Rating: 
Summary: Abosultely Marvellous!!!
Review: With the help of her psychologist, Dr. Jaquith (Claude Rains), Charlotte Vale (Bette Davis) breaks lose from the iron grip of her stern and domineering mother (Gladys Cooper). Charlotte loses weight, trims her eyebrows, and finds love with the handsome Jerry Durrance (Paul Henreid) while on a cruise to Rio.
NOW, VOYAGER is full of that thick, gooey stuff of which impossible melodramas are made - the cruel parent, the ugly duckling child who must wrest herself out from under the suffocating maternal wing so she may blossom into a beautiful swan, etc., etc., etc. Tear-jerking muck is a toxin to my system, and my thumb hung heavy over the `eject' button, ready to zap this one into oblivion.
But Davis, who must be the greatest movie star ever, plays her character free of artifice and false sentimentality. By the time she meets (unhappily) married Henreid on the cruise ship I was totally involved in her story. By the time they parted at the railroad station and she asked "Shall I tell you what you've given me...?" I was reaching for the hankies.
What a remarkable actress was Bette Davis.
Rating:
Summary: one of her best
Review: "Now, Voyager" is a first-rate movie, from its title, taken from a line by Walt Whitman, to the superb cast, to the wonderful direction. It exemplifies the best Hollywood can offer. Bette Davis takes on the role of Charlotte Vale, a repressed Back Bay-Boston spinster dominated by her overbearing mother. The film shows us her awakening, her coming-to-life and all that life can hold. She grows into a vivacious, irresistibly charming and giving woman, and then she matures even more into a noble person of wide understanding who makes the right--and unselfish-- choices. Although this might qualify as a three-tissue movie, it also will lift your spirits, making you feel that you also can go out and soar above challenges, seizing life with both hands and loving it. Highly recommended, one of Davis's best.
Rating:
Summary: Classic Bette Davis 'Chick Flick' Improves with Age!
Review: "Now, Voyager" is, perhaps, the 'perfect' soap opera, an "Ugly Duckling" romantic drama offering full measures of heart and heartbreak, joy and unrequited yet spiritually satisfying love. It is my favorite Bette Davis film, as it exemplifies her classic '40s persona; initially fragile but ready to bloom, she, is, ultimately, a survivor who, facing her destiny, embraces it with courage and confidence.
It's hard to believe that Davis, Warner's biggest female star, had to fight for the role of Charlotte Vale, but Olive Higgins Prouty's best-selling novel was such a strong potential star vehicle that a wide array of actresses, from Irene Dunne to Ginger Rogers, campaigned for the part. Davis was undaunted, however, and after meetings with producer Hal Wallis, succeeded in winning him over, then pressured the studio into borrowing Paul Henreid from RKO, as her leading man. The potent chemistry between the pair is a highlight of the film; who can forget the scenes of his lighting two cigarettes in his mouth, then handing one to Bette?
As brilliant as her performance is (earning her an Oscar nomination), the rest of the cast is equally good. Headed by Oscar nominee Gladys Cooper, as her selfish, dominating mother, and Claude Rains, as the brilliant, yet down-to-earth psychiatrist who turns the frumpy Vale into a radiant beauty, the characters mesh together seamlessly. Two supporting characters deserve special attention; Janis Wilson, as Henreid's love-starved daughter, succeeds as a younger variation of Davis; and young Mary Wickes, great fun as a plain-speaking, wise nurse, unafraid of the Dowager mother.
This is a film to cherish, from director Irving Rapper's masterful use of voice-over 'thoughts' of Vale, to Max Steiner's famous, wildly romantic score.
Ladies, while "Now, Voyager" is, unabashedly, a 'Chick Flick', don't be surprised if the guy in your life becomes as big a fan of the film as you...Davis is the kind of heroine EVERYONE can cheer for!
Rating: 
Summary: The moon and the stars all in one!
