respect that is deserves lately. It's the story of a plain and awkward girl who finds her love abused by not only a fortune hunter who does not love her, but also by her widowed father who can barely hide the disappointment and contempt he feels toward her. As the awkward girl, Olivia deHavilland gives what must be one of the most perfect performances delivered on film by an actress. Using everything including the tone in her voice, posture, slight clumsiness, and her eyes, she flawlessly portrays the character's evolution from innocence to bitterness. She's amazing. Montgomery Clift portrays her would be lover, and he seems out of place in the film, but upon reflection, it works because his character wants to move up in the world, using deHavilland and her money as his means. He's not supposed to fit in. Ralph Richardson plays her father, and he's a strong presence in every scene. Miriam Hopkins plays her meddling aunt, and she provides some amusement amidst the emotional turmoil. William Wyler once again directs a detailed, mature film, and the musical score by Aaron Copland perfectly fits the film. The final scene is memorable, as are some of the lines such as when Richardson puts down deHavilland for wearing a red dress like her mother used to, saying that her mother "dominated the colour". I don't want to be sexist, but as a man I admire the film for it's detail and performances. However, the women I know who have seen the movie react very emotionally and strongly to the story, because I suspect it hits a particular chord. It's certainly a film that leaves the viewer talking, and that's always a good sign.
Rating:
Summary: My all-time favourite film
Review: THE HEIRESS is now my all-time favourite film, surpassing THE GHOST AND MRS MUIR, which was the top of my list for many years. For me, everything about this film is perfection: the acting, the superb screenplay, the wonderful score, the direction, the attention to detail... THE HEIRESS gets better and better with each viewing. But the best aspect of this film is Olivia deHavilland's portrayal of the tragic, pitiful Catherine Sloper who, denied a life of being loved by her resentful father, falls in love with the first man who shows her kindness. A classic and a must for any serious film lover's collection.
Rating:
Summary: I Can't Praise this film highly enough! (contains spoilers)
Review: The Heiress is the poignant 1949 film which won Olivia de Havilland a well deserved Oscar for Best Actress. Based on the book "Washington Square" the story is set in the 1840s, focusing on Catherine (de Havilland), a timid naive woman who happens to have an inheritance of $10,000 a year from her mother, and $20,000 a year after her father's death. Ralph Richardson also gives an outstanding performance here as the father who holds her up to the standard of her late mother. His view of her not measuring up is one thing that keeps her down.
Montgomery Clift plays Morris, the man who courts her. She falls in love with him, while he's more in love with her money, though she doesn't suspect his alterior motive until it's too late. Throughout we get sharp witted dialogue, sometimes leaving us subtle between-the-lines clues. For instance when Morris echoes Catherine's thought that when alone with her Aunt Lavinia he is more eloquent (this implies Lavinia told him of her similar thoughts). And when in Paris she tells her father that her Aunt's letter gives a first hand account of Paris (implying her Aunt has been talking to Morris). Her father finally tells her how worthless he feels she is, but for her inheritance, so she then puts all her faith in Morris. They set the time for him to come and take her away to elope, fueling her romantic fantasies of the relationship and she tells him of her falling out with (and apparent disinheritance from) her father, then goes to pack. The scenes that follow are some of the most moving and disturbing ever set to film. As she waits for Morris with elated anticipation, her Aunt tells her of her belief in Morris' money motive. Catherine denies this: "Morris will love me, where others did not." After the set time for his arrival comes and goes it dawns on her what has happened and she breaks down. In the morning she is completely transformed, older, bitter, and drained as she slowly drags her suitcases back up the long dark stairway. For the rest of the film she "finds her voice" as her father says, a lower toned, darker, disillusioned, and bitter voice. And her father and Morris both find that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Another Oscar went to Aaron Copland for the excellent film score. If you know the song "I Can't Help Falling in Love", you'll notice it's a rip off of this score. Overall one of the top 5 films of the 1940s.
Rating:
Summary: I Can't Praise this film highly enough! (contains spoilers)
Review: The Heiress is the poignant 1949 film which won Olivia de Havilland a well deserved Oscar for Best Actress. Based on the book "Washington Square" the story is set in the 1840s, focusing on Catherine (de Havilland), a timid naive woman who happens to have an inheritance of $10,000 a year from her mother, and $20,000 a year after her father's death. Ralph Richardson also gives an outstanding performance here as the father who holds her up to the standard of her late mother. His view of her not measuring up is one thing that keeps her down.
Montgomery Clift plays Morris, the man who courts her. She falls in love with him, while he's more in love with her money, though she doesn't suspect his alterior motive until it's too late. Throughout we get sharp witted dialogue, sometimes leaving us subtle between-the-lines clues. For instance when Morris echoes Catherine's thought that when alone with her Aunt Lavinia he is more eloquent (this implies Lavinia told him of her similar thoughts). And when in Paris she tells her father that her Aunt's letter gives a first hand account of Paris (implying her Aunt has been talking to Morris). Her father finally tells her how worthless he feels she is, but for her inheritance, so she then puts all her faith in Morris. They set the time for him to come and take her away to elope, fueling her romantic fantasies of the relationship and she tells him of her falling out with (and apparent disinheritance from) her father, then goes to pack. The scenes that follow are some of the most moving and disturbing ever set to film. As she waits for Morris with elated anticipation, her Aunt tells her of her belief in Morris' money motive. Catherine denies this: "Morris will love me, where others did not." After the set time for his arrival comes and goes it dawns on her what has happened and she breaks down. In the morning she is completely transformed, older, bitter, and drained as she slowly drags her suitcases back up the long dark stairway. For the rest of the film she "finds her voice" as her father says, a lower toned, darker, disillusioned, and bitter voice. And her father and Morris both find that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Another Oscar went to Aaron Copland for the excellent film score. If you know the song "I Can't Help Falling in Love", you'll notice it's a rip off of this score. Overall one of the top 5 films of the 1940s.
Rating: 
Summary: Revenge Sweetened by Expert Storytelling
Review: The Heiress pre-dates modernly mean, masculine revenge movies and the feminist get-even-with-men movies of the ' 90's by delicately building a story about a plain, sincere 19th century woman who suffers the misfortune of falling in love with a man who is after her inheritance. The tired cliche of this kind of situation comes to life and reality as the audience watches her gradually opening up to and loving a rake who convinces her and us he really means it when he says he loves her. But she and the audience find out that although hope is eternal in the human breast, it crashes in real life when the hope reflects a soul-based yearning that another person never intended to fulfill. Although one could argue against the double standard that finds it socially acceptable for women to pursue successful men but denies that same right to men, one has to admit suspicion when a handsome young man pursues this woman, whose fantasies and expectations gradually dissolve and finally shatter into a hard resolve and bitterness, as she loses her innocent expectations but not her intelligence, and in which truth wins over fantasy, but at a cost that robs her of a large part of her former self. It is said men's revenge fantasies involve hurting the person who has hurt them, while women's revenge fantasies involves the man realizing how deeply she has been hurt. In this case, she gets both by robbing him of what he valued most--the expectation of her money--while also realizing the depth of her hurt. Both experienced a surgery of the soul without anasthetic, and the filmmakers portray how no one really wins in this age-old situation. ...
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