Now, Voyager

Plot synopsis:
Drab Charlotte Vale (Bette Davis) is an unattractive, overweight, repressed spinster whose life is brutally dominated by her tyrannical mother (Gladys Cooper), an aristocratic Boston dowager whose verbal and emotional abuse of her daughter has contributed to the woman's complete lack of self-confidence. It is revealed that Mrs. Vale had already brought up three sons, and Charlotte was an unwanted child born to her late in life. Fearing that Charlotte is on the verge of a nervous breakdown, her sister-in-law Lisa (Ilka Chase) introduces her to psychiatrist Dr. Jaquith (Claude Rains), who recommends that she spend time in his sanitarium.
Away from her mother's control Charlotte blossoms, and at Lisa's urging the transformed woman opts to take a lengthy cruise instead of going home immediately. On the ship she meets Jeremiah Duvaux Durrance (Paul Henreid), a married man who is traveling with his friends Deb (Lee Patrick) and Frank McIntyre (James Rennie). It is from them that Charlotte learns of how Jerry's devotion to his young daughter Christine ("Tina") keeps him from divorcing his wife, a manipulative, jealous woman who does not love Tina and keeps Jerry from engaging in his chosen career of architecture, despite the fulfillment he gets from it.
Charlotte and Jerry become friendly, and in Rio de Janeiro the two are stranded on Sugarloaf Mountain when their car crashes. They miss the ship and spend five days together before Charlotte flies to Buenos Aires to rejoin the cruise. Although they have fallen in love, they decide it would be best not to see each other again.
When she arrives home, Charlotte's family is stunned by the dramatic changes in her appearance and demeanor. Her mother is determined to once again destroy her daughter, but Charlotte is resolved to remain independent. The memory of Jerry's love and devotion help to give her the strength she needs to remain resolute.
Charlotte becomes engaged to wealthy, well-connected widower Elliot Livingston (John Loder), but after a chance meeting with Jerry, she breaks off the engagement, about which she quarrels with her mother. During the argument, Charlotte says she didn't ask to be born, that her mother never wanted her, that it's "been a calamity on both sides." Mrs. Vale is so shocked that her once-weak daughter has found the courage to actually talk back to her, she has a heart attack and dies. Guilty and distraught, Charlotte returns to the sanitarium.
When she arrives at the sanitarium, she is immediately diverted from her own problems when she meets Jerry's lonely, unhappy 12-year-old daughter Tina (Janis Wilson) who has been sent to Dr. Jaquith. Tina greatly reminds Charlotte of herself; both were unwanted and unloved by their mothers. Shaken from her depression, Charlotte becomes overly interested in Tina's welfare and, with Dr. Jaquith's permission, she takes her under her wing. When the girl improves, Charlotte takes her home to Boston.
Jerry and Dr. Jaquith visit the Vale home, where Jerry is delighted to see the changes in his daughter. While he initially pities Charlotte, believing her to be settling in her life, he's taken aback by her contempt for his initial condescension. Dr. Jaquith has allowed Charlotte to keep Tina there with the understanding that her relationship with Jerry will remain platonic. She tells Jerry that she sees Tina as his gift to her and her way of being close to him. When Jerry asks her if she's happy, Charlotte finds much to value in her life, even if she doesn't have everything she wants: "Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars," a line ranked #46 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movie quotes in American cinema.

Tags: romantic, psychological, flashback

Review:
"Now Voyager"'s quality could stand comparison with any great film out there.Plot: Charlotte Vale (Bette Davis), the psychologically abused child of a sadistic iceberg of a wealthy, Boston Brahmin mother (Gladys Cooper), thanks to the intervention of a compassionate sister-in-law (Ilka Chase) is packed off to a posh asylum, where Dr. Jaquith (Claude Rains) restores her to well being.Charlotte loses weight, loses her glasses, and receives tutoring in how to dress and carry herself.
As time goes on, they make some heart-wrenching decisions about how to handle their adulterous love; along the way, Charlotte forms an important bond with Tina, Jerry's daughter, whose mother does not love her.The screen is full of women's bodies, women's voices, women's choices, and women's lives.
With Paul Henreid & Claude Rains, Gladys Cooper & a spot-on supporting cast, "Voyager..." is, hands down, best love story I believe I've ever seen.Of course, taste in romances has everything to do with what a viewer finds great.
"Voyager..." has a gritty plot that reveals the kind of love between unrequited lovers that's worth sacrificing oneself for.Davis' wardrobe is as fabulous in this movie as it is in "Deception," (also co-starring Claude Rains & Paul Henreid).