Review: "Now Voyager" is the archetypal classic romance and women's picture - good soap opera raised to the power of ten - with its themes of emotional repression, doomed romance, the power of psychoanalysis and surrogacy. Davis and Henreid are perfect as Charlotte and Jerry who transform each others lives. Although very serious, film benefits from is humorous touches. For example, when Charlotte wants her identity to remain a secret, Jerry introduces her as Camille. 'Why?' asks Charlotte. 'Its the only French name I know besides Fifi' Henreid replies. The film is pure escapism so don't analyze its authenticity too closely. Just sit back and enjoy the wonderfully romantic music and performances by the stars who were at their peak.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic for the Fans
Review: 'Now, Voyager' tells the story of hapless introvert Charlotte Vale (Bette Davis), her near-nervous breakdown machinated by her domineering Mother (Gladys Vale) and her subsequent recovery with the help of the dashing J.D. Durrance (Paul Henreid). Directed by Irving Rapper (Another Man's Poison), 'Now, Voyager' is another glorious slice of early forties melodrama, and a total Davis vehicle. Not that that's a bad thing, actually. Her performance as Charlotte Vale is excellent, she's emotional and deep enough to be believable, and her private exchanges with JD and her Mother are excellent illustrations of the power of Ms. Davis as an actress. Henreid, too, is wonderful as the stiff and faithful JD, stern enough to cause Charlotte frustration yet likeable enough to generate sympathy from the audience. The supporting cast are a credible bunch - Gladys Vale is an excellent Matriarch (where are the actresses of this calibre today?) and Ivisible Man Claude Rains is hugely charismatic as Dr. Jaquith, a Vermont-based psychologist who all-but saves Charlotte from herself. Comic relief is supplied in the shape of the always-entertaining Mary Wickes (the crotchety nun in the Sister Act movies) as Dora. Direction is beautiful, with noir-esque interiors and excellent lighting techniques employed to best suggest the sense of Charlotte subsisting in a grim dictatorial household. Rapper's style is a strange contrast to the script, too - it's got a more organic flow about it than the sometimes-stilted dialogue. The score is provided by the genius Max Steiner and is, as one would expect from a man of this legendary reputation, exactly perfect for the tone of the piece. DVD Quality is excellent, perhaps a little worn in places but on the whole, it's fantastic, and certainly better than a lot of other later DVD conversions. The extras are perfunctory (and indeed, as one reviewer pointed out below, half seem to be missing!) but they don;t make the picture. On the whole, 'Now, Voyager' is definitely one for the fans. It seems to have established all of the trademark Davis moves (cigarette, EYES, clipped accent, constantly jiggling arm) and is very stilted in some scenes, approaching Camp (see Charlotte's exchanges with the dreadfully annoying Tina Durrance for proof of this!). While it is an endearing and oftentimes emotionally-involving story, one can't help but feel that it will win no new fans to the genre. Still, if you're fan, you can't go wrong with this.
Rating:
Summary: Davis Shines
Review: A way to consider Davis, acting ability is to consider how this film would be received with someone else in the title role..of course..it just wouldnt work.! Davis , makes it all work and even elevates Casey Robinson,s screenplay to greater heights. Irving Rapper gets "it all" from the rest of the cast...and Max Steiner,s score is so memorable that parts of this film were included in Herman Rauchers " Summer of 42!" Turning cliches into truth !!!
Rating:
Summary: A HOLLYWOOD TREASURE.
