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| The Old Maid | 
 enlarge | Director: Edmund Goulding
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
Buy New: $16.90
New (2) Used (1) from $16.90
Avg. Customer Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 17248
Format: Black & White, Ntsc
Languages: English (Unknown), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Running Time: 95
UPC: 085391203094
EAN: 0085391203094
ASIN: B00170FHZ0
Theatrical Release Date: 1939
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: new new new
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Product Description
AN AUTHENTIC REGION 1 DVD FROM WARNER BROTHERS.SYNOPSIS: Based on an Edith Wharton novel and Pulitzer Prize-winning play, The Old Maid tells the sad story of Charlotte, a woman whose circumstances force her to give up her illegitimate child and pose as the child's "old maid" aunt, thereby facing a lifetime of maternal sacrifice. As Charlotte, Bette Davis gives one of her most nuanced performances, aging from wide-eyed girl to gray-haired martinet. Miriam Hopkins provides effective counterbalance with her portrayal of Charlottes effusive cousin, who raises the little girl. Two women, one child and a brilliant example of melodrama as art.BONUS FEATURES: * Warner Night at the Movies 1939 short subjects gallery: o Vintage newsreel o Technicolor historical short Lincoln in the White House o Howard Hill sports short Sword Fishing o Classic cartoons The Film Fan and Kristopher Kolumbus o Trailers of The Old Maid and 1939s Confessions of a Nazi Spy
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| Customer Reviews:
 One for the women July 28, 2008
"The Old Maid", based on an Edith Wharton play which was dated even in 1939, is a sturdy old warhorse about 2 cousins who both love George Brent. Miriam Hopkins rejects him for marriage to wealth and position and Bette Davis gives berth to his daughter out of wedlock. The film is a tour-de-force for Davis as she ages into a withered spinster, watching as Hopkins takes over the role of mother of her foundling. This is all pretty melodramatic stuff but Davis has the talent and skill to make her role very moving. Unfortunately, she is paired with that dreadful Miriam Hopkins, an actress who never missed an opportunity to gesture when it wasn't required and manages to foul up the bitterness between the 2 women by playing for sympathy and not ageing at all. No wonder Davis loathed her offscreen. The film is a sumptuous studio product and the DVD print is excellent.
The package comes with a comprehensive set of mainly mediocre extras, part of Warner's Night at the Movies, the best of which are the cartoons. The technicolour short on Abraham Lincoln may be a reasonable history lesson but it is artificial and dull. The trailer for "Confessions of a Nazi Spy", another Warner Brother's release of 1939, emphasises the studio's reputation for tackling topical issues.
The DVD is good value if purchased as part of the Davis Collection Volume 3.
 The Classic Feud! July 1, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The long-standing rivalry between Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins makes this movie pop off the screen. Miriam is the beautiful cousin who has it all while Bette walks in the shadows. When Bette confesses that her illegitimate child was fathered by Miriam's old flame, Miriam seeks revenge. One of the most profitable films of 1939, this film has been well-preserved and still packs a thundering punch as one of the greatest cat fights of the silver screen.
A Lovely Old Maid June 28, 2008
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
THE OLD MAID (1939) is one of the great Bette Davis Warner Bros. classics
and besides "Jezebel" (1938) is my favourite Davis movie. From a cracker of a screenplay by Casey Robinson it was splendidly directed with a deft hand by Edmund Goulding.
Davis gives one of her finest performances as Charlotte the prim and proper old maid who years before was left pregnant when her suitor
(George Brent in one of his smallest roles) is killed in the civil war.
The child - a girl - is born and some years later she allows her widowed cousin (Miriam Hopkins) to raise her daughter as her own which causes much resentment in Charlotte plus the alienation of her daughter who never learns who her real mother is.
It is an absorbing highly charged piece of drama in a duel between two actresses in which Davis is clearly the victor. Helen Menken and Judith
Anderson played the roles on stage in 1935 and it's hard to think of Menken being any where near as good as Davis playing Charlotte. Here in the movie you can't take your eyes of Davis as she brilliantly conveys the consummate artistry of her craft to an audience. Also giving splendid support in the picture is the always reliable Donald Crisp plus Jerome Cowan, James Stephenson and a young William Lundigan.
In the much better second half of the picture the daughter - now a
vivacious young lady - is played by an actress called Jane Bryan. Born 1n 1918 Bryan had an appealing screen presence and at the time was getting a big build up from Warners. But in 1940 she abruptly retired, married
a business magnate and never returned to the screen. Something of a loss
I would opine!
Beautifully photographed in black & white by the gifted Tony Gaudio the
picture also boasts a lush score by the great Max Steiner which has a
lovely and engaging central waltz theme. The music for "The Old Maid"
was one of 18 scores the composer wrote for Bette Davis' films that included such Davis gems as "Dark Victory", "Jezebel", "The Great Lie",
"Beyond The Forest" and most memorably "Now Voyager" in 1942 which
brought the composer his second Acadamy Award. The great actress once remarked of Steiner "At Warner Bros. Max knew more about drama than any
of us".
THE OLD MAID is a wonderful movie! It has lost none of its impact over
the years and surprisingly hasn't dated one iota. Collectors will cherish
and relish "The Old Maid"!
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