Now, Voyager (1942)

Director:

Irving Rapper

Writers:

Olive Higgins Prouty (novel)
Casey Robinson (screenplay)

Release Date:

22 October 1942 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Today Her Greatest! For a woman there's always an excuse . . .

Plot:

Boston spinster blossoms under therapy and finds impossible romance.

Plot Keywords:

Source Music | Dying Mother | Weight Loss | Orchestral Music Score | Weenie Roast

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Bette Davis	...	Charlotte Vale
Paul Henreid	...	Jerry Durrance
Claude Rains	...	Dr. Jaquith
Gladys Cooper	...	Mrs. Henry Windle Vale
Bonita Granville	...	June Vale
John Loder	...	Elliot Livingston
Ilka Chase	...	Lisa Vale
Lee Patrick	...	'Deb' McIntyre
Franklin Pangborn	...	Mr. Thompson
Katharine Alexander	...	Miss Trask (as Katherine Alexander)
James Rennie	...	Frank McIntyre
Mary Wickes	...	Nurse Dora Pickford
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tod Andrews	...	Dr. Dan Regan (uncredited)
Brooks Benedict	...	Party Guest (uncredited)
David Clyde	...	William (uncredited)
Frank Dae	...	Passenger (uncredited)
Yola d'Avril	...	Celestine (uncredited)
Donald Douglas	...	George Weston (uncredited)
Charles Drake	...	Leslie Trotter (uncredited)
Claire Du Brey	...	Hilda (uncredited)
Elspeth Dudgeon	...	Aunt Hester (uncredited)
Bill Edwards	...	Passenger (uncredited)
Mary Field	...	Passenger (uncredited)
Bess Flowers	...	Woman at Concert (uncredited)
Reed Hadley	...	Henry Montague (uncredited)
Sheila Hayward	...	Katie (uncredited)
Bill Kennedy	...	Hamilton Hunneker (uncredited)
George Lessey	...	Uncle Herbert (uncredited)
Lester Matthews	...	Captain (uncredited)
Corbet Morris	...	Hilary (uncredited)
Tempe Pigott	...	Mrs. Smith (uncredited)
Hilda Plowright	...	Justine (uncredited)
Frank Puglia	...	Giuseppe (uncredited)
Constance Purdy	...	Rosa (uncredited)
Georges Renavent	...	M. Henri (uncredited)
Dorothy Vaughan	...	Woman (uncredited)
Janis Wilson	...	Tina Durrance (uncredited)
Isabel Withers	...	Passenger (uncredited)
Ian Wolfe	...	Lloyd (uncredited)
Charlotte Wynters	...	Grace Weston (uncredited)

Directed by
Irving Rapper

Writing credits
Olive Higgins Prouty		(novel)
Casey Robinson		(screenplay)

Produced by
Hal B. Wallis	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Max Steiner

Cinematography by
Sol Polito		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Warren Low

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

Set Decoration by
Fred M. MacLean

Costume Design by
Orry-Kelly		(gowns)

Makeup Department
Perc Westmore	....	makeup artist

Sound Department
Robert B. Lee	....	sound

Special Effects by
Willard Van Enger	....	special effects

Stunts
Audrey Scott	....	stunt double: Bette Davis (uncredited)

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

Other crew
Edward A. Blatt	....	dialogue director (as Edward Blatt)
Don Siegel	....	montages

Production Companies

• Warner Bros. Pictures (presents) (as Warner Bros. Pictures Inc. A Warner Bros. First National Picture )

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1942) (USA) (theatrical)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1992) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1992) (USA) (VHS)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1992) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1998) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• Turner Home Entertainment (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2001) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

117 min

Country:

USA

Language:

Portuguese | English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

UK:PG | Iceland:L | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | South Korea:15 | Sweden:Btl | USA:Approved (PCA #8341) | Germany:o.Al.

Filming Locations:

6621 Whitley Terrace, Whitley Heights, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

The Walt Whitman poem that Bette Davis reads (just before leaving Cascades) is "The Untold Want" from Songs of Parting (just 2 lines): "The untold want, by life and land ne'er granted,/ Now, Voyager, sail thou forth, to seek and find."

Quotes:

Charlotte Vale: I didn't want to be born. You didn't want me to be born either. It was a calamity on both sides.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in 'White Christmas': A Look Back with Rosemary Clooney (2000) (V)

Soundtrack:

Night and Day

excellent film with excellent ensemble

In the 1942 screen adaptation of the 1941 bestseller by Olive Higgins-Prouty, Bette Davis and Paul Henreid provide excellent, subtle performances as Charlotte Vale (self-described Spinster Aunt) and J.D. (Jerry) Durrance, the married man she meets, befriends, and with whom she falls in love on a cruise following a transformative stay at the Vermont Sanatorium operated by Dr. Jaquith (Claude Rains). Reviewers often speak of the themes of self-sacrifice and relate it to the war, which would have been an attractive reason to make the film, but the reality was that the novel was a popular best-seller, Higgins-Prouty's earlier novel, Stella Dallas, was also a popular film (and later a radio series), and the studio stood to do well financially if the movie turned out well. Hal Wallis' deft hand as producer is seen here, especially in his choice of Orry Kelly as costume designer for Bette Davis. He and the studio worked within the limits of censors' requirements, which indicated that there could be no intimation that the two main characters had sex (which was implicit in the novel but never explicitly stated, where the behavior between the two in the love scenes were generally glossed over most of the time), and that they could not share the same blanket in the scene where they are in a hut on a Brazilian mountain, stranded. They also had to change locales for the story, because the novel had the sea voyage set in and around Italy, Gibralter, etc. In spite of any restrictions placed on the filmmakers and actors, the film followed the novel very closely, especially with respect to dialogue. The big point of contention has always been: who invented the two-cigarette lighting gesture that Paul Henreid became famous for later? According to some, George Brent and Bette Davis did something similar earlier in another film, and according to Paul Henreid and Bette Davis, there was a cigarette exchange ritual in the script which was sort of awkward, so they improvised based on Paul Henreid's experience with his wife on car trips. The latter seems likely, as there was a cigarette-exchange ritual in the novel (Jerry would give Charlotte a cigarette, lighting hers and then his own on one match, and then they would exchange cigarettes with each other so that Charlotte smoked the one that had been in Jerry's mouth and vice versa), which would have been slightly awkward in practice.

All in all, this is a truly excellent film with great production values, true to the novel on which it was based, and a wonderful ensemble cast.