Review: An irresistible kitsch classic which lingers in the memory: if it were any better, it might not have worked at all. This movie offered Bette Davis every opportunity to display her dramatic range, and she took full advantage of the situation. As Miss Charlotte Vale, the drab, myopic, overweight, sexually repressed ugly duckling daughter of a domineering Back Bay matriarch, Davis conveys the loneliness, anger and self-pity felt by someone in her situation. While on the verge of a nervous breakdown, Charlotte is rescued by a kindly psychiatrist, one Dr. Jacquith (the great Claude Rains), who was informed of Charlotte's dilemma by her sophisticated but kind sister-in-law, Lisa. Later, she is transformed into a swan - by comparison, anyway - who finds independence and defies her monster of a domineering mother (magnificently played by Gladys Cooper). A family friend, Renee bowed out of a South American cruise; Charlotte goes in her place. During the cruise, Charlotte meets Jerry Durrance (Paul Henreid, in a polished, understated performance) an unhappily married man: romance ensues. I remember watching this as a teen-ager and thought it was unbelievably phoney: it grows on the viewer with each viewing. Memorable moments are many: Charlotte's bitchy neice (Bonita Granville) commenting on Aunt Charlotte's ravishing "new" dress -Mrs. Vale responding to her daughter's cheeky answers after taking her "cure" i.e. "You know perfectly well what I meant. What PERSON sent the flowers?" - Charlotte's dismissal of her unbearably priggish suitor (the wooden John Loder): "Let's not linger over it" -and the sometimes mawkish scenes with the seemingly purposely annoying - and, boy, did she succeed - Tina as played by the obnoxious & unpretty Janis Wilson. And then there's the weinie roast, where brother Lloyd states a that a certain fireplace has never been used: "High time it was then, Lloyd!" & upon her introduction to an admirer who jilted her years earlier - on why they "never met before": "Well, the world's a small place, but Boston's a big one". A grand movie in every sense of the word, because it belongs entirely to LaDavis, that living acting school whose performances - brilliant as they are - always call attention to them. That's why she was easy to imitate and ended up imitating herself: she was - for this reason - the quintessential movie actress, a point too many aspiring actors ignore at their peril. The Max Steiner score, justifiably famous, effective and admired adds a lush background to the emotional turmoil on the screen. Davis's most popular film of the 1940's.
Rating:
Summary: One of her best
Review: As all of the letter say this is one of Bette's best. I have seen it over & over & still love it. So I bought it. It is a wonderful movie and if you love Bette David & the great old movies buy this one.
Rating:
Summary: The Ultimate Woman's Picture
Review: At a time when Hollywood paid more attention to its female audience and made films for them, this may be the best of the bunch. A padded Bette Davis stars as Charlotte Vale, an overweight, unattractive spinster bullied by the mother who never wanted her. On the verge of a nervous breakdown, her sister-in-law arranges for her to meet a psychiatrist played by Claude Rains, and after spending time at his "hospital", she emerges thinner, beautiful, and more prepared to face the world, a world which include Paul Henreid, a married man that she falls in love with while on a post-recovery cruise. It's the kind of role an actress must love, and Davis plays it with restraint and class. Rains is good as usual, and Henreid delivers one of his best performances. The supporting cast is excellent, with Gladys Cooper pulling out all the stops as the tough mother and Mary Wickes bringing a gentle humour to her role as a nurse. The musical score by Max Steiner is excellent, and of course, there are the famous moments of Henreid lighting two cigarettes at once, something that wouldn't work in today's movies, but is quite effective in this film. With it's Ugly Duckling/Cinderella angle and it's sense of romance, this has to be the ultimate woman's picture. It knows its audience and delivers.
Rating:
Summary: You can wear the black and white foullard!
Review: Based on Olive Prouty's novel, this Hal Wallis production is one of the best films the studio system produced. The story, improbably romantic though it is (the novel at least makes some effort to provide some motivation for the romance) moves along smartly, the settings are sumptuous, the writing deft. Now Voyager is one of those magical movies that can be watched repeatedly (like Gone with the Wind, Dark Victory) and each viewing uncovers new layers of magic. Bette's portrayal of Charlotte Vale goes the gamut from repressed old maid to striking woman of the world. But I loved, too, besides the top-notch acting, studying the Orry-Kelly fashions for his star, which are timeless, the unforgettable musical score of Max Steiner, which makes this movie throb from the first frame to the last with a powerful resonance.
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