Though "Deception" is also a love story, Claude Rains coming seriously close to stealing the show from Davis.In "Voyager..." the characters are much more egalitarian.
A little bit of cinema history.Last week I bought "Now Voyager" on DVD and was completely blown away!Perhaps it's because I know the story so well, but I was able to appreciate the movie on several different levels such as cinematography, direction and editing.Bette Davis was always the prime reason for watching but I never realized what a fine naturalistic actor Claude Raines was.
The results are a remarkable transformation of a woman who believed she was an 'ugly duckling' into Miss Bette Davis as a sizzling hot beauty like she never was before or after in any other film.How Miss Davis didn't view herself as a beauty or use her beauty to create her success as an actress is what "Now, Voyager," proves is most remarkable about her 66 year long acting career.
In Boston, the fat spinster Charlotte Vale (Bette Davis) is a repressed woman without self-esteem and completely dominated by her wealthy mother Mrs. Henry Vale (Gladys Cooper).
She brings the girl to her house in Boston and one day, Jerry visits Tina and Charlotte with Dr. Jaquith."Now, Voyager" is a melodrama with the story of a repressed spinster that become self-confident after a medical treatment and finds love with a married man in a travel to South America.
In the 1942 screen adaptation of the 1941 bestseller by Olive Higgins-Prouty, Bette Davis and Paul Henreid provide excellent, subtle performances as Charlotte Vale (self-described Spinster Aunt) and J.D.
However, I did enjoy the ugly duckling-turned-beauty story that featured Davis tolerating her nasty mother and then using her experiences to help another young lady who was suffering from a similar inferiority complex.Gladys Cooper was outstanding as the irritating, brutal mother.
Bette Davis plays Charlotte Vale, an unmarried and very unhappy plain-Jane who lives with, and is under the emotional control of, her wealthy, domineering, matriarchal mother (Gladys Cooper).
That it is, but I think the reason for its continuing popularity and that it's almost always listed in Bette Davis's top five by any of her fans is that it shows her growth as a human being over the course of the film.It's not that they ugly Davis up in makeup when we first meet her as spinster Charlotte Vale.
She even meets Henreid's daughter whose own mother has turned her into a creature like Davis used to be.My favorite part of Now Voyager has always been Bette's scenes with young Janis Wilson.
However Max Steiner's musical score, one of his best, took home Now Voyager's only Oscar.Other people to note in the cast are John Loder as a man entranced by Bette's blossoming who offers to marry her and Mary Wickes who plays a most practical nurse for Gladys Cooper.
It is a film that transgresses the decades since it was made and speaks to women of all ages.My favourate quote of Paul Heinreid (he looks like his idea of fun would be to find a nice damp grave and sit in it) is turned around and he actually portrays a sympathetic character.Claude Rains is a sexy (yes thats right I do find the guy sexy) psychiatrist who puts her back together again.the plot is great the dialogue excellant and my favourite last line is the message on my mobile (slightly changed to fit the letters allowed).It is a film for all to watch when stressed or depressed, it also works great with chocolates wine and tissues.Watch this and enjoy..
Paul Henreid is superb as the love interest and the rest of the supporting cast are brilliant, particularly Rains, Cooper and Wickes.I have not seen many Bette Davis films, but she produces a compelling performance here.I agree with many other reviewers that this film could not be made today because the art has gone out of acting.
Now, Voyager tells the story of a young woman  a classic ugly duckling  trapped by a domineering mother  come out of her shell and finds happiness.
I was introduced to this wonderful classic by my Mother; along with other great Bette Davis films; such as, "Jezebel" and "Dark Victory".
This may be the best soap opera love film from Hollywood in it's golden age - it certainly is among them, and it certainly is Bette Davis' best soap opera role: Charlotte Vale.
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.
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.While "Now, Voyager" is, unabashedly, a 'Chick Flick', don't be surprised, female viewers, 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!.
I've seen it countless times over the past 35+ years, and with increasing frequency, of course, since since the advent of VCRs, Turner Classic Movies, and DVDs. On two occasions I even got to see it in a theater on the big screen (the way movies were originally meant to be seen - remember?)I just want to say that this film features not only one of Bette Davis's 'cornerstone' performances, but also her most magically beautiful moments on film - anyone who doesn't think Davis was beautiful hasn't seen her here, particularly in the scene in which her tyrannical mother threatens to cut off financial support.
This is my favorite Bette Davis film because of the vulnerability  and subsequent strength of the character Charlotte Vale.
The joys and sadness in their lives find an echo in us all, I'm sure.I always admire Claude Rains no matter what role he is in, and here as the thoughtful Dr. Jaquith he brings his suave charm into play.Bette Davis gives a fine portrayal of Charlotte, the suppressed and overwrought daughter who in time conquers her demons and breaks free, and Paul Henreid is splendid in his gentle romantic role.
