Blu-ray
The heiress
Call Number
- BLU-RAY DRAMA (CEN)
Edition
Blu-ray special edition.
Languages
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing.
Performers
Olivia De Havilland, Montgomery Clift, Ralph Richardson, Miriam Hopkins, Vanessa Brown, Mona Freeman, Ray Collins, Selena Royle.
Publication Information
[Irvington, NY] : Criterion Collection, [2019]
Physical Description
1 videodisc (115 minutes) : sound, black and white ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 folded sheet (illustrations ; 17 cm)
Audience
Not rated.
Uniform Title
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, the daughter of a wealthy New York doctor, begins to receive calls from the handsome spendthrift Morris Townsend, 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 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.
Notes
From the play by Ruth and Augustus Goetz and suggested by the novel Washington Square by Henry James.
Originally released as a motion picture in 1949.
Special features: New, restored 4K digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack ; new conversation between screenwriter Jay Cocks and film critic Farran Smith Nehme ; new program about the films' costumes featuring costume collector and historian Larry McQueen ; The costume designer, a restored 1950 short film featuring costume designer Edith Head ; appearance by Olivia de Havilland on a 1986 episode of The Paul Ryan show ; excerpts from a 1973 tribute to director William Wyler on The Merv Griffin show ; Wyler's acceptance speech from the American Film Institute's salute to Wyler ; interview with Ralph Richardson filmed in 1981 for the documentary Directed by William Wyler ; trailer.