Score : 8/10
Year : 1949
Country: USA
Language: English
Duration: 1h55
Writers:
New York city, circa 1850. Catherine Sloper is a naive young woman, emotionally abused by her father, and lacks social graces. She is put in a social gathering where she meets a handsome young man...
Off course, everyone wants her to get married - it's that kind of period, where it's socially expected of women to marry a decent, stable and rich man.
In first watch, I really liked this movie, which appeared predictable at first, only to change direction and surprise as the story progresses.
In second watch (20/02/2022, date of this review's update and extension for the media section), I want to add that some of the abusive dialogues are mostly condescending, but also include some uncomfortable father-daughter admiration words, not just from Catherine's, but another one, announcing his daughter's engagement.
The acting is very believable ; which is odd, as I read that one of the actors was actually displeased with his own performance and walked out during the premiere. It shows that perfectionist artists have a certain look at their own work which we don't necessarily see - and that each person can have a different viewpoint and opinion.
The direction and overall pace were agreeable, and the music - for its time- wasn't obnoxious, even a bit pleasant - though at times overly dramatic (as the custom of those days were).
Wyler seems to really like working on movies discussing human qualities and frailties of characters, to our analytical delight.
I especially liked the lighting and Olivia De Havilland's portrayal of the titular heiress, Catherine Sloper. Also starring with her are Montgomery Clift on his third career role, Ralph Richardson, Miriam Hopkins, Vanessa Brown, (et al.)
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The Heiress... in the media.
I watched this film on French DVD edition from the library - EAN 3700146544129, in 1.37 original format, black and white.
Audio dolby digital 2.0, only in original English (+ short French passages), but no dub. French subtitles.
It lasts 1h50 (PAL speedup).
Bonuses:
Intro to the movie by Frédéric Mercier (in French).
Period trailer
Selection of other movies in the same collection as this (collection des maîtres)
Credits
Reversible jacket
16 page booklet
There is a (very sadly) region-locked Criterion Bluray in the USA (it'll work in Canada as well), with amazing audio and sound quality, with many bonuses. You can see the details on blu-ray.com
Criterion UK also has a similar edition, with more or less the same bonuses, as far as I can tell. Details on amazon uk this time. Brexit makes it tougher to get such editions for me (in France), but if you're a UK reader and like the movie, you can get it.
The 2 French bluray editions only offer the higher image and sound quality and the movie without the PAL speedup of the dvd... but the first three bonuses as the dvd detailed above...without the booklet nor the reversible jacket (not that those are amazing in themselves).
But... absolutely nothing else.
In view of the movie's release date (1949), it's doubtful it'll reach Prime and Netflix - though it's currently recently on Prime UK, as unavailable. Perhaps there are other platforms for older films?
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