Devoção

Despite the fact that this treatment of the famous Bronte sisters (Charlotte, Emily and Anne) and their tormented brother Branwell (Arthur Kennedy)gives their story a romantic glow (instead of the harsh reality of their life on the moors), it can be enjoyed on the level of a well-acted, sometimes overwrought romantic drama with sterling performances by Ida Lupino and Olivia de Havilland, as well as an excellent one from Arthur Kennedy as the brother who wastes his talent.

The large cast includes Sydney Greenstreet (effective as Thackeray), Victor Francen, Nancy Coleman, Ethel Griffies and Dame May Witty. It may not be an accurate biography (in fact some critics said it should have been called 'Distortion'), but thanks to fine performances and Erich Wolfgang Korngold's magnificent score, it's fascinating to watch. Particularly effective is the montage showing a horse and rider against a cloudy sky as death approaches Emily Bronte and Korngold's music mounts as he comes closer and closer. Wonderful moment of imagery.

Whatever its shortcomings, I cannot praise Erich Wolfgang Korngold's score enough. It's one of his most magnificent and stands with KINGS ROW as one of his best film scores, adding majesty and atmosphere to many of the film's most dramatic scenes.

Trivia note: DEVOTION has a strange history. It was actually filmed and finished in 1943 while de Havilland was still under contract to the studio. When she launched her famous legal battle against them for adding suspension time to the end of her contract, Jack Warner decided to punish her. He gave her third billing, kept the film off the screen for three years hoping to weaken her career, and failed to invite her to the premiere of the film when it finally did open in Hollywood.

Despite all this, Olivia not only won the case in the Supreme Court, but went on to win two Oscars after the film was released!! Proof that he was wrong all along in underestimating her.

"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.

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!

Although not historically accurate, this is a very enjoyable romantic view of the Bronte sisters and their devotion to each other and to their drug addicted brother. I am surprised that it has not been shown as often as the overwrought versions of Jane Eyre and Wuthering heights which were made around that time.

The performances are excellent, even more so because they are quietly underplayed for the times. The attention to detail is good, except for the scene where Charlotte returned to find Emily on her deathbed but left the front door wide open! Growing up on the Yorkshire moors about 10 miles away from Haworth, I know that no one would ever leave the door open on a cold stormy night. I kept wanting to shout in Yorkshire dialect "Put t'wood in't hoile!" (Shut the door, in English)

The Bronte sisters have been the subject of vastly more scholarly print than their combined output, but this film skims over the heartbreak and hardship they endured. One has to see the bleakness of the Haworth parsonage and the moors to begin to grasp what it must have been like for them. Death was a constant companion, taking all of them away in their early adulthood. Death from drink, tubercolosis and in Charlotte's case, childbirth, were the norm for those who survived infancy. Their lives were bleak, but their imagination was rich.

Picky picky details aside, this films deserves to be shown more often.

Romanticized account of the life of the Brontes with particular emphasis of course on older sisters Charlotte and Emily. It's slow moving at times and should not be relied upon for historical accuracy but, of its kind, it's fairly well done and entertaining. Olivia de Havilland (looking very pretty) is the imperious and ambitious Charlotte, aggressively courting literary success, while Ida Lupino, as Emily, remains at home, engaging in fanciful reverie and harboring a secret passion for the local clergyman. Both offer strong, capable performances. (It's been said that de Havilland, who had been fighting with Warner Brothers over better scripts, was given third billing as punishment by studio chief Jack Warner. By the time the film was released, in 1946, she had successfully sued the studio for release from her contract and would go on to win two Oscars as Best Actress). Nancy Coleman has the thankless role of younger sister Anne, Arthur Kennedy is their dissolute brother Branwell (his self-destructiveness is never adequately explained and simply becomes tedious after a while) and Paul Henreid is the Reverend Arthur Nichols, the object of Emily's unrequited affection (a contrivance thought up by the screenwriter). With Sydney Greenstreet as the novelist William Makepeace Thackeray and Montagu Love, Ethel Griffies, Victor Francen, Odette Myrtil and Dame May Witty.