The Heiress

[MikeBSG]

I just watched "The Heiress" on DVD.

It seemed like Merchant-Ivory before the fact. While I thought Ralph Richardson gave an outstanding performance, and Miriam Hopkins was very good as well, the film as a whole left me a bit cold. Certainly Olivia de Havilland should be commended for having the courage to play such a deglamorized role, but I guess I will never be a Montgomery Clift fan. Ultimately, I felt that the film could have ended earlier, perhaps with Richardson's death. Or maybe the film could have moved a bit faster.

A film to admire and not to like.

[Garbomaniac]

Well, I like to think that it was all planned. I think Wyler knew the times then were slower. Olivia, as the character, had a lot of time to sit and wait. There was no entertainment, except for what you could come up with if you had any talent or talented friends. She did needlepoint, which is slow. Relationships didn’t just pop up like they do now. They were slow. Everything about it was slow, eventually ending with her slow ascent carrying that oil lamp! I’ve read that Wyler loaded the suitcases Olivia had to lug up the stairs after being jilted with books to slow her down.

I thought it was brilliantly done. Her life was pathetic, and as for Clift, he was completely ineffectual, as he was supposed to be. Maybe that was all he could muster for the role, but that was all he needed for the character, the little worm. The ending was, to me, one of the most powerful in film. I put Wyler’s The Heiress right up there with Cukor’s Gaslight, Hitchcock’s Rebecca, LeRoy’s Random Harvest, Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard, and Goulding’s The Razor’s Edge, among the greatest films of the golden era, IMHO.

[moira finnie]

I can't say that I've ever felt much emotional involvement with any of the characters in The Heiress, even though I've seen it several times. It seems as though the director (or was it Henry James?) made his actors duller than they needed to be in order to emphasize their plight as creatures trapped by social expectations and their families.

Has anyone ever seen William Wyler's movie of the turn of the century period, Carrie (1952) with Laurence Olivier and Jennifer Jones, based on the Theodore Dreiser novel, "Sister Carrie"? That film was interesting to me because you could see how tragic it was for each of the characters to defy their socially designated role, especially the Olivier character. Some people believe it is his best performance. I've no idea why this movie is never broadcast anymore. It is on dvd, however.

[mrsl]

I think The Heiress is a wonderful movie. Never having been that much of a Monty Clift fan, his portrayal of a self centered boor was perfect. Olivia, on the other hand was also perfect. I think she is a beautiful lady and how they made her look so blah with just makeup was a make-up artists' dream, I would say. Also, her costumes were something to die for. Those beautiful gowns with all the under skirts were heaven for a 15 year old girl, seeing them for the first time. I think Moira's explanation for the slowness is on mark. I do cross stitch and know how long it can take. Olivia looked magnificent walking up that stairway with that candalabra while Monty banged on the door, and I think magnificent is the best word to describe the whole final scene, it kind of makes the words 'You'll get yours' come to life.

Anne

[HoldenIsHere]

I like THE HEIRESS a lot.

And Montgomery Clift was gorgeous in this movie!