Themes: Out For Revenge, Fathers and Daughters, Class Differences
Main Cast: Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift, Ralph Richardson, Miriam Hopkins, Vanessa Brown
Release Year: 1949
Country: US
Run Time: 115 minutes
Plot
Henry James based his 1881 novella Washington Square on a real-life incident, wherein a young actor of his acquaintance married an unattractive but very wealthy young woman for the express purpose of living the rest of his life in luxury. Washington Square was turned into a stage play in 1946 by Ruth and Augustus Goetz; this, in turn was adapted for the movies under the title The Heiress. Olivia DeHavilland won an Academy Award (her second) for her portrayal of Catherine Sloper, the plain-Jane daughter of wealthy widower Dr. Austin Sloper (Ralph Richardson). Catherine is not only unattractive, but lacks most of the social graces, thanks in great part to the domineering attitudes of her father. When Catherine falls in love with handsome young Morris Townsend (Montgomery Clift), she is convinced that her love is reciprocated, else why would Morris be so affectionate towards her? Dr. Sloper sees things differently, correctly perceiving that Morris is a callow fortune hunter. Standing up to her father for the first time in her life, Catherine insists that she will elope with Morris; but when Dr. Sloper threatens to cut off her dowry, Morris disappears. Still, Catherine threatens to run off with the next young man who pays any attention to her; Sloper, belatedly realizing how much he has hurt his only child, arranges to leave her his entire fortune. Years pass: Morris returns, insisting that he'd only left because he didn't want to cause Catherine the "grief" of being disinherited. Seemingly touched by Morris' "sincerity", Catherine agrees to elope with him immediately. But when Morris arrives at the appointed hour, he finds the door locked and bolted. Asked how she can treat Morris so cruelly, Catherine replies coldly "Yes, I can be very cruel. I have been taught by masters." Though The Heiress ends on a downbeat note, the audience is gratified to know that Catherine Sloper has matured from ugly-duckling loser to a tower of strength who will never allow herself to be manipulated by anyone ever again. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
The Heiress was the top of the line in production values for early 1950s studio films, from William Wyler's sharp direction to the costumes of Edith Head. The entire cast is excellent, particularly Olivia de Havilland, who makes believable the transition of her title character from weak-willed spinster to a much stronger person at the story's conclusion. World War II had forever changed the role of women in U.S. society, and The Heiress, in the guise of a period drama, carried the theme of women's increasing power in the postwar years. This is just one of several films from the era that were thus both excellent dramas and interesting allegories. The film won four Oscars, including de Havilland and Head, a team of set designers, and composer Aaron Copland. ~ Richard Gilliam, All Movie Guide
Harry Horner - Art Director, Emile Kuri - Art Director, John Meehan - Art Director, Robert Wyler - Associate Producer, Edith Head - Costume Designer, Gile Steele - Costume Designer, Charles C. Coleman, Jr. - First Assistant Director, William Wyler - Director, William W. Hornbeck - Editor, Aaron Copland - Composer (Music Score), Ray Evans - Songwriter, Jay Livingston - Songwriter, Bill Woods - Makeup, Wally Westmore - Makeup, Hal Lierley - Makeup, Leo Tover - Cinematographer, William Wyler - Producer, Emile Kuri - Set Designer, Gordon Jennings - Special Effects, Augustus Goetz - Screenwriter, Ruth Goetz - Screenwriter, Henry James - Book Author, Augustus Goetz - Play Author, Ruth Goetz - Play Author
Heiress, The (1947), a play by Ruth and Augustus Goetz. [ Biltmore Theatre, 410 perf.] Dominated by her unloving father, Dr. Austin Sloper (Basil Rathbone), Catherine Sloper (Wendy Hiller) is receptive to the courtship of Morris Townsend (Peter Cookson). But Townsend is a fortune‐hunter, so when he learns Catherine will be disinherited if they wed, he jilts her. After Dr. Sloper's death, Catherine gets her revenge by allowing Townsend to seek her hand again and then spurning him. Based on Henry James's Washington Square, the play was rejected by several important producers who insisted on a happy ending. The Goetzes finally acquiesced, but the production failed out of town. Recast and revived with the ending the authors had initially written, it succeeded. Robert Coleman of the Daily Mirror called it “a bitter, relentless, absorbing character study.” A Broadway revival with Jane Alexander and Richard Kiley failed to interest audiences or critics in 1976, but a beautifully staged and acted version with Cherry Jones and Philip Bosco in 1995 was a critical and popular hit. Ruth GOETZ [née Goodman] (1912–2001), the daughter of producer Philip Goodman, and her husband, Augustus GOETZ (1901–57), were also the authors of the dramas One Man Show (1945), The Immoralist (1954), and The Hidden River (1957).
Catherine Sloper is a plain, painfully shy woman whose emotionally detached father makes no secret of his disappointment in her. When she meets the charming Morris Townsend, she immediately is taken by the attention that he lavishes upon her, attention she so desperately seeks from her father. Catherine falls madly in love with Morris and they plan to marry.
Catherine's father believes Morris is courting Catherine only to get her inheritance and threatens to disinherit her if she marries him. Catherine does not care, and plans to elope with Morris but not before telling him about her father's decision. On the night they are to elope, Catherine eagerly waits at home for Morris to come and take her away, but he never arrives.
Catherine is heartbroken. A few years pass and her father dies, leaving her his entire estate. Morris eventually returns, penniless. Again he professes his love for Catherine, claiming that he left her behind because he could not bear to see her destitute. Catherine pretends to forgive him and tells him she still wants to elope as they originally planned. He promises to come back that night for her, and she tells him she'll start packing her bags.
When Morris returns, Catherine takes her revenge. She calmly asks the maid to bolt the door, leaving Morris locked outside, shouting her name. Her aunt asks her how she can be so cruel, and she responds, "I have been taught by masters." The film fades out with Catherine silently ascending the stairs while Morris' despairing cries echo unanswered through the darkness.
After seeing The Heiress on Broadway, Olivia de Havilland approached William Wyler about directing her in a screen adaptation of the play. He agreed and encouraged Paramount Pictures executives to purchase the rights from the playwrights for $250,000 and offer them $10,000 per week to write the screenplay. The couple was asked to make Morris less of a villain than he was in their play and the original novel in deference to the studio's desire to capitalize on Montgomery Clift's reputation as a romantic leading man[1].
Ralph Richardson reprised the role of Austin Sloper he originated in the London production.
In his review in the New York Times, Bosley Crowther said the film "crackles with allusive life and fire in its tender and agonized telling of an extraordinarily characterful tale" and added, "Mr. Wyler . . . has given this somewhat austere drama an absorbing intimacy and a warming illusion of nearness that it did not have on the stage. He has brought the full-bodied people very closely and vividly to view, while maintaining the clarity and sharpness of their personalities, their emotions and their styles . . . The Heiress is one of the handsome, intense and adult dramas of the year."[2]
TV Guide rates the film five out of a possible five stars and adds, "This powerful and compelling drama . . . owes its triumph to the deft hand of director William Wyler and a remarkable lead performance by Olivia de Havilland.[3]
Time Out London calls the film "typically plush, painstaking and cold. . . . highly professional and heartless."[4]
Channel 4 says of the performances, "de Havilland's portrayal . . . is spine-chilling . . . Clift brings a subtle ambiguity to one of his least interesting roles, and Richardson is also excellent."[5]
In 1996, The Heiress was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