Now, Voyager There is no doubt this is a wonderful movie, if only for Bette Davis and her transformations as Charlotte so vivid in that classic Hollywood way.
This expert film can even to hold the guys to the end, through the layers of soap and tripe to the climactic Give and Take annihilation of reason and the triumph of corn.Mentally repressed woman Bette Davis under mother Gladys Cooper's bony thumb first with the help of psychiatrist Claude Rains and then with married lover Paul Henreid eventually asserts her independence and blossoms as a person, and of course as a Woman which is more important.
Bette Davis,Paul Henreid and Claude Rains (plus their supporting cast,make this a film that despite it's age,is a timeless tale.
Her character's journey and arc are amazing in itself, and from the four Davis films I have seen, she is at her "nicest" here definitely, so in that way it's good to see how she can play a true hero, and she does it in her usual style yet makes it all that much more different.
Along with DECEPTION by Irving Rapper, NOW VOYAGER, the title of which is derived from Walt Whitman's poem "Leaves of grass," is clearly one of Bette Davis' most crucial films from the time of her contract with Warner Brothers Studio.
However, "a highly narcotic, swoon inducing romance in the Bette Davis canon," as New York Times labeled the movie, brings out something widely known by the television generations: a daughter on the verge of nervous breakdown, desperate to find her independence, struggling to escape her monstrous, forbidding mother in order to, at last, seek and find a home of her own, a man of her own and a child of her own.
The much appraised scene of the two (Bette and Paul) lighting a cigarette echoes the never ending power of illusion within the same spirits but different methods of Hollywood.Among the supporting cast, a mention must be made of Gladys Cooper who portrays the villainous manipulative mother - someone who could equally display a powerful insight under Hitchcock's guidance.
In addition, Davis gives probably the best performance of her long career here, understanding the character and really liking her, playing in the moment in every scene, and making the transformation from "frumpy librarian" (as a friend once described the pre-breakdown Charlotte) to glowing swan entirely believable.
The classic romance with Bette Davis as repressed spinster Charlotte Vale who is awakened momentarily by her meeting with the enigmatic Jerry (played with attractive understatement by Paul Henreid), but gives up her happiness to put his daughter Tina first.Claude Rains also plays a key role as the sympathetic sanatorium doctor, as does Gladys Cooper as Charlotte's overbearing mother.
Both Davis and Gladys Cooper as her domineering mother were nominated for Academy Awards.Co-writer credit goes to Casey Robinson, an uncredited writer on Casablanca, which also starred Paul Henreid, Bette's star-crossed lover, and Claude Raines, the doctor who helps bring her out of her shell.
The gorgeous manners of Boston's upper crust are beautifully portrayed as Davis and Henreid dance a dazzling pas de deaux that ends in one of classic cinemas greatest closing lines, "don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars."Everything that made you love movies in the first place is here in spades.
It's one of the most romantic movies I've ever seen (shipboard romance, TWO goodbyes at airports, everybody looks so handsome or glamorous), and has three classic sequences--Davis telling a man she can't marry him by saying, "Let's not dwell on it."; Paul Henreid lighting two cigarettes in his mouth (romantic, but they both smoke WAY too much!); and Davis' line, "Let's not wish for the moon, when we have the stars".
And the well acted characters made the story so very real.A young woman(Davis)suffers a nervous breakdown due to her domineering mother(Gladys Cooper).
Davis plays Miss Charlotte Vale, a dowdy, repressed spinster who is cruelly dominated by her regal pain of a mother (excellently portrayed by Gladys Cooper).
As Charlotte, the film's unlikely heroine, Davis runs the gamut from A-Z: truly a showcase for the most "actressy" of all movie stars, Ms Vale's inward journey from a sad, pathetically withdrawn ugly duckling to a self-confidently independent swan is a screen classic.
And Gladys Cooper fills an important role as the mother who made Charlotte what she is at the start of the film."Now, Voyager" is worth watching both for the thoughtful character study and for the good acting that makes it work..
The supporting cast around her is strong as well, and features Gladys Cooper (her mother), Paul Henreid (her lover), Claude Rains (her wise doctor).
She plays a frumpy, dowdy spinster (they basically put some glasses on her and mess up her hair a little) who blossoms into a strong beauty and ends the film swooning into Paul Henreid's arms as she delivers the famous line, "Let's not ask for the moon, we already have the stars." It's actually a ridiculous movie, but who the hell cares!
