DVD Review Now, Voyager DVD Review (1 Viewer)

[Matt Hough]

Matt Hough submitted a new blog post

Now, Voyager DVD Review

Continue reading the Original Blog Post.

 

[hndrsnsbks]

???

 

[Noel Aguirre]

Thanks Matt great review.
Pre-ordered.

 

[KPmusmag]

Very nice review.

I like Bette in all her films (not that I like all of her films themselves), but this is my favorite. I have the blu on order. Can't wait.

 

[Darby67]

Terrific review, Matt. I am ashamed to admit I have never seen this film before but I have it pre-ordered via Barnes and Noble's current 50% Criterion sale.

Sean

 

[Matt Hough]

It is one of the GREAT character studies of a woman finding herself and coming into her own. I'm always so impressed with the production after each viewing.

 

[benbess]

Have you ever had a movie that you thought you'd seen but really haven't seen all the through? Now, Voyager was one of those movies for me. About thirty years ago someone I knew spoke well of it, and then some months after that I saw maybe the first half hour on vhs or amc, but then apparently got distracted or drifted off. Anyway, until yesterday I thought I had watched the whole movie, but playing the Criterion blu-ray that I got because of this review I realized that I hadn't seen about three quarters of it. Anyway, Now, Voyager is a wonderful movie from this era restored to perfection from the original negative.

Matt H. writes in his perceptive review:

"Rapper’s introduction to the spinsterish Charlotte focuses on her ugly orthopedic oxfords and baggy stockings before moving up to show us her old-fashioned print dress and heavy eyebrows, and he later chicly repeats the introduction to the newly svelte and stylish Charlotte in her most becoming two-toned high heels, slim silk-stockinged legs, and elegant wardrobe, later allowing costume designer Orry-Kelly to go all out in presenting Davis in the most fashionable clothes she was ever to enjoy in a movie. The movie being produced during the height of the Production Code, Jerry and Charlotte’s five-day affair in Rio is handled with utmost discretion as we watch the two slide easily into love, and this handling of romance carries through throughout the movie. Some find the later sequences as Charlotte nurses Jerry’s neurotic child Tina (Janis Wilson), a clear parallel to her own earlier problems with her cold, unloving parent, a bit at odds with the tone of the rest of the film, but those sequences are necessary to bring the love story of Jerry and Charlotte full circle."

It's fascinating to watch the transformation of Bette Davis in this movie. In the opening scenes her eyebrows do seem maybe a tiny bit overdone by the make-up dept? And the discussion of her weight in a few parts of the movie did make me feel slightly uneasy. But the costumes by Orry-Kelly—and it seems like there were at least twenty for Davis alone—are great. This is a place where high definition moving images from the OCN make a difference, because you can see and admire the intricate texture and care that went into the fabrics, hats, etc.

Speaking of hats, I felt that this movie influenced Cameron's Titanic in at least two visuals—there an image of Bette Davis in full glamour mode on the cruise ship peeking out from under her hat that parallels that famous image of Kate Winslet doing the same, and then there's a shot of the ship's engine moving that is paralleled on a grander scale in Titanic.

Now, Voyager is in part about psychological health, and was influenced by the experiences of novelist Olive Higgins Prouty. As we can read in wikipedia, she suffered from a few mental challenges in her life, including one after the death of a child. She went to a fancy rest-cure place, rather like is found in the movie, and her progressive doctor said that part of being well was to have a really nice space of her own for writing. Since she was affluent that obviously helped make this possible. Prouty's parallel character played by Davis also has lots of money to make things happen.

Filmed right before Casablanca, this movie also features good roles for two players from that classic, Claude Rains and Paul Henreid. Gladys Cooper, who played a sympathetic character in Rebecca, here plays Mrs. Henry Vale, and she's elaborately costumed in dresses from another age of fashion—1910 maybe, or even 1890—which help develop her strait-laced character.

This was another movie that does something that I seem to really like in movies—an ambiguous and emotional ending, which is enhanced in this case by Max Steiner's lush Oscar-winning and memorable score.

Beautifully produced, the movie looks more expensive to me than the c.$900k in 1942 dollars that wikipedia says that it cost to make. It was a big hit, as almost all other movies starring Bette Davis had been for the previous eight years or so.

If I needed to make a list of my top ten "women's picture" movies from the 1930s to 1950s, Now, Voyager would definitely make the list.

 

[Matt Hough]

Yeah, I wish Criterion had sent me the Blu-ray to review, but they were running short of review copies and sent only the DVD. Still looked and sounded amazing, but this review is in the right forum.

BTW, the same thing happened with A Night to Remember. I only got the DVD to review as they ran out of the other.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Yeah, I wish Criterion had sent me the Blu-ray to review, but they were running short of review copies and sent only the DVD. Still looked and sounded amazing, but this review is in the right forum.

BTW, the same thing happened with A Night to Remember. I only got the DVD to review as they ran out of the other.

That sucked!

 

[Matt Hough]

That sucked!

I thought so, too!