Rent Now, Voyager (1942)

4.0 of 5 from 135 ratings
1h 53min
Rent Now, Voyager Online DVD & Blu-ray Rental
  • General info
  • Available formats
Synopsis:
Nervous spinster Charlotte Vale (Bette Davis) is stunted from growing up under the heel of her puritanical Boston Brahmin mother (Gladys Cooper), and remains convinced of her own unworthiness until a kindly psychiatrist (Claude Rains) gives her the confidence to venture out into the world on a South American cruise. On board, she finds her footing with the help of an unhappily married man (Paul Henreid). Their thwarted love affair may help Charlotte break free of her mother's grip - but will she find fulfillment as well as independence?
Actors:
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Directors:
Producers:
Hal B. Wallis
Writers:
Casey Robinson, Olive Higgins Prouty
Others:
Max Steiner
Studio:
Warner
Genres:
Classics, Drama, Romance
Collections:
A Brief History of Cinema Afloat: Part 2, Acting Up: British Actresses at the Oscars, All the Twos: 1902-62, Award Winners, Cinema Paradiso's 2023 Centenary Club: Part 1, Holidays Film Collection, Oscars: Winners & Losers, A Brief History of Film..., The Instant Expert's Guide to Todd Haynes, Top 10 Screen Kisses (1896-1979), Top 10 World Cinema Remakes, Top 100 AFI Passions, Top Films
Awards:

1943 Oscar Best Dramatic or Comedy Score

BBFC:
Release Date:
13/11/2006
Run Time:
113 minutes
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono, Italian Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono
Subtitles:
Arabic, Dutch, English, English Hard of Hearing, Italian, Italian Hard of Hearing
DVD Regions:
Region 2
Formats:
Pal
Aspect Ratio:
Full Screen 1.33:1 / 4:3
Colour:
B & W
Bonus:
  • Trailer
BBFC:
Release Date:
09/12/2019
Run Time:
117 minutes
Languages:
English LPCM Mono
Subtitles:
English Hard of Hearing
Formats:
Pal
Aspect Ratio:
Full Screen 1.37:1
Colour:
B & W
BLU-RAY Regions:
B
Bonus:
  • Episode of 'The Dick Cavett Show' from 1971 featuring actor Bette Davis
  • Interview with actor Paul Henreid from 1980
  • New selected-scene commentary on the film's score by scholar Jeff Smith
  • New interview with film critic Farran Smith Nehme on the making of the film
  • New interview with costume historian Larry McQueen
  • Two radio adaptations from 1943 and 1946
  • An essay by scholar Patricia White and a 1937 reflection on acting by Davis

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Reviews (3) of Now, Voyager

A precious antic film - Now, Voyager review by CSF

Spoiler Alert
29/09/2021

Maybe an old film and an old story but even today, we still have parents who crush their children. The subject of this old film still exist. It should be watched by children too. It is the story of a woman who has to build her life and her freedom despite her mother keeping her in a cage and making her believe that it is for her own good. The film is not the expected cliché. The so-called psychiatric residence is not a nasty one, the doctor is not the selfish money maker. It shows how compassion can transform someone's hell into a decent, and even a happy life.

Bette Davis is the usual outstanding actress. The actors are OK.

1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.

“Banana trees!” - Now, Voyager review by LJ

Spoiler Alert
19/10/2023

While some of the actions in this drama are dubious by today’s standards, it is a far more positive story than I anticipated so pleasant in its way.

0 out of 0 members found this review helpful.

Medical melodrama. - Now, Voyager review by Steve

Spoiler Alert
15/11/2022

This is Bette Davis' signature role- as an inhibited, lonely spinster who escapes from the persecution of her mother and blossoms into a confident, independent woman. It's pure escapism for the women on the homefront in WWII. She is freed from domestic duty and escapes to a liaison onboard a ship to Rio with an attentive but troubled architect (Paul Henreid).

This is a medical melodrama which draws on Hollywood psychiatry. Bette's initial neurosis is swiftly treated, mostly with wisdom, by Claude Raines' fatherly doctor. The homely girl blossoms into a stylish and wealthy Bostonian. Curiously, the film doesn't give us completion; her love isn't consummated because the man cannot be free of his diabolical wife.

But, they mustn't ask for the moon, when they have the stars. So Davis takes care of the architect's daughter who is mentally tortured by her own mother. And so the film becomes about sacrifice, a common theme in the war years. OK, this is a soap and some of the situations are unrealistic, but Davis does create an impression of a whole person.

Henreid is too lightweight to stand up to the vortex of Davis' performance. The best of the support cast is Gladys Cooper as the domineering mother.  Now, Voyager is also remembered for Max Steiner's legendary love theme. And for Henreid's trick of lighting two cigarettes simultaneously. It's one of the great Warner Bothers melodramas and the ultimate Bette Davis vehicle.

0 out of 0 members found this review helpful.

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