Bibliograph

The heiress, a Paramount picture ; written for the screen by Ruth and Augustus Goetz from their play The heiress, suggested by the Henry James novel Washington Square ; produced and directed by William Wyler

Type

Label

The heiress, a Paramount picture ; written for the screen by Ruth and Augustus Goetz from their play The heiress, suggested by the Henry James novel Washington Square ; produced and directed by William Wyler

Language

eng

Characteristic

videorecording

Intended audience

Rating: Not rated

Main title

The heiress

Oclc number

1090563935

Responsibility statement

a Paramount picture ; written for the screen by Ruth and Augustus Goetz from their play The heiress, suggested by the Henry James novel Washington Square ; produced and directed by William Wyler

Runtime

115

Series statement

The Criterion collection, 974

Summary

"Directed with a keen sense of ambiguity by William Wyler, this film based on a hit stage adaptation of Henry James's Washington Square pivots on a question of motive. When shy, emotionally fragile Catherine Sloper (Olivia de Havilland, in a heartbreaking, Oscar-winning turn), the daughter of a wealthy New York doctor, begins to receive calls from the handsome spendthrift Morris Townsend (Montgomery Clift), she becomes possessed by the promise of romance. Are his smoldering professions of love sincere, as she believes they are? Or is Catherine's calculating father (Ralph Richardson) correct in judging Morris a venal fortune seeker? A graceful drawing-room drama boasting Academy Award-winning costume design by Edith Head, The Heiress is also a piercing character study riven by emotional uncertainty and lacerating cruelty, in a triumph of classic Hollywood filmmaking at its most psychologically nuanced"--Container

Technique

live action

resource.variantTitle

William Wyler's The Heiress

Classification