She has tremendous chemistry with Claude Rains, and the funniest moment in the film comes when he, as her doctor, talking to her about her time in a mental institution, says, "I thought you came here to have a breakdown," (or something to that effect), and she replies, "I did, but I changed my mind." Gladys Cooper plays Davis's stifling, overbearing battle-axe of a mother, a role Cooper cornered the market on.
For several reasons, not the least its luminous B/W cinematography, wonderful sets and Irving Rapper's sensitive direction, the film furthered the careers of its three stars, Paul Henreid, Davis and Claude Rains.
team is finely tuned.********* Now, Voyager (10/22/42) Irving Rapper ~ Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Gladys Cooper, Claude Rains.
Although not one could ever possibly outshone Madame Davis, whose performance was priceless (the accent, the affection and even the subtle gestures), the supporting cast still worth mentioning, Paul Henreid emanated his manhood charm in the maximum degree as Davis' wrong-place-wrong-time inamorato; Paul's CASABLANCA (1942) co-star Claude Rains here was in his not-so-common good-man role as the doctor of the mental sanitarium, it was rather wacky to see him do decent deeds on scree; Gladys Cooper's starchy deadpan performance also stands out during the mother/daughter squabble scenes (both her and Ms. Davis were nominated for Oscars, well-deserving!).
Bette Davis plays a homely, insecure woman in this film who struggles to overcome the influence of her domineering mother.
Her Romantic Interlude with Paul Henreid is Remembered and is Consequential to the Story to be Sure, but it Could be Said that the Movie Works so Well and Reaches its Emotional Level because of Charlotte's Natural Love and Mothering of the Twelve Year Old Tina (a warm and heart wrenching performance and character).It is that Sacrifice and Attention Given the Damaged Tina, that Makes Charlotte so Endearing and the Third Act is so Essential to the Plot and Cannot Help but be the Lynchpin to All of the Romantic Ruminations that Came Before.
Now, Voyager (1942)*** 1/2 (out of 4) Bette Davis plays an ugly duckling who suffers a nervous breakdown due to the overbearing torment from her mother (Gladys Cooper).
Never viewed this film which has great veteran actors from our past and Betty Davis, ( Charlotte Vale) is an ugly spinster who lives with her mother who drives her simply crazy and by a chance of luck she meets up with Dr. Jaquith, (Claude Rains) who feels he can do her a great deal of good and straighten out her life and to dissolve the problems with her mother's domination over her.
As a woman who suffered the domination of an abusive mother, I love seeing Charlotte Vale (Bette Davis) learning to be her own person,  transforming herself into a butterfly.
Bette Davis was superb as the repressed Charlotte Vale living with an overbearing mother, (Gladys Cooper at her nasty best) slowly being driven toward a nervous breakdown.
It seems like over the past 20 years, every time I have seen a documentary on the golden age of Hollywood, they play the last scene from this movie where Paul Henreid lights two cigarettes at once and hands one to Bette Davis.I have always wanted to see the movie and recently I watched it.
Bette Davis is superb in the role of Charlotte Vale, a woman under the thumb of an overbearing mother.
Equally impressive are Claude Rains, as her doctor, Dr. Jaquith and Paul Henreid, as Jerry Durrance, a man who befriends her on an ocean voyage.The movie takes you along on her journey from an insecure spinster to that of a woman who has everything.If you are a fan of film, this is an essential..
Charlott Vale, a dowdy spinster (Bette Davis) is transformed into a classic beauty, falls in love with a married architect (Paul Henreid), and ends up in an arrangement of doubtful morality where she looks after his daughter Tina Durrance (Janis Wilson) full-time at her house while he goes back to his wife.
Love remains unfulfilled, but at least Charlotte has found her métier in life.But to criticize this timeless classic, based on Olive Higgins Prouty's best-selling novel, is to overlook the panoply of memorable moments it contains, from Davis's first appearance coming down the staircase in a shapeless dress and glasses, to her showing her ivory carvings - for the first time - to Dr. Jaquith (Claude Rains), her arguments with her bitchy mother (Gladys Cooper), and her tenderness when dealing with equally insecure teenager Tina.
"Now, Voyager" stars Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, and Claude Rains, in a dramatic picture that produced well deserved Oscar Nominations for both Bette Davis (leading role) and Gladys Cooper (supporting role).
A truly wonderful film, including Max Steiner's musical notes, showing that everyone is absolutely beautiful in one way or another.As the picture opens, Bette Davis (Charlotte Vale) is under severe strain from her mother (played by Gladys Cooper), who controls everything she does, from what she reads, to what she wears.
We have the stars." (Quote ranked #46 of all time by the AFI's 100 Years100 Movie Quotes)I'll let you watch the film to see what happens with Charlotte and Jerry.