Devotion

All your other reviewers filled me in on the accuracy or inaccuracy of the movie's biographical storyline. And unfortunately I missed the first part of the movie when it was presented on TCM the other day. But once into it I was immediately struck by the magnificent acting of all the principals and the dramatic richness of Korngold's score.

But the thing that really sets this movie apart is the actual script itself. I can count on one hand the movies I have seen with a literate script as good as a fine play and this was one of them. Writers Theodor Reeves and Keith Winter have been unknown names to me up to now and they don't have extensive filmographies. I would certainly like to find more of their work. As the literary and well-formed ripostes and counterthrusts bounce from one character to another and as the priceless bonmots sparkle forth from Greenstreet's Thackeray I thought I was at a play by Shaw or Oscar Wilde. Greenstreet was much under-appreciated I thought by your other reviewers. His entertaining and witty part was really the best in the movie.

As a typical example of the quality of the script are Arthur Kennedy's words as Branwell lies dying in his sister's arms. Having collapsed in the street on his way to the tavern he comments that his collapses usually occur on his way home from the tavern, not on his way there.

I saw a recent version of Jane Eyre the other day on public television, the first time I had seen a film of it. I've never seen the one from the early 1940s. I was struck by the resemblances to Dickens' David Copperfield and Nicholas Nickleby and how Charlotte Bronte established herself here as a female Dickens.

One could easily become devoted to Devotion. A splendid movie.

"Devotion" was filmed in 1943 but not released until 1946. This was Olivia DeHavilland's final picture with Warner Bros. Studios. She had an ongoing battle with the studio over quality scripts and was suspended several times for her refusal to work in second rate productions. She eventually won her case and had her contract "fulfilled" in court. This was the beginning of the end of the studio-contract system. Bette Davis had begun this war with Warner Bros in 1937, leaving the studio and causing a battle in court. Davis won the battle (getting superior scripts from 1938 onward) but Olivia won the war. Olivia continued as an independent into remarkable projects from the mid 1940's and onward, never to be shackled with chains to a long-term contract again. Hollywood owes her a debt of gratitude.

Devotion is purportedly the story of the talented Bronte sisters, Emily who wrote Wuthering Heights, Charlotte who wrote Jane Eyre and Anne who really didn't do too much of anything. They are played respectively by Ida Lupino, Olivia DeHavilland and Nancy Coleman. Literary scholars aren't crazy about this film from a historical perspective, still it's good entertainment and provides some really good parts for women.

The Bronte sisters live in Yorkshire near the famous moors that served as the background for their literary effort with their father Montagu Love who is a vicar. For his time he's a pretty liberal sort of fellow who insists on an education for his daughters. But his real concern is his dissolute son Branwell played by Arthur Kennedy. He's a painter and a misunderstood genius. Truth be told he's a bit of a lout as well, but his sisters love him.

This film has such an odd history it was made in 1943-44 and held up deliberately by the brothers Warner while Olivia DeHavilland was in court with them over her contract. She won the case and left to freelance, but the film stayed on the shelf until 1946 when DeHavilland got rave reviews for To Each His Own which garnered her first Oscar. After that Jack Warner being the practical sort decided spite was not a luxury he could indulge in and he released Devotion to cash in on Olivia's new found box office.

Because of that this film became the farewell performance of Montagu Love who played a great variety of parts going back to the early silent days.

Paul Henreid is in this as well as the young curate assigned to Love's parish. His Viennese accent crops out occasionally during the film, making him sound a bit odd for an English clergyman. Still he does a fine job.

Lupino and DeHavilland are a well matched pair of sisters. But acting honors definitely go to Arthur Kennedy. It's an expansive part that Kennedy makes the most of. Viewers will also enjoy Sydney Greenstreet in a small part as William Makepeace Thackerey who encourages the Brontes in their literary careers.

Even if it was a belated release, Devotion was a great film for Olivia DeHavilland to wrap up her stormy career at Warner Brothers.

The story of the Bronte Family with all their problems certainly bears little resemblance to the true facts, but nevertheless Warner Brothers have made a fine entertaining film, with an excellent cast of actors headed by Olivia de Havilland as Charlotte, Ida Lupino as Emily and Nancy Coleman as Anne. Paul Henreid is in support, but Arthur Kennedy as Branwell is the standout. The mood of the time and place is very well captured and the photography and background music are superb. Not a lot of emphasis is given to the wonderful books, "Jane Eyre" and "Wuthering Heights" by Emily & Charlotte, but rather the main story revolves around the girls' love lives. This film has been panned by many critics, but I feel it deserves a far better reception than it has received - Warners had themselves to blame as they delayed its release for a couple of years simply because of the fight with Miss de Havilland - incidentally she won it!

Ida Lupino is Emily Bronte, and Olivia de Havilland is Charlotte Bronte in "Devotion," a 1946 film, made in 1943 and shelved, which tells the story of the two sisters, their sister Anne, and their brother Branwell (Arthur Kennedy).

In essence, the Bronte sisters led sad, miserable, and short lives - there was nothing romantic about the moors, as much as they seem so in the Bronte books. The sisters enjoyed poor health, their brother was a disgrace, and their father a cold man with a violent temper.

Only with the entrance of their aunt into their lives was much attention paid to them. She was a warm woman who saw to their education and gave them structure.

What the Bronte sisters had was imagination, and plenty of it, and they exercised their imaginations with their writings.

"Devotion" is a lovely film with a wonderful performance by Ida Lupino as the tragic Emily. Olivia de Havilland does a good job as Charlotte, shown in the film as selfish and a man magnet.

In truth, she was ugly and considered herself so, and while she did develop a crush on Constantin Heger (Victor Francen), the affection doesn't seem to have been returned.

All of Charlotte's success happened after Emily's death, not where it does in the film, and the reason the girls left school was not because of their brother's illness, but because of their aunt's death.

The eternally underrated Arthur Kennedy is excellent as Branwell, shown here as only a drunk. Branwell did have several jobs, none of which he kept, had an affair with an older married woman, which was an open scandal, and is suspected of eating opium as well as drinking. However, it is true that Charlotte was angry with him.

Charlotte did marry Nicholls (and died eight months later) but there was no love triangle with Emily. Nor was Nicholls, as in the film, the model for the mysterious, romantic men in Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. The fact that this love triangle is represented as inspiration for the men in their novels in "Devotion" is a good case for Paul Henried being miscast.

The movie was made during the war, when there were no men around, and Warner Brothers would never have given a star like Errol Flynn a supporting role. But the role of Nicholls, given his importance in the film, cried out for someone a little more dashing and handsome.

Sydney Greenstreet appears as William Thackery in a small but showy role toward the end of the film.

The film was shelved in 1943 because of a lawsuit filed by Olivia de Havilland against Warner Brothers; in 1946, though she won the suit, the movie was released due to the big success of her film, "To Each His Own" for Paramount.

"Devotion" is worth seeing, but not as a true story of the Bronte sisters.