1939 était sans doute la plus prestigieuse année dans l'histoire du cinéma hollywoodien. Juste avant que la 2e Guerre mondiale n'éclate, la créativité des grands studios avait atteint son apogée, mais l'Europe a dû attendre la fin de la guerre et la reconstruction des cinémas et des systèmes de distribution avant que la plupart de ces merveilles n'atteignent nos écrans. En sortant de sa grande housse en plastic le coffret de laserdiscs NTSC de THE BETTE DAVIS COLLECTION avec cinq films (The Old Maid; The Letter; In this our Life; Now Voyager; A Stolen Life), je suis donc tombé sur THE OLD MAID, réalisé en 1939 par Edmond Goulding pour la Warner Bros., un film magnifique - basé sur une pièce ayant remporté le Prix Pulitzer et un roman d'Edith Wharton - que je n'avais jamais vu. Le fait de n'avoir plus de boulot pour le moment (ça va changer) me permet donc de continuer ma chasse aux trésors dans mes propres collections...jpt
La bande-annonce
© Warner Bros./Turner Classic Movies/MGM-UA HomeVideo
Résumé succinct © The American Film Institute www.afi.com
THE OLD MAID (1939)
In the 1860's, on the day of Delia Lovell's wedding to the stuffy but socially prominent Jim Ralston, the impulsive Clem Spender, to whom Delia had been engaged, reappears after a two-year absence. Delia's cousin Charlotte, who has always loved Clem, takes pity on the young man and slips away to console him, returning home very late at night. The next day, Clem enlists in the Union army and soon after dies on the battlefield. Four years later, Charlotte has opened a home for war orphans, among whom is Tina, Charlotte and Clem's own daughter. Charlotte hides her disgraceful secret until the day she is to wed Jim's brother Joe, when she confesses her motherhood to Delia. Delia, who still loves Clem, spitefully destroys Charlotte's chance to marry Joe, and Charlotte retreats into seclusion. She reappears six months later, after Jim has died in a riding accident, and accepts Delia's invitation to move into the Ralston mansion with Tina. Fifteen years later, Tina, now grown, considers the kind and loving Delia to be her mother, while Charlotte has developed into a sullen and miserable woman who is constantly critical of her daughter. When Tina falls in love with a boy from a socially prominent family, Delia adopts her legally to provide her with a name and station in life, but on the eve of the wedding, Charlotte insists upon disclosing Tina's true identity. However, as she goes to Tina, Charlotte discovers that she cannot bring herself to destroy her daughter's happiness and remains content to stand in the background with her motherhood forever hidden.
Notes: According to a 1935 news item in LAT , Ernst Lubitsch bought Akin's Pulitzer Prize winning play with the intention of directing Judith Anderson and Helen Menken in a Paramount production. A news item in HR adds that Warners entered into negotiations to buy the rights to the play from Paramount in Jan 1939. This picture marked the last screen appearance of actress Louise Fazenda. A news item in HR notes that Bogart was forced to give up the role of "Clem Spender" in this picture to appear in Dust Be My Destiny . Although the news item states that no footage had been shot prior to Bogart's departure, direction on the film had begun one week prior to his departure. Modern sources state that Bogart was replaced by George Brent in the role of "Clem Spender" because of Bogart's poor performance after two days of shooting. Modern sources also add that to achieve the effect of aging, makeup artist Perc Westmore used a pale, ashen base on Bette Davis' face and used no eye makeup or lipstick, thus creating a "withered" look. In Oct 1939, Loretta Young and Miriam Hopkins starred in a Lux Radio Theatre version of the play.
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