THE HEIRESS (1949)

Literate & thrilling, William Wyler’s pitch-perfect adaptation of Henry James’ WASHINGTON SQUARE, written by Ruth & Augustus Goetz* from their own dramatically charged stage play, has only improved with age. Olivia de Havilland won a second Oscar® as the only child of wealthy, widowed doctor Ralph Richardson in 1840s New York. Physically drab, painfully shy & gauche, her vivacious Aunt (Miriam Hopkins) attempts to guide her into society and seems to succeed when Montgomery Clift takes a sudden interest. But is it love or loot he’s after? That’s all that’s needed to set up a series of dramatic confrontations to sort out the personal relationships & situations. And while there’s never much doubt over Clift’s motives , the underlying factors in the quest (and value) of love & happiness are teased out to great effect. Perhaps even more heartbreaking are revelations between father & daughter, thanks to Ralph Richardson’s towering subtlety as the disappointed parent. He seems unable to put a foot wrong. Late in the film, after self-diagnosing a debilitating stroke, he actually appears to lower his heart-rate.* Clift expressed disappointment in his own portrayal, but his slight lack of contact perfectly fits his character whether he knew it or not. And did he realize at the time what a stellar line-up of directors he had to start his career? From Howard Hawks to Fred Zinnemann, then Wyler, George Seaton (the sole weak link), George Stevens, Hitchcock, De Sica, then back to Zinnemann. (A start-up list of directors only matched by Audrey Hepburn.)

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Journalistic Papa to the French New Wave, André Bazin said this of Wyler’s THE LITTLE FOXES, but it applies even more here: ‘There is a hundred times more cinema, and better cinema at that, in one fixed shot in THE LITTLE FOXES than in all the exterior traveling shots, in all the natural settings, in all the geographical exoticism which the screen till now has ingeniously tried to make us forget the stage.’

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *Wyler, among other things the best actor’s director in the biz, was in awe of Richardson from the first set-up when offered six different ways he might enter his house and hang up his hat & cane. "Like a salesman displaying his wares,' said Wyler.

DOUBLE-BILL: *Wyler brought the Goetzes and similar sensibilities to his adaptation of Dreiser’s (SISTER) CARRIE/’52. Less tidy, less dramatically neat, less the ‘well-made’ play, it may also be the deeper achievement.