Old Acquaintance (1943)

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

As powerful as Bette Davis was in Hollywood in the early 1940's, the biggest female star of her era wasn't above giving less so another performer could have more. Her subtlety in "The Great Lie" lead to Mary Astor winning an Oscar; She graciously took second fiddle to the outrageous Monty Woolley in "The Man Who Came to Dinner", and allowed Paul Lukas front burner in "Watch on the Rhine" to lead him to his own Oscar as well. For her second pairing with Miriam Hopkins, she simply reacted while Hopkins overacted, and the result was Davis stealing away the film without really trying.Like her character in "The Old Maid" (her first pairing with Hopkins), sympathy ended up being on her side, not Hopkins. At least in "The Old Maid", Hopkins allowed subtly fake charm to dominate her performance. But here, she chews the scenery with so much venom, the meat of her performance never reaches her digestive system. She makes the character of the selfish and silly housewife and mother-to-be so resentful of Davis that it seems that she actually hates every aspect of the character that Davis plays, fictional or not. Whether or not the truth of the rivalry between these two ladies off screen was true or not, Davis acts like it is non-existent, while Hopkins seems determined to upstage her co-star every chance she gets.Even when they are having meaningful heart-to-hearts, Hopkins acts entirely too grand, as if she was the diva in an opera, and the sympathy that should be there for her character (abandoned by her husband after she achieves success as a writer of trashy romantic novels) simply vanishes. After one confrontation, it is obvious that Davis's character (and perhaps Bette herself) has just had enough, quietly shuts the door, walks back to Hopkins after changing her mind about leaving, and you can hear yourself shouting, "Knock her lights out!"Hopkins, so good in her early romantic dramas, sinks to a new low here, and thus after this, was reduced to touring mostly in stock and supporting parts in films where she often bellowed her lines. The one film of her later career that somehow lacked this was a sympathetic role in "The Heiress" where she simply played the role as written. John Loder wins sympathy as Hopkins' husband who smartly walks out after simply having had enough, leaving her with barely a word. Gig Young is handsome as the younger man who proposes to Davis, all the while unknowingly in love with Hopkins and Loder's grown-up daughter (Donna Moran). If you want to see the difference between a braying performance and one with similar selfishness played with realistic acting, watch Moran's initially spoiled brat have her tantrum then slowly return to reality with a glow as she begins to see things beyond her own ego. Esther Dale gets some good moments as Davis's housekeeper, and Anne Revere has a memorable one-scene cameo as a reporter interviewing Davis. Hopkins really does well in this one scene with her reaction to Revere's embarrassment after insulting typical romantic trash novels like herself.In spite of the film's short-comings, this soap opera is fascinating to watch, and one longs to have been an extra or crew member to have witnessed what really went on. Davis makes her acting look so easy, but at times, you begin to feel sorry for everybody in the film and on the set (even Hopkins) because it seems that everybody (including her) must have had a terrible headache because of her constant ranting.

Davis admitted to enjoying very much a scene in "Old Acquaintance" in which she shakes Hopkins hard.(Wikipedia).She also wrote that her co-star (with whom she also made "the old maid") felt insecure and that there was a good dose of rivalry between her and "Millie" .As the story is thoroughly the depiction of a rivalry (as writers,as lovers and even as mothers -Kit is also Deirdre's mom in her heart ),everything works out fine.The first sequences may be deceptive :Kit appears as the superstar with a fan club in her friend's home town and people are led to believe that she's got an inflated ego and that good housewife Millicent has done the right choice.But actually the desperate housewife is eaten with envy and she too wrote a book (Harlequin romance style).Time will show the wiser although the last sequence tends to show that,all in all,friendship survives everything ..

Chatty, entertaining and well-acted drama with comedic trimmings has lifelong friends Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins both becoming writers: Davis, the literary authoress who charms the critics but can't score a bestseller; Hopkins, the fluttery, popular novelist of romantic fiction. Director Vincent Sherman does a good job at bringing this all to a boil, and yet there's too much breathless soap opera packed into the last act (the fault of the screenwriters, working from a play) and it eventually becomes fatiguing. Still, Hopkins does a high-wire act with her performance that is quite nimble (she's pitched very high but is never grating). Davis starts off very fresh and natural, but as her character ages and becomes glamorously middle-aged, Bette's affectations and mannerisms tread a self-parody; she's good throughout the film, yet one longs for more of that earthy quality she displays in the film's first hour. A fine "woman's picture" nevertheless, with some unusually good dialogue and well-paced sequences. *** from ****

Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins reunite after being together in "The Old Maid!" It sets practical but lonely Bette against flighty but happy Miriam. Bette plays Kit Marlowe..a single, successful author coming home to the small town she grew up in. She meets up again with childhood friend, Millie Drake played by Miriam Hopkins. There's always been a bit of a rivalry between the two, even though they've been friends. Millie has a daughter, a husband and love. Kit has a successful career but no one really to love in her life. Kit's visit triggers jealously in Millie, so she decides to become a successful author like Kit. She writes a steamy, sexy book and Kit helps it along with her connections. Lo and behold, the book becomes a best seller, starting Millie on a career eclipsing her old friend's career, but she loses her husband along the way when she lets success go to her head.The subplots swirl around these two women...Millie's envy of Kit and then Kit's help turns Millie into a success but she loses her husband who becomes infatuated with Kit. Preston professes his love for Kit, but she in turn tells him no because of Millie and her daughter. Kit falls in love with a younger man, but she finds herself unwilling to commit because of his age. He in turn falls in love with Millie's daughter. When Kit finally realizes what she has and wants to be with him, he admits to her how he has fallen for another woman..the daughter Kit never had..the daughter of her best friend. The threads weave in and out of these two women keeping them bound together. When Millie finds out Preston was attracted to Kit long ago, she sets this scene up which is one of the funniest I've seen from Bette Davis. Millie admits to Kit that she told her daughter Kit and Preston were having an affair. She goes off on a self-pitying tirade at Kit. Kit tries to reason with her to no avail. Finally, Kit leaves the apartment only to come right back again. She walks over to Millie and then shakes the life out of her and throws her down on the couch.After reading interviews by Ms. Davis about some of her frustration at some roles she has endured, it was a revealing look at how she wanted to shake the life out of some producers and directors. Ms. Hopkin's hair and shoulders were just shaking with it, and you have to wonder how many takes it took for this one.The end finds them there in Kit's apartment drinking champagne and watching the fire. They've shared more than just a friendship now. They're shared the loss of love but have kept their friendship intact.This is a delightful movie, and one worth watching. It reminds us how friends alway stick no matter what. No one is perfect and each have faults and good qualities. It is true "old acquaintances" can accept both good and bad and stick to the end!