The Old Maid ***** (1939, Bette Davis, Miriam Hopkins, George Brent, Jane Bryan) – Classic Movie Review 2695

Director Edmund Goulding’s weepie 1939 drama is a triumph for Bette Davis, who stars as the sweet Charlotte Lovell, whose illegitimate daughter Tina (Jane Bryan) is raised by her rotten, selfish cousin Delia Lovell (Miriam Hopkins).

The tremendous cast sparks up this wonderful, ultra-glossy soap opera about family life in the years after the American Civil War. Though it is based on a 1934-35 Pulitzer prize-winning novel by Edith Wharton and its Broadway hit play version by Zoe Atkins, the emotionally storming performances and rip-roaring Warner Bros production make this look right at home on the screen.

Davis suffers memorably as doomed lover, unmarried mother then ageing spinster, while Hopkins cleverly makes her conniving character sympathetic and credible.  Casey Robinson’s screenplay, Max Steiner’s orchestral music score and Tony Gaudio’s black and white cinematography are impeccable pieces of old-style, craftsmanship work.

If you have tears to shed, you will need to have your hankies at the ready for The Old Maid!

Also in the cast are George Brent, Donald Crisp, Louise Fazenda, James Stephenson, Jerome Cowan, William Lundigan, Rand Brooks, Janet Shaw, William Hopper, Cecilia Loftus, Rod Cameron, Doris Lloyd and Frederick Burton.

Unsurprisingly in real life, the strong-willed women clashed and Davis accused Hopkins of unprofessional conduct, though she agreed to work with Hopkins again on Old Acquaintance in 1943.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2695

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Movie Queen (Bette) by Graeme Jukes 2015.