The Heiress

Turning of the tide in acting and directing masterclass.

Dowdy spinster Catherine Sloper is stuck in a rut, she is often made to feel useless by her almost tyrannical father, and her life is ambling along in uneventful boredom. Potential gentleman suitors stay well clear of her, such is her unease with the social graces of the day. Then one day at a society ball she is lavished with attention from Morris Townsend, could this be love? Or is he merely after her inheritance? An inheritance her father will take away from her should she progress further with the shifty Townsend.

A novel written by Henry James (Washington Square) and a successful Broadway play by Ruth & Augustus Goetz (responsible for the film's wonderful ending), The Heire...

There are three really strong performances here, but for my money it is Sir Ralph Richardson who stands out. "Sloper" is a wealthy surgeon, a widower and father to the naive young "Catherine". She (Olivia de Havilland) is shy and usually quite happy doing her embroidery quietly at home. Then her well meaning aunt "Lavinia" (Miriam Hopkins) comes to stay and her father thinks that perhaps she can help bring his daughter a little out of her shell. One of the results of this change is a meeting with "Morris" (Montgomery Clift). Now whilst he's not exactly penniless, he hasn't anything remotely like her $30,000 a year. She falls completely for his simple charms and swiftly they are talking marriage. Not unreasonably, her father thinks this is a...