The Old Maid (1939) DVDRip Dual Eng-Esp (SiRiUs sHaRe)

The Old Maid (1939)



Delia marries Jim, not Joe After Delia breaks her engagement to Clem and marries Jim, Clem promises to marry Delia's cousin Charlotte, but he dies at the battle of Vicksburg leaving Charlotte an unwed mother. She and her daughter Tina, presumably an orphan, move in with Delia who legally adopts the girl. Charlotte watches her daughter grow up and get married, never able to claim her as her own. CORRECTION; Delia breaks her engagement to Clem, in favor of wealthy Jim. Cousin Charlotte comforts Clem, and becomes pregnant. Clem dies in the war before he can marry her, and Charlotte raises her daughter as a "foundling." When Jim's brother, Joe, falls in love with Charlotte, Delia, out of spiteful jealousy, destroys the forthcoming wedding, and eventually takes Charlotte's child from her



Bette Davis ... Charlotte Lovell

Miriam Hopkins ... Delia Lovell Ralston

George Brent ... Lt. Clem Spender

Donald Crisp ... Dr. Lanskell

Jane Bryan ... Clementina

Louise Fazenda ... Dora

James Stephenson ... Jim Ralston

Jerome Cowan ... Joseph Ralston

William Lundigan ... Lanning Halsey

Cecilia Loftus ... Grandmother Henrietta Lovell

Rand Brooks ... Jim Ralston Jr.

Janet Shaw ... Dee Ralston Ward

William Hopper ... John Ward (as DeWolf Hopper)



Director: Edmund Goulding



Runtime: 95 mins



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031750/
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Codecs:



Video : 512 MB, 757 Kbps, 23.976 fps, 416*320 (4:3), XVID = XVID Mpeg-4,

Audio : 183 MB, 270 Kbps, 48000 Hz, 2 channels, 0x55 = MPEG Layer-3, CBR,



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Edith Wharton never found a story with a non-ending she didn't like, and her short novel "The Old Maid," made into an excellent period drama starring Bette Davis, Miriam Hopkins, and Jane Bryan is no exception to the rule.



The story of two sisters living in rivalry as one of them -- the crueler one -- flourishes, while the second one -- the good one -- languishes in a destroyed life, couldn't have been better suited to the two actresses who couldn't have disliked each other more.



Bette Davis up until then had not shared considerable screen time with an actress of mettle until Miriam Hopkins took the role of Delia Lovell Ralston. She'd always had her share of leading men, whether she liked them or not, and in SO BIG! she had no scenes with Barbara Stanwyck. Being on screen with a female who could either out-act her or steal her scenes was something Davis reacted to with a brittle sense of aggression -- that is, unless they were on friendly terms, as when she and Mary Astor shared screen time together in THE GREAT LIE or when she, later in life, allowed pal Olivia de Havilland to mentally abuse her in HUSH, HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE. Even when acting aside Anne Baxter -- also part of Davis' circle of friends -- neither sought to obliterate the other, and in that film, Baxter played a supreme bitch to Bette's exaggerated but vulnerable Margo Channing in ALL ABOUT EVE.



However, one only had to see how she acted and reacted to women who somehow, she viewed as professional rivals, she thought little of, or felt that their glamor somehow would eclipse her presence. Of them all, it's widely agreed to that with (Joan) Crawford she was on the least friendly of terms, and crew members expected an explosion to take place at any given moment on the set of WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? However, Davis is also reputed to have stated that despite their "rivalry", despite that Crawford and she had never been "simpatico", there was no feud... although if filming had been extended to three months instead of three weeks, well -- that was another story. The end result, however, while not the best of films -- in fact it has exploitation moments -- was a fascinating study of Hollywood sisters living in hatred of each other, joined in a battle of wills to survive.



There was a lot feeding the flames of animosity between Davis and Hopkins. While filming THE SISTERS, Davis was reported to have sustained a romantic affair with her director (and Hopkins' husband at the time), Anatole Litvak, even when he gave co-star Errol Flynn most of the close-ups. Hopkins had starred in the theatre production of JEZEBEL, a role she felt entitled to, so she felt that Davis had also stole that character away from her (and quite possibly her chances of winning an Oscar). Davis states that Hopkins tried to make her very ill at ease, even walking at one point onto the set dressed as Julie Marsden. Even so, Davis refused to give in to Hopkins' antics, instead of focusing on her own performance. Because of the animosity between the sisters, it was probably best for them that neither actress have good feelings towards each other. Because both women have a great many scenes together (and even hold hands in that emotional, closing scene), their relationship together seems and feels real.



Nowadays actors can only put out one movie a year. Bette Davis was able to produce four of them, all top material, major productions, in 1939 alone. THE OLD MAID could have given her an acting nomination the same way DARK VICTORY did -- as Charlotte Lovell she is restrained, resigned, selfless, and internally strong. She ages well, too. Miriam Hopkins is also pretty sharp in conveying icy manipulation and there is a moment where a moment of catharsis should take place, but in Wharton's novels of manners, that never happens. It does help to have the story stick to its pessimistic yet hopeful ending -- again, a trademark of Wharton's storytelling -- and made me think that Hollywood could do a movie without having to force a "satisfying" ending to the movie going public.



