This film will always have a special place in my heart, as it was one of the first films I had to watch in my first ever film class in college. Now Voyager is pure melodrama. That's probably off-putting for a lot of folks, but for the rest of us who'd love nothing better than to see the genre done right, here's our chance:
Fri Feb 11 7:00 9:15 Sat Feb 12 7:00 9:15 Sun Feb 13 4:45 7:00
(1942, Irving Rapper, 35mm, 117m) Bette Davis knew that she was perfect for the character of Charlotte Vale, and wrestled it away from such luminaries as Norma Shearer, Irene Dunn, and Ginger Rogers. Destined to be a spinster, Vale falls under the care of a friendly psychiatrist, who helps her to emerge from her oppressive mother's shadow.
The wikipedia entry has an excerpt from a New York Times' review of the film:
[the film] endlessly complicates an essentially simple theme. For all its emotional hair-splitting, it fails to resolve its problems as truthfully as it pretends. In fact, a little more truth would have made the film a good deal shorter ... Although Now, Voyager starts out bravely, it ends exactly where it started
That the movie isn't straightforward seems to be a point of criticism for critic, but really that's one of the film's strength. That, and of course Bette Davis, make this a worthwhile viewing.
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