L'arrivée d'un ancien amant le jour du mariage d'une jeune femme déclenche une série d'événements qui vont changer sa vie et celle de son cousin à jamais.L'arrivée d'un ancien amant le jour du mariage d'une jeune femme déclenche une série d'événements qui vont changer sa vie et celle de son cousin à jamais.L'arrivée d'un ancien amant le jour du mariage d'une jeune femme déclenche une série d'événements qui vont changer sa vie et celle de son cousin à jamais.
- Réalisation
- Scénario
- Casting principal
- Récompenses
- 4 victoires au total
- John
- (as DeWolf Hopper)
- Undetermined Secondary Role
- (scènes coupées)
- Wedding Guest
- (non crédité)
- Charles - the Butler
- (non crédité)
- Tina as a Child
- (non crédité)
- Mr. Halsey
- (non crédité)
Avis à la une
The Old Maid was directed by Edmund Goulding; I don't know much about him except that was considered a "women's film" director and was respected as a talented one. In any event, the Old Maid is the best of Davis' four 1939 films. which include Dark Victory, Juarez, and the Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex.
In the Old Maid, Davis with the help of Mr Goulding delivers a restrained yet compellingly provocative performance; the film spans a twenty year time period, beginning in 1861 or so with a young Davis ministering to her cousin Delia (played by the talented but very difficult Miriam Hopkins.) Although Miriam does her best to steal each scene from Davis, she never succeeds. Bette Davis is superb in this film; so much so that it really remains one of the few undated movies from the 1930s. True star quality is related to being able to connect with an audience over years and years of time. Ms. Davis certainly has this ability - never better displayed than in the Old Maid.
Favorite scenes: Charlotte (Davis' character) wedding preparation and Delia's subsequent lie - along with the next scene that takes place when Davis realizes that Hopkins' character has lied and ruined her life - watch Davis' face as she utters "it was wicked of you" to Hopkins- (who, by the way delivers a disappointing response.) Now that's star-quality acting!
There are some odd peculiarities about the film itself. George Brent makes a few brief appearances early in the film and then is suddenly killed off after going to fight in the Civil War. A montage shows the passage of time and suddenly we're given an abrupt change of scene and events before still another time transition. The continuity is choppy and leaves an unsatisfying impression of the film as a whole. It's as if events that should have been shown are compressed because of time constraints.
Bette Davis gives one of her more restrained portrayals, aging rather realistically, showing the loneliness of the embittered woman who is cheated out of marrying another man when her cousin Delia (Miriam Hopkins) discovers that she bore Brent's child.
The soap suds are pretty thick, all of them backed by a nice Max Steiner score and handsome sets and period costumes. Miriam Hopkins plays the selfish bitch with her customary skill and makes Davis seem even more sympathetic by comparison. I have seen this movie praised to the skies by some who consider it a work of art--but there are too many flaws, including a false and abrupt ending involving Bette Davis and daughter Jane Bryan, and time changes that seem more like a case of bad editing.
There are fine performances in supporting roles by Donald Crisp, James Stephenson, William Lundigan and Jerome Cowan under Edmund Goulding's tasteful direction.
A tear-jerker, 1930s style--but one that doesn't date too well.
Bette is truly a revelation in this film, which required her to age twenty years in the flesh but many more than that in spirit - as she turned from a fresh, extremely sympathetic young girl to an "old maid" of forty or so, a bitter, intimidating woman.
Her ability to integrate completely disparate human traits into one cohesive character is amazing - a must see.
Le saviez-vous
- AnecdotesThere was much bad blood between Miriam Hopkins and Bette Davis, who had won an Oscar for "Jezebel", a role that Hopkins had played on Broadway and expected to play in the movie. Making things works, Davis had had an affair with Hopkins' husband Anatole Litvak while making "The Sisters".
- GaffesSociety women such as portrayed here would never have their names printed (on the many invitations and announcements throughout) as "Mrs. Delia ... Mrs. Henrietta" etc. but as "Mrs." before their husbands' names and as long as they remained widows.
- Citations
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.
Delia Lovell Ralston: Well, after all, darling, there isn't anything important to say to her now. She has every attribute of a modern successful woman - she's healthy, she's young, she's gay, she's attractive...
- Crédits fousThe opening credits are shown on facsimiles of wedding invitation cards.
- ConnexionsFeatured in AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Bette Davis (1977)
- Bandes originalesYankee Doodle
(uncredited)
Traditional 18th-century tune
Played in the score for the first scene
Meilleurs choix
- How long is The Old Maid?Alimenté par Alexa
Détails
- Date de sortie
- Pays d’origine
- Langue
- Aussi connu sous le nom de
- Flor marchita
- Lieux de tournage
- Sociétés de production
- Voir plus de crédits d'entreprise sur IMDbPro
- Durée1 heure 35 minutes
- Couleur
- Rapport de forme
- 1.37 : 1