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This is not what most Davis fans consider to be one of her best films. Perhaps because it's so melancholy. Davis herself was anything but depressing. Davis' leading lady character is Charlotte--a Southern Belle aristocrat for the Confederates during the Civil War. Davis had to really act this part because she's a Northeasterner who clearly would have been an abolitionist for the Union! Charlotte has a rivalry, dominating older sister, Delia (Miriam Hopkins), with whom she repeatedly butts heads over significant life changing events. Delia always prevails over Charlotte. Delia prefers to marry an aristocrat even though both she & Charlotte love a rouge man (George Brent). Though the film only gives implied hint to it, apparently after Delia dumps him, Charlotte & he have a sexual relationship before he goes to war & dies. (A consistent theme throughout the film is being self-sacrificial. Doubtlessly, Wharton intended for it to be because that is how her generation behaved & expected it of each other).



Abruptly, the scene cuts to Charlotte's boarding home for war orphans. (If you blink during this film you'll miss this sharp scene switches). However, one of the children is no orphan at all. She's Charlotte's secret daughter (Jane Bryan) whose father died fighting for the Confederates. (Southern supremacy in the form of class-ism becomes the next apparent theme as Charlotte's child is mistreated as if being an orphan {when she's actually not} is a lower caste & status).



Delia's rich husband dies leaving her with a plantation & two young children to raise. Domineering Delia convinces her melancholy younger sister to pretend her own little girl is truly a war orphan & give her to Delia to raise "properly," so that the girl can have aristocratic status by proxy! Charlotte never marries & always remains Aunt Charlotte to all 3 children that call Delia their mother.



It's a torturous depressing movie to experience while witnessing Charlotte clearly resent Delia & become embittered, staunch & age considerably. (Davis never did that! Thank goodness). Always Aunt Charlotte becomes a classic stereotypical cold, callused spinster while Delia thrives upon mothering all 3 children. (Wharton conveys that a woman's happiness, femininity, beauty & mental health depends upon breeding & raising children in the private home sphere. So sexism is another of her key themes strung loosely throughout the show. Men could be unmarried & sexual, put on a white shirt, walk down the street & maintain their same status. A woman & "her" child (mind you, not "his" bastard or illegitimate child) could not, as seen through Charlotte. The sexism is revealed through that sexuality, reproduction & status double-standard). Because of the tensions between the matriarchal sisters, Charlotte's own daughter grows up hating & mistreating "Aunt Charlotte" even more than Delia.



"The Old Maid" was directed by Edmund Goulding & released in 1939. I'm obliged to rate it as excellent because I like Davis' performance & how Wharton deals with supremacy in the film. In fact, I find myself despising the arrogance & superiority depicted by Wharton oh so poignantly. Because of the Southern supremacy, the show triggers my political dander way up. I want to scream at the power imbalances that make it seem as if simply being wealthy is cause to believe a person is higher status-ed! Sexism is also quite clear in the title because women are only happy when they are young, maternal & married.



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Bette Davis vies with Miriam Hopkins for the affection of George Brent in this film version of Edith Wharton's 'The Old Maid'. As hard as Hopkins tries, she can't steal the film from Bette -- nor Bette's daughter (Jane Bryan), the love child being brought up by Delia (Hopkins). Basically the story of Bette being unable to tell her daughter that she's her real mother.



There are some odd peculiarities about the film itself. George Brent makes a few brief appearances early in the film and then is suddenly killed off after going to fight in the Civil War. A montage shows the passage of time and suddenly we're given an abrupt change of scene and events before still another time transition. The continuity is choppy and leaves an unsatisfying impression of the film as a whole. It's as if events that should have been shown are compressed because of time constraints.



Bette Davis gives one of her more restrained portrayals, aging rather realistically, showing the loneliness of the embittered woman who is cheated out of marrying another man when her cousin Delia (Miriam Hopkins) discovers that she bore Brent's child.



The soap suds are pretty thick, all of them backed by a nice Max Steiner score and handsome sets and period costumes. Miriam Hopkins plays the selfish bitch with her customary skill and makes Davis seem even more sympathetic by comparison. I have seen this movie praised to the skies by some who consider it a work of art--but there are too many flaws, including a false and abrupt ending involving Bette Davis and daughter Jane Bryan, and time changes that seem more like a case of bad editing.



There are fine performances in supporting roles by Donald Crisp, James Stephenson, William Lundigan and Jerome Cowan under Edmund Goulding's tasteful direction.



A tear-jerker, 1930s style--but one that doesn't date too well.



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# Humphrey Bogart was originally cast as the male lead, but dismissed after four days' filming.



# The Pulitzer Prize-winning play opened in New York City, New York, USA on 7 January 1935 and had 305 performance. The leads were played by Judith Anderson and Helen Menken. Ernst Lubitsch bought rights to the play, intending to star both Anderson and Menken in a Paramount production, but Warner Bros. bought the rights from him in January 1939.



# To get the effects of aging, Bette Davis didn't wear any eye makeup or lipstick, and makeup artist Perc Westmore used a pale, ashen base on her face.