Paul255378 It seems like over the past 20 years, every time I have seen a documentary on the golden age of Hollywood, they play the last scene from this movie where Paul Henreid lights two cigarettes at once and hands one to Bette Davis.I have always wanted to see the movie and recently I watched it. Bette Davis is superb in the role of Charlotte Vale, a woman under the thumb of an overbearing mother. Equally impressive are Claude Rains, as her doctor, Dr. Jaquith and Paul Henreid, as Jerry Durrance, a man who befriends her on an ocean voyage.The movie takes you along on her journey from an insecure spinster to that of a woman who has everything.If you are a fan of film, this is an essential.

cdcrb for younger movie goers there was a bette davis before baby jane and sweet charlotte. and here she is. she really loses herself in this role and is almost unrecognizable in her scenes with claude raines. she turns into a butterfly, of course, and as in the little foxes, she sure knows how to wear a hat. she starts off mousey, emerges from her cacoon and falls for a married man, with a plain daughter. naturally she empathizes with the young girl, etc. it's pure hokum, of course, very forties and very good. her scenes with Gladys cooper are very intense. Gladys almost steals the movie. an unusual feat in a davis movie. bette is at the height of her powers here. queen of warner brothers and Hollywood.

grantss Well-made but dull."Now, Voyager" is essentially a movie-length soap opera. Has all the ingredients: over-stated melodrama, complex relationships, high society and their weird mores, idyllic settings, forbidden romances and a nagging, fascist mother. From the outset the movie just feels stuffy, and superficial.Good production though, despite the dialogue feeling so much like a play. Max Steiner won an Oscar for his musical score.The acting goes with the play/soap opera feel: over-stated emotions, exaggerated portrayals.

LeonLouisRicci The Much Mentioned "Ugly Duckling" Theme Represented in this Film is a bit Misrepresented. The Ugly Duckling was Born Ugly. Physically Different, Anthropomorphically Strange, whereas Bette Davis is Not Physically Ugly or Different, She is Psychologically Scarred and Cannot Present Herself as Normal or Pretty because She is Repressed to the Point of the Ability or Desire to Externally Show Anything Other than that what She has been Told..."You were late and unwanted."Although the Mother is Presented to be Cruel and Unusual and a Tyrant to Her Daughter, the Metamorphosis of the Young Miss Vale is Nothing More than Cosmetic (no plastic surgery) and Interpersonal. The Psychiatry Clinic and the Claude Rains' Doctor is Thankfully Subtle and Restrained for the Era that was Becoming More and More Infatuated with the "Science". The Freudian Mother Complex Finally Peaked in Films with Psycho (1960), but here it is just as Horrifying. The Only Thing that Really "Cured" Charlotte was the Removal from Proximity from Her Excessively Depressing Environment.This was Bette Davis' Biggest Box Office Success and is One of Her Best Remembered Roles and the Movie is Among the Most Popular "Weepies" of All Time. Her Romantic Interlude with Paul Henreid is Remembered and is Consequential to the Story to be Sure, but it Could be Said that the Movie Works so Well and Reaches its Emotional Level because of Charlotte's Natural Love and Mothering of the Twelve Year Old Tina (a warm and heart wrenching performance and character).It is that Sacrifice and Attention Given the Damaged Tina, that Makes Charlotte so Endearing and the Third Act is so Essential to the Plot and Cannot Help but be the Lynchpin to All of the Romantic Ruminations that Came Before. The Final, Oft Quoted Line is Embraced and Celebrated Anytime the Movie is Discussed. It's a Good Line, but it Could Not have Worked so Well without the Uncelebrated Character of Tina, the Little Lost Girl, that Charlotte Vale can...Now, Mother.