Dick-Kringle Let's jump straight to the point: we're all here for Bette Davis, and, for all intents and purposes, we stay the whole 118 minutes solely because of Bette Davis.Mrs. Davis began her rise to prominence in Hollywood by challenging the notions surrounding what an A-List movie-star should look like, and sealed her fate by simply being better than everyone else around her, all the time. I've always had a personal reverence for her, as I've found time and time again that many actors can give great, excellent, truly inspiring performances - but only a few can accurately be described as a vision on screen, and only a tiny fractions of them can truly be considered to have the raw talent necessary in order to act circles around every single one of their wildly talented cohorts that help make their great films possible.Bette Davis was one of these visionaries. Not only was she one of them, but she very well might have been the best of them as well. The word "vision" doesn't even begin to describe her in this film. From beginning to end, her performance is sincere, her actions are believable, and her struggles are deeply moving, through and through.In a way, this film reminds me of Delbert Mann's Marty. Both films depict ordinary folks just trying to be happy, being pushed around and kept from it by the people who supposedly love them, and finally finding happiness, grace, and solace through purity of the heart and emotion long suppressed by the outside forces at work. Both films represent a brutal truth and a refreshing take on humanity from an otherwise deliriously optimistic era of cinema, ones that are about as honest and pointedly forthright as they are complete accurate and deeply relatable. As someone who has often turned to solitude and even isolation in the face of his own inability to function adequately around others and generally within human society at large, these films move me in a way others fail to, and the feeling of being given a voice, something that rarely happens for people in my position, is truly a remarkable thing, something that should be cherished and appreciated when they rarely come around. The problem is, the film is just... way too much. The coincidences are too contrived, and there's just way more heart-string pulling and swoon-inducing fluff for the simple script to realistically handle. What's perfectly believable, and remarkably poignant, is for a young woman, beaten into emotional submission by cruel, woefully inconsiderate family members and needled by the unbearable nature of this existence, being saved by common sense psychological practitioning, and finally being able to blossom into the beautiful, confident woman who for far too long stayed shrouded in the despair from which she believed she could never break free of. What's more difficult to believe is that on her first voyage alone she takes in an overbooked passenger that just so happens to be a handsome man, that she gets into a cliffside-automobile accident with him and is forced to spend the night under the stars with him, that they fall in love, that he has a daughter going through the exact same torment she endured as a child, that they met at a party weeks/months later because he just so happened to be in town on business with mutual associates of theirs, that her daughter just so happened to be at the refuge at the same time she checked herself in a week later, that they bonded before she learned that she was indeed the man's daughter, and so on and so forth. These overwrought narrative concurrences work only to take away from the poignant realism the film was previously doing so well, and instead plunges it into the very cliques the film had worked so hard to refute.If this film had instead been only 80 or so minutes in length, if they had only briefly included the girl at the end (who did a very good job for a girl her age, despite her place in the movie) instead of expanding the movie with an additional 40 minutes of Bette Davis/that girl bonding, camping, inspirational happy-fun-time, maybe I would be sitting here giving it 9 or 10 stars instead of 7.However, while the film has its flaws, its still a good picture, and the fact that it is is very much thanks to Mrs. Bette Davis - who was, after all, one of the greatest to have ever lived.

