The Old Maid (1939)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Edmund Goulding

Writers:

Edith Wharton (novel)
Zoe Akins (play)
(more)

Release Date:

2 September 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Vividly, unforgettably, a woman's love starved soul is revealed. All those strange secrets she locks in her heart ... moments of rapture and of heartbreak ... longings that no man can fathom. Of these has the year's finest picture been woven!

Plot:

Delia marries Jim, not Joe After Delia breaks her engagement to Clem and marries Jim, Clem promises to marry Delia's cousin Charlotte...

Plot Keywords:

Cousin | Battle | Brother | Wedding | Nursery

Cast

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)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sidney Bracey	...	Charles, the Butler (uncredited)
Marlene Burnett	...	Tina as a child (uncredited)
Frederick Burton	...	Mr. Halsey (uncredited)
Jack George	...	First Orchestra Leader / Violinist (uncredited)
Winifred Harris	...	Mrs. Halsey (uncredited)
Doris Lloyd	...	Miss Ford (uncredited)

Directed by
Edmund Goulding

Writing credits
Edith Wharton		(novel)
Zoe Akins		(play)
Casey Robinson		(screenplay)

Produced by
Henry Blanke	....	associate producer
Hal B. Wallis	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Max Steiner

Cinematography by
Tony Gaudio

Film Editing by
George Amy

Art Direction by
Robert M. Haas		(as Robert Haas)

Costume Design by
Orry-Kelly

Makeup Department
Helen Carpenter	....	wig designer
Perc Westmore	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Jack L. Warner	....	executive in charge of production
Al Alleborn	....	unit manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jack Sullivan	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
C.A. Riggs	....	sound

Music Department
Leo F. Forbstein	....	musical director
Hugo Friedhofer	....	music arranger: orchestral arrangements

Production Companies

• Warner Bros. Pictures (as Warner Bros. -First National Pictures Inc.)

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1939) (USA) (theatrical) (as Warner Bros. Pictures Inc.)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1992) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Chapel Distribution (1997) (Australia) (theatrical) (35mm print)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2008) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Max Factor  wigs (uncredited)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor System)

Certification:

Finland:S | USA:Approved (PCA #5227) | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

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

Quotes:

Charlotte Lovell: She thinks I can't understand her. She considers me an old maid.
Delia Lovell Ralston: My dear.
Charlotte Lovell: A ridiculous, narrow-minded old maid. What else can she ever think of me?
Delia Lovell Ralston: Poor Charlotte.
Charlotte Lovell: Oh, but you needn't pity me. Because she's really mine. If she considers me an old maid, it's because I've deliberately made myself one in her eyes. I've done it from the beginning so she wouldn't have the least suspicion. I've practised everything I've ever had to say to her, if it was important, so that I'd sound like an old maid aunt talking. Not her mother.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in Stardust: The Bette Davis Story (2006) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Silent Night, Holy Night

Excellent early Bette Davis film

Superb soap opera takes place from the 1860s to the 1880s. Miriam Hopkins spurns long-time fiancee George Brent to marry another man. Her cousin, Bette Davis, also loves Brent and "comforts" him before he goes off to war. He dies in the war and leaves her pregnant. She secretly has the baby and tells nobody except Hopkins. Hopkins, now a rich widow, convinces Davis to let her adopt the child so she will have a name. She does and watches her child grow up treating Hopkins like her mother and Davis with contempt as an old maid.

The story is very sudsy but the script has wonderful, literate dialogue and the picture is very elaborately made. But what really puts the picture across is the superb acting by Hopkins and Davis. They both hated each other passionately off screen but you'd never know it on screen. The scenes when they're friends or rivals are just great--every single line rings true and they play their roles to the hilt. A real surprise is seeing Hopkins play a sweet woman at the end--she certainly wasn't like that in real life! And the very last scene in the movie will bring a tear to your eye--just Bette Davis' reaction to something really hits.

A great film--don't miss it! A must if you're a Bette Davis fan.