Olivia de Havilland in The Heiress

Front Row at the Movies by Shirrel Rhoades

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In 1880, Henry James wrote “Washington Square,” a novel about a father’s attempts to thwart a romance between his naive daughter and the man he believes wishes to marry her for her money.

In 1947, Ruth and Augustus Goetz adapted it into a play.

Two years later, they did the screenplay that turned it into an Academy Award-winning movie directed by William Wyler. That it won a Best Picture Oscar is no big surprise, given the cast – Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift, and Ralph Richardson.

Even so, it was a box office failure.

Although the film garnered critical acclaim, it only grossed $2.3 million against a $2.6 million budget. Despite this, it had eight nominations at the 22nd Academy Awards, winning four of them. Quite a showing.

Among the awards, Olivia de Havilland picked up her second golden statuette as Best Actress.

De Havilland had made a good call. After seeing the play on Broadway, she persuaded Wyler to do the film with her as its star. Wyler convinced Paramount to option the film rights, paying the Goetzes $250,000 (a princely sum in the ‘40s).

On top of that, the studio offered Ruth and Augustus $10,000 a week to write the screenplay, on the condition they would make the gold-digger suitor more likeable. They had Montgomery Clift in mind for the role and didn’t want to diminish his growing status as a romantic leading man.

The New York Times wrote that the film “crackles with allusive life and fire in its tender and agonized telling of an extraordinarily characterful tale.” Film critic Bosley Crowther added, “Wyler has given this somewhat austere drama an absorbing intimacy and a warming illusion of nearness that it did not have on the stage.”

TV Guide rated the film five out of a possible five stars. It saluted “the deft hand of director William Wyler and a remarkable lead performance by Olivia de Havilland.”

On the other hand, Montgomery Clift was so unhappy with his own performance that he walked out of the premiere.

You will stay to applaud.

“The Heiress” is showing on Saturday night as the closing film in Tropic Cinema’s week-long Olivia de Havilland Retrospective.

The film’s tagline was: “When a Woman Loves a Man . . . She Doesn’t Want to Know the Truth About Him!”

Director Martin Scorsese has credited “The Heiress” as a key influence on his 2023 film “Killers of the Flower Moon.” He compared Mollie Kyle’s relationship with her husband to de Havilland’s portrayal of Catherine and her relationship with Morris.

As one fan wrote, “Olivia de Havilland gives the performance of her life as Catherine Sloper, the socially awkward and homely daughter of surgeon Dr. Sloper (played by Ralph Richardson). She brings such a strong performance as her character evolves from a timid, shy and innocent young lady to a hardened, disappointed and bitter woman. I don’t know that I have ever seen an actress give such a convincing evolution, before or since. She truly earned her Oscar win for Best Actress.”

This Oscar win was particularly satisfying for de Havilland. Montgomery Clift had displayed “a sneering attitude to her talents as an actress.” And Ralph Richardson took “every opportunity to steal scenes from under her nose with his improvisations.”

You will learn even more about “The Heiress” during the Q&A following the Tropic’s screening, thanks to a guest appearance by de Havilland’s daughter Gisele Galante. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. with a champagne reception Introduction and the film starts at 6:30 p.m.

Don’t miss this rare opportunity.

Email Shirrel: srhoades@aol.com