calvinnme In Voyager, Bette Davis plays repressed, over weight, middle aged spinster Charlotte Vale, still living with her mother, and slowly being driven mad by her mother's thinly veiled loathing. A kindly sister-in-law and a savvy doctor (Claude Rains as Dr. Jacquith) begin to put things right, and slowly she emerges out of the darkness, a renewed and remade woman. For the first time in her life, she "isn't afraid". She goes on a long sea voyage immediately after having left the doctor's sanitarium, partly for reflection given "the new you" makeover inside and out that she has had, partly as recreation.On that voyage, she meets and falls in love with an unhappily and permanently married man (Paul Henreid as Jerry). Now this film is based on a book, and you'd think the kiss the two share in the film might actually be more, but it isn't. It actually is just a kiss, so the production code did not interfere in this one. Jerry and Charlotte realize they cannot be together - they go their separate ways.Now recognize the difference in the times - Charlotte is all of about 34 when people keep calling her a spinster. Charlotte comes home, and at first has to battle mom who does not seem to like Charlotte's new look which echoes her new attitude. Mom wants the doormat back that she had before, but does not get her way. Charlotte, in good old Boston Back Bay tradition, is courted by a widower with two half grown sons ...The film never says what that means. Age 11 and 13? Does this mean they are part time CPAs and engineers versus full time? I'm not quite sure why that part is there other than to perhaps insinuate that they have their own lives "sort of". Thus Charlotte would be free to marry and have a child at the tail end of her fertility with this likable respectable available man that she does not love. But that's the thing - she does not love him. Her breakup with this man is followed - most predictably - by her mother's searing criticism. Maybe not so predictably by mom's sudden death of heart failure. Charlotte feels responsible for killing her mom, for killing off her last chance of having a man and a child of her own, and she retreats to the place where she first felt safe in her life - to Dr. Jacquith and his sanitarium. While there she comes across a plain frightened and completely unconfident girl, approximately twelve, who is terrified of having to play ping pong with the other kids. Charlotte sees herself in this girl and makes it her business to win her trust, and allow her the respect that she was never afforded. She gives this girl both a friend and the mother that she herself never had. And then a surprise when she finds out exactly who the girl is. I'll let you watch and find out how this all works out. This film has a lot going for it such as the whole idea of a woman who is transformed and her self-actualization. She finds freedom from convention, and while its convenient she is wealthy, Charlotte's character grows in ways we don't expect. She does make an effort to be conventional, but she comes to the conclusion that she must remain true to herself, and so she takes the road less traveled. And the story is written so terrifically, I found myself cheering for Charlotte in the end. It is a story to open your eyes about people and how they see themselves inside. Don't let Charlotte's transformed outward beauty and allure fool you. It's just the outward manifestation of the way she changing on the inside.Just a few words about other major players in the film. First Claude Rains - as the psychiatrist he glides through his role effortlessly. In his polished depiction of the sympathetic therapist with an engaging bedside manner, he also engages us to the point that we are riveted on him whenever he is on screen. Next there is Max Steiner's score. It fits perfectly with every scene of the film. In fact, it seems that there were times when Queen Bette, in other films, found Max's scores to be an unwanted competitor of hers and actually complained! I'd highly recommend this one. Besides being a terrifically and well acted tale, it has so much to say about human dignity.

gavin6942 Boston spinster (Bette Davis) blossoms under therapy and finds impossible romance.Both Bette Davis and Gladys Cooper received Oscar nominations for this film, and the score from Max Steiner actually won. I guess I did not see what the Academy saw. The score is fine, but the acting never really impressed me and the film itself is rather bland. It just did not hit me at all.The director, Irving Rapper, has not really distinguished himself beyond this film. His list of credits contains many films that only real film nerds would be familiar with. His later work "The Christine Jorgensen Story" may get some attention following the success of "The Danish Girl" (2015), though it is unlikely.

happipuppi13 I hadn't watched this in some years,since the last viewing but the other night I decided to give it a look on a newer DVD. The last time,was from the library and the DVD was 'very much used",which lessened the ability to lose myself in the story. ..but,with a "new" unopened copy (sold for $5) I was once again able to get emotionally involved in this classic. There's not much else Icould say that others haven;t already. Bette Davis,Paul Henreid and Claude Rains (plus their supporting cast,make this a film that despite it's age,is a timeless tale. There still are people even in this day and age who could be called either spinster's/old maid or (on the male side) "terminal bachelors" but not by choice. Love and romance are even harder to come by today than when this film was made. Making it even harder for Davis' character is that there's no one in her corner at the start and she's not very well versed in things like that. You can't help but be on her side and even hope that,despite the pifalls of her new romance,that it all works out for the best .10 stars all around!