Product Description: Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 02/06/2007 Run time: 116 minutes Rating: Nr
Amazon.com essential video: Olivia de Havilland's Oscar®-winning performance in The Heiress is so good that even hard-to-please critic Pauline Kael hailed it as de Havilland's "finest work ever." Like director William Wyler's previous masterpiece The Best Years of Our Lives, this tightly controlled drama is an all-time classic (it was added to the Library of Congress's National Film Registry in 1996), and as Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne observes in his DVD introduction, its reputation has steadily improved with the passage of time. It was de Havilland who sought the services of director William Wyler for this superlative film adaptation of Henry James' 1881 novel Washington Square, after director Lewis Milestone urged her to see the acclaimed stage adaptation by married playwrights Ruth and Augustus Goetz. De Havilland had already won her first Oscar (for her role in the 1946 drama To Each His Own), and recognized a prestigious opportunity when she saw one. Wyler enthusiastically agreed, and The Heiress was fast-tracked for production in early 1949. Released on October 6 of that year, the film eventually earned eight Academy Award nominations, winning the Oscar® for Best Actress, Art Direction, Costume Design, and Music (the last for Aaron Copland's splendid score). When Martin Scorsese was preparing to film The Age of Innocence in 1992, he cited Wyler's film as a primary influence. (Washington Square was filmed again in 1997, with its original title and Jennifer Jason Leigh as Catherine.)
De Havilland is heartbreaking, docile, victimized, and ultimately cruel as Catherine Sloper, a plain-looking aristocrat who stands to inherit a fortune from her ailing physician father (Ralph Richardson), as well as his well-meaning but cold-hearted demeanor. Dr. Sloper disapproves of Catherine's passionate suitor Morris Townsend (Montgomery Clift, perfectly cast), certain that the penniless young man has proposed marriage to win Catherine's inheritance. Catherine's too much in love to consider this potential betrayal, and when circumstances lead her to misinterpret Morris's intentions, The Heiress reaches an unforgettable conclusion that brilliantly supports the richly psychological nuance that Wyler brings to the preceding romance. Universal's "Cinema Classics" DVD is skimpy on extras, but Osborne's introduction is informative (as always), and despite a grainy quality of some scenes (typical with films of this vintage), the DVD transfer impeccably captures the mood-setting excellence of Leo Tover's flawless cinematography. The film's original theatrical trailer is also included. --Jeff Shannon
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - An "unmarriageble" girl
The Heiress (1949) is an outstanding movie - adaptation of the play by Augustus and Ruth Goetz, based on the novel "Washington Square" by great writer, Henry James, The drama of a young, shy, sweet, open to love, rather plain in her appearance but very rich girl takes place in New York City in the mid-1880s. Olivia ... Read More
Rating: - An Additional Wrinkle
I've enjoyed reading the many insightful reviews offered here about The Heiress.
However, one aspect that I have not seen explored here, and one that has occurred to me after more than one viewing of the film is the prospect that Catherine's father's rejection of her is fueled by his misdirected anger ... Read More
Rating: - "You have found a tongue at last, Catherine!"
I've seen more than a fair share of revenge movies, American and foreign, from variants of "The Count of Monte Cristo" to "Kill Bill" and hundreds in between. None has altered my opinion that "The Heiress" is the best of them all. Olivia de Havilland and Montgomery Clift-that alone is reason enough to see this. But ... Read More
